Where Tibetans Write
Review of book Falling through the Roof by Thubten Samphel
Review by Tsering Namgyal Khortsa of Thubten Samphel’s novel Falling through the Roof: This magnificent novel from India — at once elegiac and exuberant — is in itself proof of the Tibetan resilience.
This was China’s attitude to Buddhism in the days of Mao. Why is China now after the Tibetan sun? The answer lies in history.
The taking of firm roots of a free, boisterous press in the Tibetan refugee community has facilitated the Dalai Lama’s own efforts at the democratisation of the exile Tibetan polity.
So, let’s start with the place, the whole place. Not as it is now, nor as it was, but as it is reflected in literature.
Dharamshala seems to be getting crowded these days. Earlier, the only crowd was the white crowd of the British Raj. But they left when the empire folded up.