Where Tibetans Write

Latest articles

• Losar

  6 February, by Bhuchung D Sonam
  We should celebrate Losar Some say… To open a new chapter Be Tibetan, Dress Tibetan Eat Tibetan Speak Tibetan To hold our heads high Walk a new path, mindful of the past. We should not celebrate Losar Others say … To respect the dead and the jailed Be Tibetan, Recite mani Pray for all Knead your rosary Remember that Our brothers and sisters are suffering. To celebrate or not to celebrate The essence is in the difference. Losar is a good way to assert (...)

• Deconstructing Ngabo

  4 February, by Jamyang Norbu
  China-watchers have always considered official photographs, such as the May Day line-up of party bosses, as invaluable instruments to measure not only fluctuations in party hierarchy but even possible changes in policy. Since the politics of Dharamshala now seem to be a equally shrouded in mystery and silence as those of the most uncommunicative totalitarian nation, I have, of late, been increasingly forced to adopt the oblique methods of China-watchers to learn what new policies, what (...)

• The other…

  4 February, by Tsering Dolkar
  Buddha lies hidden under a silk scarf Tucked in a drawer at home in Lhasa At night I restore it, and say my prayers Prayers to forgive my cowardice Prayers to relieve me of suffering. I look from afar at the giant monastic doors The crowd walks in with their prayer beads I have pledged my hands to communism I can’t go in with my old butter lamp. Night after night I am awake in my dreams I hear the echo of my dead parents I relive their hunger and blood in revolution It is here (...)

• Change Change Change

  4 February, by Bhuchung D Sonam
  In One Hundred Years of Solitude, the master wordsmith Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells the story of Colonel Jose Arcadia Buendia and his incestuous family stuck in a time warp in Macondo, a small town located somewhere in that appallingly chaotic continent of South America. In the end a child with a pig’s tail is born to Aurelio, the seventh and the last generation of the Buendia. The newborn baby is consumed by a feasting sea of red ants as his mother lies dead on the bed. I surely do not see (...)

• Shadow

  19 January, by TW
  A shadow that follows Wherever I go, A shadow that allows No freedom, wherever I go. This shadow of injustice Was born before my birth, This shadow of tyranny That encroached my house. Run, run away From the specter of this shadow With all might I shun from the phantoms of its darkness. A shadow of prejudice As a homeless vagrant, A shadow of humiliation In an inescapable vicious (...)

• Mani

  19 January, by TW
  One Recite one Mani Recite ten Mani Recite one hundred, one thousand Mani Pray ! Ten thousand, one hundred thousand Mani ! Countless are the spirits of those who have died Endless the warm spilt blood, the flowing river. Thus with each and every Mani Shall come immeasurable grief and compassion Love, affection and untainted prayer. Two Light one splendid butter lamp Light ten splendid butter lamps One hundred, one thousand splendid butter lamps Give the light of ten thousand, (...)

• New Man Same Chair

  19 January, by Bhuchung D Sonam
  The appointment of Pema Thinley as a governor of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) under China is widely reported by Reuters, BBC, The Straits Times and many other news media around the world. Jampa Phuntsok However, for Tibetans, inside Tibet and in exile, the news came as just another regimented official exchange of position in a carefully manufactured show. Jampa Phuntsok (Ch. Qiangba Puncog), Pema Thinley — and others who apparently hold high positions — are mascots to show (...)

• Struggle, Struggle

  17 January, by Bhuchung D Sonam
  Review of Free Tibet by Pramod Wadnerkar Published by Step by Step Publisher, New Delhi Pages 399 Tibet has always enchanted travellers, writers, soul seekers, missionaries and adventurers since the ancient times. As a result a large number of books were written about it — ranging from absurd fiction such as The Third Eye by Lobsang Rampa (assumed Tibetan name of Cyril Hoskins, a plumber’s son from Plympton in Devon, England) to fantastically well researched political books like China’s (...)

• How far can you "see" Lhasa?

  13 January, by TW
  Seeing Lhasa is an interesting book. One’s ability to understand or in other words to “see” a place is directly influenced by the authors’ understanding of the place, how they chose to portray it, especially if you are a novice. The effectiveness of authors’ argument also depend to a large extend, to your understanding of the place, your political biases (in this case) and your persuasive skills. However, any book that analyses “how it was back in the day” needs to be read with an (...)

• The Frozen Pass: tale of a refugee

  6 January
  The sky was clear except for the few clouds which moved slowly with the wind. At 15,000 feet above sea level the air feels crispy fresh and without pollution. I could feel the sensation of cleansing as I breathed the air into my lungs and exhaled it out into space. The surrounding mountains were covered in thick snow since the heavy blizzards over the last couple of weeks. After trekking for four days we reached the base of Nangpa-la pass; this was the last barrier before freedom, then we (...)

0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 |...