Page 97 - A Life Well-Lived Is a Beautiful Memory

The Glow

of Treasure:

Remembering

Bhanupong

Nidhiprabha

Suresh Narayanan
26 March 2024

On May 13th 2023, I learned of the passing of my dear friend Bhanupong Nidiprabha. It
was a friendship fostered over many Asian Economic Panel (AEP) meetings held in different
places, but most often, in Seoul and Tokyo.
Long before I knew him, his last name Nidhiprabha fascinated me. At the AEP meet when

I first met him, he was listed as being from Thailand and was a discussant of a paper that was to
be presented. I do not know what his name meant in the Thai language but in Sanskrit, I knew
that Nidhi was “treasure” and Prabha was “bright light or glow.” So loosely translated, the name
would mean the “Glow of Treasure.”

When I met him in person, he impressed me as a scholar; a serious one at that until he smiled.
Tall, slim, and slightly greying—he fit the image of a learned man. Glow he did not, but a treasure
he proved to be as our friendship solidified over the many meetings we had since. Despite my
fascination with Nidhiprabha, I settled on calling him Bhanupong, simply because everyone else

did.
At the AEP meets I believe that he, along with Maria (Corina) from the Philippines, Chandra
(from Australia), Shigeyuki Abe (Yuki) (from Japan), and I (from Malaysia) formed an unofficial
caucus of close friends. Others there were—who moved in and out— but I like to think that we

formed the core.
Bhanupong came with impeccable academic credentials; a teaching position at Thammasat
University in Thailand and holding a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in the US. Yet, and this defined
the man, he never once brought into any conversation the prestigious schools he attended or his

brilliant academic achievements.

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