Think Tibet

Interview with Aravinda Anantharaman A few posts back we had a review about Lama Mani Books. We sent a few queries to Aravinda Anantharaman, the author of the Lama Mani books and she was kind enough to reply back with detailed answers for them. 1. Tell us a little about yourself. Aravinda: I’ve always liked reading and I suppose writing was never too far behind. One of my early jobs was as writer for an online magazine on Bangalore. 2. In the Lama Mani books, it is mentioned that your interaction with the Tibetans in exile started during a interview with some people selling sweaters. Can you let us know more about this. Aravinda: As part of a feature series, we had planned to cover various communities here and I picked the Tibetans, call it karma. I had vague and assorted bits of information about them when I went to the pavement near the railway station to chat with the sweater sellers. One of the sweater sellers was Dorjee. He was in his mid-sixties then, in early ’99. He was also ...

Author speak Amrita Gupta talks to Aravinda Anantharaman about her children’s stories that describe lives in exile. How did the stories come about? Everybody in exile has a story. I first met the Tibetan sweater sellers when I was working for an online publication in 1999, and have kept in touch ever since. It seemed unreal to me: on the one hand these people lugging woollens and on the other, them being engaged in guerrilla warfare. Karnataka was the first state to give them asylum (in 1960), but nobody here knows much about these people even after ‘Free Tibet’ activism became a cool movement. There are five full-fledged settlements with schools and medical centres, but we just know there’s a Golden Temple to be gawked at on the way to Coorg. Is there a specific audience for these stories? The books are meant for everyone. But the primary audience we are trying to reach out to are the Tibetan kids. These are their stories. The distance [to their culture] is growing; many of these chil...

Lama Mani Books October 28, 2009 Lama Mani Books One of the most memorable moments when we visited Bylakuppe, a large Tibetan Settlement in Karnataka, was watching a group of young Tibetans kids playing cricket. The visit to Bylakuppe helped me realise about these wonderful group of people living far away from their home, trying to strike a delicate balance of preserving their own culture amidst an alien environment. Aravinda Anantharaman, a member of the group called ThinkTibet (a platform that helps in contributing to the Tibetan community in exile) and a few other volunteers chose the avenue of publishing children’s books to enlighten and give us a glimpse of the life of these people living in various settlements spread across India. As part of this initiative, two very interesting books have been published. They include – ‘Dolma visits the City’ and ‘Dorje’s Holiday at the Gyenso Khang’. These books are written by Aravinda and illustrated by Chime Tashi. These books are published u...

Tibet Talk with Jamyang Norbu in Bangalore July 30, 2009 by Tenzin Pema July 26, 2009 If you’re a Rangzen activist, a supporter of the Tibetan independence movement or simply an ardent follower of the Tibetan issue, then you must surely have a general understanding of Tibetan history. Still, if one needs a scrupulously well-researched and painstakingly honest argument to prove Tibet’s independence, the next time you’re part of a campaign or in a heated debate with a friend or stranger, the perfect solution would be to turn to Jamyang Norbu’s compilation of historical documents, maps, audio clips and photographs in a presentation titled “Independent Tibet – Some Facts.” (Please see www.rangzen.net) Jamyang Norbu on Tibet Talk The eminent Tibetan scholar, during a two-hour long session at the TCV auditorium in Bangalore organized by Think Tibet and the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, addressed a group of nearly 200 Tibetans, and spoke at length to prove the independence of Tibet befor...

A year later, Lama Mani Books has come out with two books for kids to talk about life in exile. On World Tibet Day, Aravinda agreed to do a guest post for our blog and give us some insight on how the project took shape. It was on the night of 17th March in 1959 that a 23-year old Tibetan monk escaped from his summer palace in Lhasa. He was the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal head of the country in the Himalayas. Ironically, he walked out the doors of his palace, dressed as a soldier. No one recognized him. It was a long and difficult journey down the mountain, and the Dalai Lama and his entourage also had the Chinese army to watch out for. A week later, they were able to pause and a messenger was sent to India, seeking asylum from Prime Minister Nehru. The journey continued with great difficulty and it was a fevered Dalai Lama who crossed the border on 31st March 1959. He was followed by tens of thousands of Tibetans who heard of their ‘Kundun’s’ dramatic escape with enormo...

We formed Think Tibet as a platform for Tibetans and Indians to work together to contribute to the community in exile. One avenue we have chosen is publishing of children’s books that will reflect the society in exile. As a tribute to the story tellers of Tibet whose tales regaled listeners’ young and old, our books will be published under the imprint, Lama Mani Books. Chief Representative of CTA releasing the two new title of Lama Mani Books Our first two titles were released on June 26th, 2009 as part of a Tibetan exhibition in Bangalore, Rewa - 50 years of Hope. To release the books, we had the honourable Kunga Dorje, Chief Representative of the Southern Tibetan settlements. Speaking on the occasion, he expressed his happiness at seeing something that was done for Tibetan children. “The contents of these two books are unique. A lot of people know very little about how Tibetans live in exile,” he said, adding that however small the publishing house, the books are ‘very important and ...

Progress in Rewa – 50 years of Hope The teams from Think Tibet and 1.Shanthi Road have been meeting regularly to discuss, follow up and assign tasks. We had made one visit to the Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe and had preliminary discussions with the Representatives there. We had a tour of the settlements and identified elements to be used in our exhibition. The Think Tibet team had also been collating information for a book publishing project and it gave us a head start to the project. In the last few weeks, we have worked on • Research – interviews of Tibetans in Bangalore and in neighboring settlements • Travels to settlements for research and documentation • Planning and design of the exhibition space • Assigned all collaborators their tasks with deadlines. • Collaborating with local artists and craftspeople for the exhibition • Fabrication of material such as prayer wheel, terracotta lamps, wooden stands We are also working towards a bi-lingual publication (English/Kannada (local...

1Shanthiroad Studio in collaboration with Think Tibet Organization is working on a project that marks 50years of Tibetans in exile. Project titled "Phayul Meyul - Touch, Hear, Smell, Taste, See Tibet" focuses on the Tibetan settlements in South India. Brief of the Project: In 1959, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet escaped the Chinese invasion and sought refuge in India. Thousands of Tibetans followed their leaders into exile, braving the elements and more importantly the threat to their lives if caught by the Red Army. By 1960, there was a sizeable population in India with no home to go to. The then Chief Minister of Karnataka, S.Nijalingappa came forward to offer land for settling the Tibetan refugees and the first Tibetan settlement in exile came up at Bylakuppe near Coorg. These are four settlements in Karnataka today - Bylakuppe which is the largest Tibetan settlement in exile, Mundgod near Hubli, Kollegal and Hunsur. Bangalore is home to students, youth who work...