The Moon of Lhasa

By Hemant Gahlot Rajendra Mishra

"The force behind writing this novel is the silent freedom-movement run under the most precarious conditions by the Tibetans forced to live under the dictates of China. The unprecedented genocide and an attempt to annihilate the very race constitute the primary framework of the story. This blending of fact with fiction has been effectively and s

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing
• Release date: Oct 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9789361722806

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The Moon of Lhasa

Rajendra Mishra

Translated by Hemant Gahlot

Ukiyoto Publishing

All global publishing rights are held by

Ukiyoto Publishing

Published in 2023

Content Copyright © Rajendra Mishra

ISBN 9789359201214

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

www.ukiyoto.com

For the liberation of Tibet

Foreword

Humanity is put in perpetual danger by the problem of citizen’s freedom and displacement throughout the world. Those nations that enjoy freedom are also confronting the problem of citizen’s freedom and displacement. Even today the narrowness of nationalism has kept man of the new century accursed.

Peace and prosperity cannot be imagined in this post-modern society without a multifaceted culture and comprehensive human context. The problem of citizen’s freedom and worldwide displacement is the cynosure of this novel.

A report of an international commission of jurists is published in a book entitled Tibet and the Chinese People’s Republic which is issued by the Legal Enquiry Committee on Tibet. The Secretary General of this commission, Dr. Jean-Flavien Lalive, wrote in his foreword that this (report) has also been submitted to the UNO. This Commission included notable judges, professors and lawyers. They did not belong to any government institution or political ideology. This committee described in detail the genocide in Tibet between 1950-1960. It also contains evidentiary details of the actual events.

Reading this report brings the whole event live to the eyes. Such a huge genocide did not occur even during both the World Wars put together in the twentieth century. There is no equal to this genocide throughout human history. The world remained quiet, even after such a gruesome genocide. Even the World Organization could do nothing against this superpower. And this brings to us the face of the century that is dreaming of living in a Space-Age.

The plot of The Moon of Lhasa is developed by placing Tibet in the center in the context of citizen’s freedom, displacement and genocide. But this novel is social in nature and the citizen’s tortures and tribulations are projected through a humanitarian approach. The novel is not political. All the characters and the events are imaginary. The sole purpose of this novel is to bring to the fore the human tragedy of a nation. The question of citizen’s freedom of the world is directly connected with it. Amid this problem of displacement and independence, the 21st century is also up against the fatal phenomenon of terrorism. 

When would the time come when all the people of the world will be free in the true sense; when they will be able to live in their own houses in their own country; when they would not have to face displacement. Our sole aim is to bring this all to the frontiers of the world plebiscite and world organizations. There is no objective of the novel other than the one just cited. The author and the publisher are not responsible for linking it with any other purpose or any type of political interpretation whatsoever.

Rajendra Mishra

*‘Tibet and the Chinese People’s Republic’ – a report to the International Commission of Jurists by its Legal Inquiry Committee on Tibet, published by Sterling Publishers (P) Ltd. Delhi, Jullundur. First Indian Edition 1966.

Translator’s Note

The Hindi version came out in 2015 and hence the sequencing of some of the events might require the reader to turn back to ensure the timeline of the references. The events are not chronological in order. The writer endeavored to develop an international backdrop to the problem of the Tibetans post-Chinese seizure. The political issue has been dealt with through a humanitarian approach that targets the emotional involvement of the reader in the culture and society of the people of Tibet. Set in a romantic vein, the narrative is woven around Suvir and his involvement with three women; with whom he is attached emotionally; but finds it difficult to commit to any one of them maritally. The basic thrust of the author remains Tibet throughout the novel. He also ensures that there is no one in the entire fictional world who is not, in any way, connected to the focal object of his concern.

Translating this work demanded arduous work for more than one reason. Even in the original language, Rajendra Mishra has made subtle experiments with the language he adopted in writing this novel. Quite often, the colloquial terms in Hindi impose a tough task in bringing about exact and meaningful reproduction in English. I would also like to put on record that I have maneuvered the script using novel words/sentences to express the idea when all the means failed to convey the original into English. However, it was so negligible in quantity that it hardly needs mention, where and why I did it. The basic approach was to communicate the text to the readers of English through an understandable composition which is English, yet a translation of Hindi into English.

Some of the culture-specific words of Hindi have been retained because they have been somehow accepted in English over time and, through various media viz. cinema and social networking, have been made understandable to English audiences as well. A few footnotes at places have been added to clarify some usages but I have not resorted to them on a large scale because they sometimes interrupt the reading for no fruitful reason. The rest is a diligent effort towards making this piece of work interestingly presentable to the global English reader.

Happy reading until we meet again in some other book.

Hemant Gahlot

1

T

he world is marching forward, the problems too are becoming ghastly. Where there is autocracy, people are living amidst oppression. Where there is democracy, the agitations are a common occurrence. Amidst all the efforts for peace, there is no peace. The nations indulge in skirmishes for geography, within the nation. God knows, how many have become homeless! They are perforce displaced because of the religion. In our own country, the problem of people breaking in illegally is on the rise. At the same time, the number of grief-stricken displaced is also going up.

The UNO exists but is helpless against the superpowers. It is just for the namesake that there is a World Organization, though that is also run by the Superpowers. They only finance it. Suvir has been brooding over all these. He has read about many people. He is well-versed in the global political system. He has raised the Global Human Forum many times. But this does not work for long. Writers and citizens connect with social media for some days, and then no one knows where they disappear. Suvir has built a similar organization in India which constantly keeps a watch on the indigenous circumstances. He also runs a TV channel, but for a long time it has been off air. He thinks about his life in his solitude.

What did he achieve in the 45 years of his life? Samantha entered his life for some time. She was a Tamil. For two years they stayed together as live-In partners, later they separated on their own will. Samantha was struggling for Tamil Eelam. Suvir could not accompany her. He thought he might do something on the ideological level, but what can he do in reality! The path of struggle is open in a democracy. Unless the people rise, nothing will happen.

He opened his mail-box after a long time. There is one from Samantha. It has been three years! No communication during this time. Suddenly there is an email. He is reading –

‘Suvir,

You were right. I have been living in Sri Lanka for three years. Stayed here with a project. People are not in a decent shape, yet, their systems are changing slowly. Indian Government could not do much. In India, our approach is usually to politicize everything; but rest of the nations, worry about themselves. Have concern about their own people. 

I am returning to India. Next month. Want to see you. So far, we lived in our own individual worlds. Want to know about you before I meet. Hope you would care to reply the mail. … Yours, Samantha.’

Suddenly Suvir is coming out of depression. He never expected this email. He thought for a long time; what answer should he make to Samantha’s email. Nothing happened in his life after Samantha went away. Yet, now he does not feel anything like he felt while he was with Samantha. It was a strange condition. He kept brooding till two in the morning, then quickly he drafted a small email before going to bed.

‘Samantha,

Your email. Suddenly a very comforting feeling. My life is still as it was when you went away. There is no change whatsoever. Just the TV channel is off-air. Sometimes I do pen an article. They get printed. Formed a small group. Just immersed in my own research. You are coming, good. I would be waiting. Send emails sometime if you wish. It will make me feel good…. Suvir.’

He was already feeling drowsy before he had started drafting the email, but now, do not know why, he could not sleep until morning. He thought – what is the need of a woman in a man’s life. Why does he feel lonely without her. How much loneliness he suffered after Samantha left. They had separated easily and with the consent of each other. They both did not want to marry. Suvir wanted to form a global organization. He had read many books on international relations. He had intensely researched on partition of India and the problem of terrorism in the countries that were separated from her along with Indo-China relations and the genocide in Tibet.

He understood the inhuman face of imperialism in this so-called free and developed world. Tibet was one such case where the claws of a superpower had clutched its whole geography in her fists. Even UNO felt helpless. The people of Tibet are self-molesting themselves for their freedom but the entire world is mute. He figured, is the World Organization merely there to oppress the small countries? They can free East Timor from the clutches of Indonesia but not Tibet from China. Suvir had studied Indo-Tibet culture and politics with a historical perspective. He had also read the reports of the Commissions in which the disastrous pictures of the large-scale genocide and caste-annihilation in Tibet come live before your eyes. When he ran a huge campaign on the TV, he was forced to shut his channel.

Just like people migrated from India to America, similarly people are coming from America to invest in India. Despite all efforts made by India, she has not found a place in the Security Council like the other superpowers. How many more years do we need to come equal with China. Even now, we have border disputes with her. He was interested in things like these because he was a student of international politics. Many people are coming from China to India and are investing money here. Suvir talks to them too. He wants to build a think-tank for Indo-China matters. He realized, whenever he talked about Tiananmen, the faces of his Chinese friends turned gloomy. But they do not say anything, just keep quiet. How things change! The Buddhism spread out of India into other countries. Buddhism spread in China and Tibet too, but the moment Communism entered China, everything changed. How China seized Tibet and what happened after that was catastrophic beyond description. The heart shatters. Often, he asks himself – was such a genocide ever, anywhere committed after seizing of a nation as was done in Tibet? There is no other instance as this, in the history of the modern world.

Suvir thinks, everybody condemns America but still desires to go there only. He also likes to talk to his American friends. They, unlike Chinese, are not selective but incredibly open. They talk freely. He thinks, if the democracy of American system comes to our country, many of the local political humdrum and agitations would end.

He is busy since early in the morning. There are many youths, male and female, in his group. They are all Indians. He wants them to talk freely about the problems of our country. Even after such a long time after independence, we have not made as much progress as we could have been done. Even our neighboring nations do not bother about us. Kashmir is still an unresolved issue. China still eyes Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. When he reached the ‘Citizen Awakening and Encounter Forum’ many colleagues had already gathered there. Suvir himself presides this forum.

Presently the problem of displacement is the most significant one. The people of India are stuck up in many countries. There is war going on in the middle east, terror is spreading. Peace is being destroyed amidst the religious fundamentalism. Even the World Organization is unable to do anything. People are not ready to get over with their adamancy.  It is explosion, death and destruction everywhere. But there is one community in the world that is still drawing attention of the world organization towards it, through Self-immolation. It is fighting a silent battle for freedom by destroying itself.

At the time of independence, there was a buffer state in our neighborhood which was free; it was suddenly appropriated by a superpower in its own territory. China proclaimed it as her own land, but alas! the people of Tibet, who were China’s own people, met with a brutal oppression. Attempts were made to destroy their cultural identity. A large-scale genocide was committed. No one, nowhere took cognizance of such an oppression of humanity, of this torture, of this ruthless violence. India felt too sad about it but she could do nothing. We became independent but the freedom of Tibet was robbed.

We are also suffering from the problem of displacement in our own country. The people of Kashmir Valley were displaced for their religion. They became displaced in their own nation. There is no one to listen to. Our government is busy in the politics of minority. Is that our secularism? There are three young persons with Suvir. For long they have been talking about the problems within the country. How they raised the Women Protection Force. One must protect oneself. Police cannot be deployed everywhere. As such, we are short of police force. All that we have, is managing the security of the big people. Crime has become the biggest challenge to our democracy. The government must decide its priority, else the whole nation will become a place full of threat, accident or fear, for the average person.

Anay in this group is very vocal. He put forth a plan of what is being done about the awareness of the people and where. How the number of infiltrators from Bangladesh is incessantly increasing? It has become a threat to the nation. They have been given ID cards to use them as vote banks. This number is not in lakhs, but in crores. The people of those areas where they have created encroachment are now revolting against them. Crime is on the rise.

Atish does not speak much but he also agrees that all this is not good for our country. The reason behind this is the petty politics of the nation. General public has nothing to do with it. There are all types of people with Suvir. Here in this assembly, they present the report-card of the month-long activities that they do around the nation. There network is huge but, in the assembly, there are hardly eight to ten people. Today there are only three. Anita did not come with Anay and Atish. There is a new girl. Anay introduces her –

‘Suvir ji, * this is Ashika. She comes from Pakistan. There, close to the boarder, terrorism is spreading all around. Al Jazeera has appointed her to cover India.’

‘Ashika! what does she want to cover?’ said Suvir looking at Anay.

‘Circumstances, here and around. It is rumored all around that there is nothing good happening with the minorities in India. They are worst affected in Kashmir.’

‘There can be nothing more of misinformation than this. The extent to which the minorities are safe here, they are not safe even in Pakistan.’

‘I do not understand, why this rumor is running around like this! I came here only last week. I also went to Kashmir valley, there is no problem anywhere there. Just the terrorists are a menace. Else, it is all peaceful.’ Ashika was speaking slowly. She was feeling a little anxious here.

‘No problem, Ashika ji. You may come to the group any time. We will surely pass on to you any information that we have. We want that the politics here should not use minorities for votes only. Our country is secular, and not to mention that all this is so because the majority is secular. For them, all religions are equal. They pay more importance to humanity.’

‘You speak very good Urdu.’

‘Hindi and Urdu are not separate tongues. They have been divided because of religion. Khari Boli, # that is called Hindi, was first used by Muslims. In a colloquial usage, Hindi and Urdu cannot be separated.’

‘If you have no objection, then can I come to the assembly frequently?’

* Adding ji to a name is a frequent practice to express respect in Hindi language

# A variety of Hindi language

‘There is nothing to hide here. You keep coming. Why just me, no one would ever object.’

After this everyone left the place. Suvir was once again alone.

He is getting a phone call. It is Samantha.

‘Samantha, what is up? When are you coming?’

‘Suvir, I am stuck here.  I was at the airport to come to Delhi from Jaffna. Just then I was detained for interrogation.

‘Why? what is the matter?’

‘Nothing much now. The government here thinks that I can put the true picture of the conditions here before the Indian government. The falsehood being spread from here around the world would be opened to all. They want to check the evidences I have, and examine them. They say my research is just a cover. I have come here to find the reality.’

‘Can I do something?’

‘No need right now. My arrival may be delayed now. My mobile is seized. You do not worry. I will myself call you as soon as I can.’

‘All right, Samantha! I am concerned. Your call will be eagerly awaited.’

Suvir disconnected the call.

He was very tired. He felt a heaviness on his conscience. He never loved Samantha but they lived together. A kind of attachment there was. He never knew how he was born! When he came of age in the orphanage, he learnt that his mother left him immediately after birth in the hospital. His father had died before he was born. Mother refused to accept him. She could not manage her child. When he was just two, his mother, too, died. He was also told that his mother never came to see him.

Suvir’s life had been awfully empty. But it did not make him insensible. He grew. Everyone loved him in the orphanage. The warden of the orphanage never permitted his adoption to anyone. Many couples wanted to adopt him. The warden was a doctor. Almost five years ago, she also passed away, and since then Suvir has been feeling very lonely.  Because of that doctor mother only that he could study properly. He did his postgraduation in Robotic Science from Delhi. Dr Sumitra wanted to send him to America but he was not ready to leave her and go. Dr Sumitra never married. She indulged in social service all the time. She taught a proper lesson to the pedophiles. Her child protection procedure was famous the world over. Thousands of children were spared from undergoing the pangs of displacement because of her. But she loved Suvir the most. She adopted him through the court of law and gave him her surname. That is why he prints his name Suvir Hans. He never knew why his doctor mother used to sign her name as Sumitra Hans. He asked her number of times but she only said that her father used to write Hans as his surname.

Suvir has been an exceptionally good athlete. He had also joined Indian Army for two years. He worked for Science Corps. Along with research, he is also working for the displaced in the world. He wants to be with those who do not have their own house. Those that are homeless, those whom the governments have displaced, destroyed.

He goes to Dream Palace which is close to his house. He dines there every day. He has developed the habit of drinking. Probably it helps him fight his loneliness. But he takes a little. He does not want to be an addict.  After drinks, suddenly the face of Ashika loomed large before his eyes. He imagined he is taking a selfie with her. A picture of smiling Ashika in the mirror fills his eyes. Suddenly he gets up and goes home.

Ashika had taken his mobile number while leaving him. She told – if you do not mind, can I have your cell number. Suvir is very frank in these matters. He knew that sharing his cell number with anyone like this might be dangerous these days. Who knows if they reach some terrorists, they might misuse it. But he could not refuse Ashika. Suddenly the phone bell rings. It is two in the morning.

‘Suvir ji, were you sleeping?’

‘Ashika, you!’ he could