Book review on 7 years in Tibet

Hi all,

Welcome back to my blog, today I want to write a review on a book called 7 years in Tibet, I assumed most of you have watched this movie but only few of  you read this book am i right ?

I watched this  movie  few times in my life, recently watched again on Netflix.

Being a Tibetan watching a movie is not enough, I felt I should read and understand the real history of Tibet, So i ordered from Amazon and paid 332 Rs.

Author is Heinrich Harrer, he was born in 1921 died in 2006 that time he was 93, he is an Austrian and famous mountaineer,Olympic ski champion and he was climbing the Himalaya when the Second World War erupted in Europe.

He was imprisoned by the British in DehraDun North India, after attempting few escape plan,  he was able to escape from the jail.

He walked through Nepal, he faced lots of challenges on the way to Lhasa Tibet, at the end he reached Lhasa Tibet and asylum was granted with help of Dalailama's elder  brother Lobsang Samten,  that time foreigners were not welcoming in Tibet as you know Tibet was an isolated country for many centuries and he became the first Westerner into the forbidden city Lhasa.

After settled down in Lhasa he became a good friend and English tutor  of H.H. the 14th Dalailama, he also invited to Norbulingka by H.H. the 14th Dalailama's parents, he received  gift from His holiness mother and he have wrote detail about that event in his book, that was mesmerising. 

He learned how to speak Tibetan,  built electronic connections and did so many volunteer  engineering projects in Lhasa.

When I read this book, I gained new knowledge about the twilight  years of Tibetan freedom, he able to photograph people and scenes from all walks of life, he has an exhibition centre in Austria and displayed all the photographs he took when he was in Lhasa.

He also highlighted how Tibetan people celebrate Losar and other festival in Tibet,  described business deal  in the Bakhor street, later he bought a house in Bakhor street and he have a servant.

When Chinese start invade Tibet,he left all his property to his servant, he said his  servant is a hard working man and always loyal to him.

He shared story about how he celebrated first Christmas in Lhasa Tibet by invited some of his Tibetan friends,few German who settled in Tibet and some British who worked in British embassy in Lhasa, there are so many interesting stories to read,when i read his book i felt like i am a time traveler and back to 1940's with him, so i highly recommended you guys read it once.   

If you read this book you will  get so many insights about Tibetan history, magnificent culture of Tibet during the twilight years of Tibetan freedom.

Thanks for reading, this much for today and see you in the next blog.

Good night 

Tenzin.