Tenzin Tsundue (born 1975) is a poet, writer and

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

refugee and activist. As of 2019 he has been taken into preventive custody, arrested or jailed 16 times for short durations for his activism by Indian authorities, as

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

does not allow Tibetans to engage in anti-China activities in India. When he was 22, he travelled to Tibet. However, he was arrested and sent back to India, "They told me I was born in India and so I did not belong to Tibet." He won the first-ever Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction in 2001 for his work "My Kind of Exile". He has published four books which have been translated into several languages: ''Crossing the Border'' (1999), ''Kora'' (2002), ''Semshook'' (2007), and ''Tsen-göl'' (2012). Tsundue's writings have also appeared in various publications around the world including the ''International PEN'', ''Outlook'', and ''The Times of India''. In 2002 the Indian edition of the international fashion magazine ''Elle'', named him among India's 50 most stylish people along with the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

. Tenzin Tsundue joined Friends of Tibet (India) in 1999 and is the current General Secretary. Tsundue lives in

Dharamshala Dharamshala (, ; also spelled Dharamsala) is a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It serves as the winter capital of the state and the administrative headquarters of the Kangra district since 1855. The town also hosts the Tibeta ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

Background

Tsundue's parents were forced to leave their country, Tibet, in 1959 fearing persecution by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. 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. Tsundue was born somewhere along that journey, in a makeshift tent along a roadside". Once when he asked his mother for his date of birth, she replied, 'Who had time to record a child's birth when everyone was tired and hungry?'. He did his schooling from Patlikuhal village,

Kullu valley Kullu Valley is a broad open valley in Himachal Pradesh, India, formed by the Beas River between Manali and Larji. This valley is famous for its temples, beauty and its majestic hills covered with pine and deodar forest and sprawling apple or ...

and

, and later went on to study English at Loyola College,

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and Mumbai University.

Writing

His first book of poems ''Crossing the Border'' was published while pursuing a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at Mumbai University. He won the Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction in 2001. His second book, ''Kora'' has been translated into French and Malayalam (and was also turned into an award-nominated play called "So Many Socks"). 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 Tibetan and Indian media and in international publications.

Activism

Tsundue has been involved in Tibet's independence movement since his student days. But he caught international media attention in January 2002 when he climbed the scaffolding outside the hotel where PRC Premier

Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji ( zh, s=朱镕基; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the 5th premier of China from 1998 to 2003. He also served as member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ...

was staying in Mumbai; he displayed a banner with the words "Free Tibet: China, Get Out" and a Tibetan flag while shouting pro-Tibetan slogans before being arrested by Indian police. In April 2005 he repeated a similar one-man protest when PRC Premier

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao ( zh, s=温家宝, p=Wēn Jiābǎo; born 15 September 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the 6th premier of China from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behin ...

was visiting the southern city of Bangalore. Standing on the balcony of a 200-foot-high tower at the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ...

, he unfurled a red banner that read "Free Tibet" while shouting "Wen Jiabao, you cannot silence us". As a result of his actions, the Indian police ordered a travel ban and Tsundue was ordered not to leave the town of Dharamshala, when the Chinese President

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

visited India in November 2006. In 2008, Tsundue announced his intention of taking part in a return march from Dharamshala to Tibet, that was 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 since 2002 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. Tenzin wrote in the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' in 2019 that, "whenever the president of China visits India, the Indian police locates me, no matter where I am and throws me into the nearest central jail". As of 2019, he has been arrested on 16 separate occasions. Before Xi's visit in 2019, he was jailed in

Puzhal Central Prison Puzhal Central Prison is a central prison complex located in Chennai (Chennai District), India. It is about 23 km from the city centre. The prison became operational from 2006 replacing the erstwhile Chennai Central Prison. Construction The ...

with 13 other Tibetans for 12 days and was the last to be released.

Walk a Mile for Tibet

On 12 February 2021, the day of the

Tibetan New Year Losar (; "new year"William D. Crump, "Losar" in ''Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide'' (McFarland & Co.: 2008), pp. 237-38.) also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various da ...

, Tenzin started a 500 km walk from Dharamshala to New Delhi seeking that India re-visits its "one-China policy". The main aim of the walk "is to highlight the issue of Tibet". He plans to cover the distance in one month, reaching New Delhi on 10 March, the

Tibetan Uprising Day Tibetan Uprising Day, observed on March 10, commemorates the 1959 Tibetan uprising which began on March 10, 1959, and the Women's Uprising Day of March 12, 1959, involving thousands of women, against the presence of the People's Republic of China ...

. As he walks to Delhi, he distributes pamphlets along the way and has crowdsourced translations into other regional languages to reach a wider audience. Tenzin says that he is also "informing people about India’s border security" in three languages. He walks holding both the Tibetan flag as well as the Indian tricolour.

References

Bibliography *

External links