Child of Tibet

Every now and then I pick up a book which I can't stop reading. I would read it through lunch, dinner, on the train, till the wee hours in the morning when I finally finish the book with a triumphant air. Child of Tibet by Soname Yangchen happened to be one of those books. Luckily it wasn't too thick and I finished it in two days. However in its 180 pages contained a journey of her life, through from being a carefree child in a Tibetan countryside Yarlung during the Chinese occupation, a child slave in Lhasa, a working adult around India and a singer in UK.



For me, one of the most memorable parts in her life described in the book was when she was summoned home to see her dying mother one last time. Shortly after she arrived home, her mother passed on. She describes the Tibetan death ritual which was quite disturbing for me. The Tibetans believe that at death, people's spirit becomes unfocused and frightened after finding themselves without a fleshly body that they are not able to find their way into rebirth. Therefore, the Bardo or the Book of the Death are read to them by lamas to soothe and direct them. She then describes the Tibetans practice of sky burials, which is when the body is cut up, the bones are pulverised and mixed together with the flesh with barley flour or 'tsampa'. Then, the vultures are called to feast on the body. In line with the Tibetans' Buddhist beliefs, this ritual is seen as giving alms to the vultures.

Another part of the book describes her three week trek across the Himalayas to escape to Kathmandu for a brighter future. The thing that striked me was how the group was united as one towards their goal of freedom. The author had not brought enough food on the trek, and the group of other Tibetans shared their meager fare with her. Her only pair of shoes broke during the rigorous climb, and the leader of the group gave her his spare pair of shoes. There were no selfishness, no hoarding of resources. The author explains the reason for this - 'Tibetans are not accustomed to thinking 'I don't like him, I can't stand her.' We don't get caught up in that sort of psychology, our minds are flexible, open.' 'I think one reason is because we don't have time. The effort simply to stay alive keeps us physically occupied from dawn to dusk, so that there is no time for the monkey mind to start paying up. Just to make a cup of tea takes two hours!'

The book has opened up a different culture, and indeed a different mindset towards life for me. The concept of karma and resigning to the flow of life reverbrates throughout the book and this is evidenced by how tha author's painful experiences were narrated. There are no bitterness, no hatred, no anger. Only a peaceful acceptance that they are all just part of her karma. Very refreshing.