The 1977 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts

RESPONSE of Mahesh Chandra Regmi

It is with a sense of great humility that I accept the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts tonight, for I had never imagined that my work would attract the attention of an institution as prestigious as the Magsaysay Foundation. I can not say I am delighted with this great honor, for my feelings at this moment are deeper and steadier than the exuberance and intensity that the term implies. May I say, therefore, that I feel deeply satisfied.

Let me add, however, that this sense of satisfaction is not due solely to the recognition that has been given to the work to which I have dedicated the past 20 years of my life. That work has brought sufficient recompense in itself. The thrill of exploring the unknown frontiers of knowledge, the occasional exhilaration of being able to fit little-known aspects of the social and economic life of my fellow countrymen into a larger coherent picture, these have been sufficient rewards to me over the years for the wearying and taxing effort that research and writing involve. Moreover, public recognition and acclaim have never had any appeal for me, nor have I ever put pen to paper in the hope of meriting such an award.

For me the Award that you have conferred is valuable mainly because, as the Foundation has graciously noted, my commitment has always been to understanding, explaining, and furthering the lot of the Nepali peasant. Tonight, when I realize that my own personal commitment and concern have been accepted for what they are by the Foundation, I feel deeply satisfied.

There is yet another and still greater source of satisfaction. I am sobered and uplifted by the association with the greatness of spirit, integrity, and devotion to freedom of your late noble and illustrious President, that the Award implies. I have been inspired by what I have read in one of his biographies: "Family love, a profound and simple religious sense, and the love of the country and its people are the component parts of Magsaysay that combine to make him a whole and dedicated human being." For me, therefore, the real significance of this Ramon Magsaysay Award, this great honor, lies in the inspiration it has given me to try to perfect myself as a whole and dedicated human being by following in the footsteps of that great man.