- Joined
- Apr 5, 2005
- Messages
- 8,934
Our friend Alan posted this on the Facebook Cantina and would like to share it with you all.
A gift from the Bardo.
Received a package this week with a very special something in it, special at least to me. Special because it reminds me of a great friend. Special because it was one of his prized possessions because it was made by one of the best Kamis Himalayan Imports has ever had. One we both collected and admired. It is also special because it is a memorial to the founder of HI and made with loving hands in his honor mere months after his passing.
For those that don't know who Berkley Bettis was.
He was one of the OG posters of the HI forum in its heyday. He sent a plaster cast to Nepal of an old Victorian Khukuri he admired and had the Kamis reproduce it. Thus was born the 18th century model or as it was also known the "Berkley Special". Berkley was a Very well respected trial Lawyer in real life. In his spare time he helped found and moderate the International Kukri Research & Historical Society and was a noted historian of the Khukuri. His immense knowledge on the subject has helped form what we know of historical khukuris today. He was great friends with the late John Powell, one of the early pioneers of Khukuri research and who at one time had one of the finest antique and military khukuri collections in the world. Berkley was a a real treasure. Knowledgeable and helpful with a great friendliness. A Gentleman to a fault.
We used to have talks of the old days on the forum and he gave me a great insight to what it was like. When i wrote the Himalayan Imports Limited Lifetime Warranty for Yangdu all those years ago, he helped make sure it was legal. I used to tease him about this very khukuri. I'd always admired it, ever since he used as his avatar because to me its one of the best copies of the original HI Logo Govinda Salyan ever made. I'd always ask him if he was ready to sell it yet and he'd jokingly tell me: if he wasnt buried with it, he'd leave it to me in his will. When it was posted here I didnt immediately recognize it. I needed a bone handle Salyan to add to my collection, but they are rare as hens teeth. It wasnt until after i'd purchased it and was sent pics of the kami mark that i realized i had just been guided to it from the bardo and my dream had come true.
Thank you my friend. For guiding me there. You are missed.
