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Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh PalTenzin Phuntsok was brought to India from his homeland, Tibet, at the tender age of nine. He respects this decision of his elders, though he has left his mother back home, and has never been able to meet her again.
Growing up in India under the care of his uncle and the school authorities, who stand in for the parents of such refugee children, he is happy enough in India, his foster home. However, being the child of a freedom fighter, he never forgets his roots, and is very conscious of his Tibetan identity.
My Name Is Tenzin, I Am Not Chinese is a first person narrative of this young Tibetan’s experiences as a college student in Chennai.
Written in an easy conversational style, the story is rich with humor that cloaks the poignancy of an uprooted youth’s life in a place which is poles apart from his Himalayan homeland.
The book also provides a well-researched insight into the academic opportunities in Chennai.
Pam D. Tenzin
Tenzin Phuntsok alias Doring Tenzin, arrived in India as a refugee at the age of nine.
He completed his schooling from Tibetan Homes School, Mussoorie, where he topped the 12th Standard Board Exam, 2006. In the same year, he joined Madras Christian College and completed B.A., M.A. and M.Phil in Political Science.
His college years have not just been restricted to academic life. In 2007, he served as PRO of Tibetan Students Association in Madras, where he also served twice as president in 2008 and 2012. In early 2008, he had to skip college exams along with several others to actively participate and lead in the freedom protests against China in New Delhi in the months preceding the Beijing Olympics. He also served as chief coordinator of the 3rd Tibetan College Students Conference in Varanasi.
Having lost scholarship, he has also worked for some time in BPOs in Chennai, in order to complete his arrear papers and fund his education.
He served as General Secretary of the National Democratic Party of Tibet for a short stint in 2014-2015. In 2016, he unsuccessfully contested the 16th Tibetan Parliamentary Election in Exile. He has deep interest in the political processes of Tibet, India, U.K., U.S., and China. He is married to Tenzin Dolma and lives in Dharamsala, known as the ‘Little Tibet’ in Himachal Pradesh, India.
This first book of his, chronicles the story of his life, from the time his family’s fortunes changed from being landed aristocrats in Lhasa to refugees in India, in the wake of the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
