‘We all look up at the same sky’: Jordan Quill, author of a children’s book on the magic of Tibet

A book, written, conceptualised, and designed specifically for children more often than not contains within it a discovery that is more relevant for adults than for the intended “target” audience. Packed within less than 40 pages, Karma and the Snow Lion, for this reader, opened up a universe that the adult world either neglects or deliberately shies away from due to a sense of apprehension, which could be either misplaced or justified. These fears and reservations are related to “complicated” matters of cross-border situations, geopolitical tensions, or perhaps, social compunctions, and beyond.

Set against the picturesque snow-capped vastness of the Himalayas, Karma and the Snow Lion is an ode to memory, language, culture, heritage, and the quiet resilience of life in exile. Published by Niyogi Books, written by Jordan Quill – a PhD scholar specialising in Northern Indian, Tibetan, and Himalayan textiles, architecture and art – and beautifully, sensitively illustrated by thangka painters Mitthu and Sonam Lama Tamang, the story follows Karma, a young pashmina goat born in exile, as he journeys – literally and metaphorically – toward a homeland he has never seen.

Pashmina, the fabric, is the thread that binds this book together in the exploration of layered themes of cultural preservation, oral and written traditions, and the...

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