A Tibetan writer reflects on the fight for his motherland while living in ‘exile’ in India

Winter sunshine warmed the corrugated roofs of the Tibetan houses, as if compensating for the cold of the night before. A horn of an occasional car echoed within the valley. After a long writing streak the previous night, I had woken slightly late and was sitting outside, enjoying the view of the snow-clad mountains and flipping through the newspaper. I heard the sound of people marching and shouting slogans. The noise grew louder as the crowd marched closer, the sound of protests already filling the area. They were, as expected, anti-Chinese slogans. But I could not immediately figure out the purpose of the gathering. Curiosity led me to step out of the house, to see what grievances they were vocalising that morning.

Coming down the steep road from the Dalai Lama’s main temple, often called Tsuglagkhang after its splendid seventh century namesake in Lhasa, were a group of Tibetans. In the first row were mostly nuns, followed by female students both young and old, wearing the Tibetan chuba, the traditional dress. The men folk brought up the rear. They were carrying anti-Chinese placards, some of which had the usual slogans: “China Get Out of Tibet”, “China Release Political Prisoners in Tibet”, as...

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