(On arriving at our Land-Rover distributor in Kathmandu, I was ushered into the general manager’s office by Mr Malla, one of the directors.)
“General Rana was most welcoming and offered me tea as soon as we walked into his traditionally decorated office. He was probably in the same age range as Mr Malla, with a definite military bearing that was enhanced by his wonderfully large, waxed and greying moustache. His manner was no-nonsense and assertive in a jovial, friendly grandfather sort of way. I noticed that he sported several medal ribbon bars on the small Nepalese-style waistcoat he wore.
“Mr Ryeland, welcome. Not more than an hour ago I had an important telephone call from the royal palace. They would like you to go there tomorrow to solve a small problem they are having with a brand new 109-inch station wagon they received directly from England about a month ago. I accepted the invitation on your behalf. I do hope that wasn’t too presumptuous of me.”
I indicated that I would be pleased to look at the vehicle, but it would be helpful if he could tell me what he thought may be wrong with it.
“It’s a bullet-proofed Land-Rover fitted with air conditioning. Unfortunately, they can’t get the air conditioner to work. We ordered the vehicle on behalf of his majesty, but of course the bullet proofing and air conditioning installations were carried out by your contractor in England. Regrettably, we don’t know how it works either and it appears that no instructions have been sent with the vehicle.”
I sat there thinking fast. It’s probably a Thermo-King roof-mounted unit if I remember correctly, but I have never had to make one work either, so I’ll just have to play it by ear.
Mr Malla and the general were watching me closely, so I simply replied, “I’m sure I can work something out. What time should we be there?”
“Mr Malla will pick you up from the hotel at eight tomorrow morning and go with you to the palace, where the king has his ‘stables’. Of course, it’s a fully equipped garage, but his majesty likes to call it his stables.”
On the way back to the hotel, I asked Mr Malla how the royal household knew I was in Nepal. He replied that a report of my visit had appeared in the only daily English language newspaper that morning.
When Mr Malla dropped me off, I walked into the hotel lobby and asked if they had a copy of that day’s English language newspaper.
The receptionist said, “Oh, yes sir, and there is a photograph of you on the inside page.” I opened the paper and sure enough, there was my passport photo (very unflattering) under the banner: ‘UK Land-Rover Factory Expert Visits Kathmandu’. I wondered how they could possibly have known about my visit and, even more puzzling, reproduce my passport photo in the newspaper. Then it dawned on me, my request for a visa to the Nepal Embassy in London had required a copy of my passport photo to be attached to the application form……..”
African Tales 