Dechen and Thupten — A Love Story
He reads the letter again, slowly absorbing each word. Athar blurts, “What’s the news, genla? Don’t worry, we are all here for you, the entire school is here for you.” “They want me to get married”, says Thupten.
Old Echoes
Smell of freshly churned butter tea / Coming from our 4 ft. square kitchen, / In our small home back in Bir / Where our long sighs tell our grief
In a muddle kingdom
It’s up to India to decide whether to host such a dharma avatar as the Seventeenth Karmapa as a refugee, or to hand the sceptre to a triumphant China.
Imagining Tibet
couldn’t help but to think about the paradox that become obvious as the conversation progressed. Here was this man, recounting his experiences about his pilgrimage to India, for him the land where Tibetan Buddhism came from, and a life-changing experience in many ways.
Yak Ride to Bike Ride
Review of film Tsampa to Pizza by Sonam Tsetan
Tsampa to Pizza is a Tibetan-oriented film and needs to be watched by all of our people, especially the old and doubtful ones.
Of Exile, Youth and Writing
The literary works of young exile Tibetans are a raw and unpolished burst of energy that springs from their deeply wounded souls.
My Kind of Exile
Ask me where I’m from and I won’t have an answer.
The Depraved Era (1959-1969)
Life threatened / Separated / By the devils hand
Short Ones
Around the natural tower, we travel / And we climb on the pillar of life.
To Boat People
Oh, you brave people / I greet you in exile!
I’m Tired
I am tired, / I am tired doing that 10th March ritual, screaming from the hills of Dharamsala.
Horizon
From home you have reached / the Horizon here. / From here to another
Bread and Freedom
Review of book KORA by Tenzin Tsundue
Our final kora will be complete when we return to a ’free’ homeland after years of roaming in foreign jungles. But to fulfil this ultimate journey, we need writers, activists, statesmen, thinkers and most of all bread-and-freedom poets to paint our reality as it is — so that when the kora is complete we can plan our future ’in our own words, in our own silence, and in our own wisdom.’
Conflicts of Duality: Call of an Exile Poet
Review of book Conflicts of Duality by Bhuchung Sonam
Tempting as it is to quote and discuss more lines from this book, I would prefer the readers make their own judgement. But the temptation itself speaks to how profound an experience the read would be. For Tibetan readers, it will be like venturing into the familiar terrain as one after another recognisable characters/images pop up every now and then.
Telling the Exile Tibetan Story Like It Is
Review of film Dreaming Lhasa by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
Review by Dechen Pemba of the film ‘Dreaming Lhasa’: For so many Tibetans born in exile, Tibet is significant as an absence, an omnipresent looming large all-encompassing void.