Fiction on travails of Tibetan refugees in India
Rajkumari Sharma Tankha
Tibetan refugees in India. I am sure each one of you must have visited the Tibetan market in your vicinity sometime of the other, bought those warm shawls, eaten those spicy momos. But, have you ever wondered about their fate in our country? How do they go through the daily grind of life living in another country?
Pinakie Kansabanik’s debut novel, Mountains to Manhattan, published by Omji Publishing House (New Delhi) released on July 23 at The Citadel Lounge, Eldeco Green Meadows, Sector Pi, Greater Noida, talks about them.
Kansabanik, a resident of Greater Noida, is a MICE professional. Mountains to Manhattan is his first English fiction about the life and culture of Tibetans in India. It speaks about the status of the Tibetan refugees in India.
The main protagonist of the novel is a young woman who realizes the predicament of her status when she sets out to achieve her dream like any other young adult in India. That is the turning point of her life. She embarks upon a journey into the unknown, in search of her identity and in the world of gender stratifications she stumbles upon her other identities of a wife, daughter, sister, and an employee.
“So far, No one has written so closely in a form of a fiction about the problems faced by the Tibetan refugees in India. The issue about nationality crisis faced by the Tibetan people needs a voice to address their problems. Hence this book,” says Kansabanik.
“Books are mirror of the society. Inculcating the habit of reading will help people deal with the daily stress of their professional lives and give them a lot of peace of mind too,” said Shalinee Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Noida Customs Commissionerate, who was the guest of honour at the book release event.
