Chunztenz

Everytime I meet someone new, the first question is, “where are you from?” Sounds easy right? Unless it is asked to someone like me.

In a perfect world, my answer would be simply ‘Mcleod Ganj’. But sadly, in this world where geography largely determines a person’s identity, my answer is complicated enough to cause a brain stroke.

On asking what my identity is, I always have this confusion what to answer. So as I prepared tea for my grandmother tonight, I asked her, where are we from!

She told me it’s a long story and that we are a mixture of an entire Tibet.

By the time, i found my tea stall floating upright, good luck isn’t it?

Anyways!

Then she took her first sip and told me, that my great grand father is from Lhasa, a place called RONG belonging to the blue blood, and my great grand mother is from Utsang TOEPA DHINGRE

And then she took an another sip and added,

My late Grandfathers, father was from AMDO GYARONG and a half SHERPA (Sherpa?- you will know it in the next paragraph) and his mother was from KHAM DHERGAY

Having mentioned all the three provinces, I was nearly confused, for our people often distinguish us on the basis of our provinces. And here I am, mixture of all the three provinces. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Then as I was thinking to my self, she added, My great grandparents from my late grandfather’s were from SOLOKUMPO, (a place between Nepal and Tibet) and that they lived there before the Chinese occupation and even after independence and that they are SHERPA (People who dwell in Solokumpu are called Sherpa) adding one more confusion to my confused mind.

She then took the last sip, and added “Now you see, you are a mixture of all the provinces” and told me, “When a Tibetan ask you where are you from, just say Tibet! And if the questioner ask from which province, tell them exactly from where you belong so that they won’t distinguish you on the basis of the three provinces ”

Smart answer, isn’t it?

Aren’t you tired when people ask you about your provinces?

We say we aren’t biased, racist but I always find our people the most biased and racist!

Sorry, this might be bitter, but well, they say truth is always bitter