Tibetans in exile live on borrowed memories: Poets

Tibetan poets living in India believe that the second generation is surviving on "borrowed memories" of their homeland even as some consider their residence here as 'Bardo' - the period of the afterlife that lies in between two different incarnations.
"My parents who came from Tibet, they have the memories of Tibet and live in nostalgia. They are old today and are increasingly losing hope that they may not be able to return home. I have no nostalgia of Tibet because I have never lived there," says poet, writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue who was born to Tibetan parents in India.

"I live on borrowed memories of Tibet and when I go out and speak to Indian friends and anybody else, I talk to them about Tibet about which my parents and grandparents told us. We are the second generation (Tibetans) growing up in India, and now the third generation is already writing in English in schools and colleges. This is where we are today. This is where our writing is today," he said.
Tsundue was moderating a discussion here yesterday titled 'Inside the Exile: encounter with Tibet in India' during the 5th edition of the Samanvay - an annual festival of Indian languages ongoing at the India Habitat Centre.

The festival theme this year is : 'Insider/Outsider: Writing India's dreams and realities'.
Speaking during the session, Tibet-born poet Bhuchung Sonam stressed that the younger generation of Tibetans are as much culturally aware as their elders.

"...About 400 to 500 books are published from inside Tibet. There are about 200 journals being published with circulation of about 27,000 (copies).
"My whole idea is to tell the story of Tibet in a more personal way," Sonam said, adding that writing in English proved a wider range of readership and audience.
Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, speaking during the discussion said she "felt at periphery" and wondered at the "ambivalence and uncertainty" that loomed for the community.

Tsering recited one of her poems, "... Once a week we question whether our country will be free. We are not warriors. We know a working bowel is proof of a healthy life. We know people who do not speak our dialect are sitting at a table. With pen and paper they will map our future."
"The Tibetan is the language of my identity and English is the language of my struggle," she said.
Pointing out that Tibetan word 'Bardo' means an intermediary 49 days period between death and re-birth," Sonam said he was "forced out of Tibet" when he was around 10-11 years old and has been living in India since then.

"As someone forced out of his country and being compelled to learn English in exile, I feel like being in a bardo or the intermediate state between death and rebirth. I think I am neither an insider nor an outsider," Sonam said.
He recited a poem "Losing ourselves" an ode to the struggling Tibetan community.