CHRONICLING TIBET

From Ukraine and Armenia 2023 has reminded us that many people across the world still fight for their freedom, more or less seen, more or less supported. Among them is the 75-year-old struggle of Tibetans against the People's Republic of China.

- Bérénice Guyot-Réchard

ECHOES FROM FORGOTTEN MOUNTAINS 
Tibet in War and Peace by Jamyang Norbu Penguin Viking ₹1,299; 962 pages

With Echoes of Forgotten Mountains, Jamyang Norbu-a Kalimpong-born Tibetan who joined the resistance in the 1970s before becoming a prominent independence activist, critical of a government-in-exile he accuses of meekness towards China-offers a magnificent history of Tibetans' resistance against Chinese occupation, despite overwhelming odds, fickle American support, and the world's indifference. Others have told the story of this fight for survival. Few have told it with such power and insight. Ever since he began writing historical plays for the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in the '70s, Norbu realised that to document Tibetan history and culture was to resist against its erasure. Over the years, he became one of the sharpest chroniclers of his people, doggedly tracking archival material and persuading Tibetans to tell their stories.