Tenzin Tsundue

Tenzin Tsundue is a poet, writer and a noted Tibetan freedom activist. He won the first-ever 'Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction' in 2001. He has published three books to date which has been translated into several languages. Tsundue’s writings have also appeared in various publications around the world including The International PEN, The Indian PEN, Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature, The Little Magazine, Outlook, The Times of India, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Better Photography, The Economic Times, Tehelka, The Daily Star (Bangladesh), Today (Singapore), Tibetan Review and Gandhi Marg. In 2002 the Indian edition of the international fashion magazine Elle, named him among India's 50 most stylish people.

Background

Tenzin Tsundue's parents were forced to leave their country, Tibet in 1959 fearing Chinese persecution. When they reached India, they worked as mountain road construction labourers in Masumari, Bir, Kullu, and Manali. Hundreds of Tibetans who came across into India died in those first few months as they could not bear the heat of summer, and the monsoon caught them in poor health. But the camp lived on and had many shifts along the road. Tenzin Tsundue was born somewhere along that journey, at a roadside, in a makeshift tent. His date of birth is not confirmed and three different records exist at different offices.He did his schooling in Dharamsala, and later went on to study in universities in Madras and Bombay.

The Writer

Tenzin Tsundue's writings have attracted international attention and is widely regarded by many as the leading voice of the Tibetan exile community. His first book of poems “Crossing the Border” was published with money begged and borrowed from classmates while doing his Masters Degree in Literature from Bombay University. He won the first 'Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction' in 2001. His second book Kora is already in its fifth edition and has been translated into French and Malayalam. His third book – Semshook, a compilation of essays on the Tibetan freedom movement was published in March 2007. His writings have also appeared in on a regular basis in the Indian media and in international publications.As a poet he represented Tibet in the Second South Asian Literary Conference in New Delhi in January 2005 organized by Sahitya Akademi, Poetry Africa 2005 and KATHA Asia International Utsav 2006, New Delhi.

The Activist

Tenzin Tsundue has been at the fore-front of Tibet's struggle for independence right from his student days. But he caught international media attention in January 2002 when he scaled the scaffolding and reached the 14th floor of a Mumbai five-star hotel, when the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji was inside. Even as Indian policemen threatened to crush him under a service elevator, he unfurled a Tibetan national flag and tied a 20-foot 'Free Tibet' banner to the scaffolding. In April 2005 he repeated a similar stunning one-man protest when the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was visiting the southern city of Bangalore. Standing on the balcony of a 200-foot-high tower at the Indian Institute of Science, he unfurled a red banner that read 'Free Tibet' while shouting 'Wen Jiabao, you cannot silence us'.Tenzin Tsundue's heroics have made many uncomfortable. The Indian police ordered a travel ban and he was ordered not to leave the town of Dharamsala, when the Chinese President Hu Jintao visited India in November 2006.In 2008, Tenzin Tsundue announced his intention of taking part in a 'return march' from Dharamsala to Tibet, that is being organized as a part of the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement", a united effort put together by five major Tibetan NGOs.Tsundue has been wearing a red band around his head for the past eight years which, he says is the mark of his pledge that he would work for the freedom of his country, and would never take it off until Tibet is free.

Poems

Tenzin Tsundue's poetry stems from his political ideologies but are nevertheless accessible to everyone. A few samples of his verses follow.

BETRAYAL

"My father died
defending our home,
our village, our country.
I too wanted to fight.
But we are Buddhist.
People say we should be
Peaceful and Non-Violent.
So I forgive our enemy.
But sometimes I feel
I betrayed my father."

LOSAR GREETING

Tashi Delek!
Though in a borrowed garden
you grow, grow well my sister.
This Losar
when you attend your Morning Mass,
say an extra prayer
that the next Losar
we can celebrate back in Lhasa.
When you attend your convent classes
learn an extra lesson
that you can teach children back in Tibet.

Last year
on our happy Losar,
I had an IDLI-SAMBAR breakfast
and wrote my BA final exams.
My IDLIS wouldn't stand
on my toothed steely forks,
but I wrote my exams well.
Though in a borrowed garden
you grow, grow well my sister.
Send you roots
through the bricks,
stones, tiles and sand.
Spread your branches wide
and rise
above the hedges high.
Tashi Delek!
"

Quotes

Non violence:
"I am a staunch believer in Non-Violence. In Violence, the tension lasts temporarily causing harm to the self, the other and the surrounding. For example in an outburst of Violence involving a killing, one dies but only once. In Non-Violence however, there is no at-a-go shot to take. It is a process, in prevailing the Truth, and while on the journey, the practitioner suffers, dying everyday. This is a difficult path, and there is no shortcut available. That is why when people give up they take up Violence as a last resort."

"We are willing to die, but we are not willing to kill"

Freedom Struggle:
"Freedom struggle is my life. I live freedom struggle. Every inch of my life i see struggle."

"If the demand of struggle is making you unsettled, troubled, then be happy that you are taking part in the struggle. But if it's not, then you are not taking part in the struggle enough".

"

References and External Links

* http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/magazine/18tibet.html?ex=1292562000&en=60573fd71359ffd5&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
* http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/22dilip.htm
* http://www.friendsoftibet.org/tenzin/essays/my_kind_of_exile.html
* http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=11030&t=1&c=5
* https://www.ubu.org.uk/societies/tibet/News/tenzin-tsundue-2
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6148216.stm
* http://vleeptron.blogspot.com/2006/07/2-poems-what-happened-to-poet-when-he.html
* http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=939
* http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/2006/11/china-india-and-tenzin-tsundue.html
* http://www.friendsoftibet.org/tenzin/poems.html
* http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tenzin_tsundue/2006/12/tenzin_tsundue.html