The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong : The Untold Story of My Struggle for Tibet

In December 2010 Residents Of Kalimpong, A Town On The Indian Border With Tibet, Turned Out En Masse To Welcome The Dalai Lama. It Was Only Then They Realized For The First Time That The Neighbor They Knew As The Noodle Maker Of Kalimpong Was Also The Dalai Lama's Older Brother. The Tibetan Spiritual Leader Had Come To Visit The Gaden Tharpa Choeling Monastery And Join His Brother For Lunch In The Family Compound. Gyalo Thondup Has Long Lived Out Of The Spotlight And Hidden From View, But His Whole Life Has Been Dedicated To The Cause Of His Younger Brother And Tibet. He Served For Decades As The Dalai Lama's Special Envoy, The Trusted Interlocutor Between Tibet And Foreign Leaders From Chiang Kai-shek To Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai To Deng Xiaoping. Traveling The Globe And Meeting Behind Closed Doors, Thondup Has Been An Important Witness To Some Of The Epochal Events Of The 20th Century. No One Has A Better Grasp Of The Ongoing Great Game As The Divergent Interests Of China, India, Russia And The United States Continue To Play Themselves Out Over The Tibetan Plateau. Only The Dalai Lama Himself Has Played A More Important Role In The Political History Of Modern, Tragedy-ridden Tibet. Indeed, The Dalai Lama's Dramatic Escape From Lhasa To Exile In India Would Not Have Been Possible Without His Brother's Behind-the-scenes Help. Now, Together With Anne F. Thurston, Who Co-wrote The International Best Seller The Private Life Of Chairman Mao, Gyalo Thondup Is Finally Telling His Story. The Settings Are Exotic—the Tibetan Province Of Amdo Where The Two Brothers Spent Their Early Childhood; Tibet's Legendary Capital Of Lhasa; Nanjing, Where Thondup Received A Chinese Education; Taiwan, Where He Fled When He Could Not Return To Tibet; Calcutta, Delhi, And The Himalayan Hill Towns Of India, Where He Finally Made His Home; Hong Kong, Which Served As His Listening Post For China, And The American Rockies, Where He Sent Young Tibetan Resistance Fighters To Be Trained Clandestinely By The Cia. But Thondup's Story Does Not Reiterate The Otherworldly, Shangri-la Vision Of The Land Of Snows So Often Portrayed In The West. Instead, It Is An Intimate, Personal Look At The Dalai Lama And His Immediate Family And An Inside View Of Vicious And Sometimes Deadly Power Struggles Within The Potala Palace--that Immensely Imposing Architectural Wonder That Looms Over Lhasa And Is Home To Both The Spiritual And Secular Seats Of Tibetan Power. Traces The Life Of The Fourteenth Dalai Lama's Older Brother, Who Became The Center Of The Tibetan Independence Movement Following His Brother's Exile, Providing Details On Their Childhood And The Political Crisis That Has Brought Him Face To Face With Such Leaders As Chiang Kai-shek And Jawaharlal Nehru. Taktser Village And Kumbum Monastery -- My Family -- The Search Team Arrives -- My Brother Is Recognized As The Fourteenth Dalai Lama -- The Dalai Lama's New Life -- My Family's New Life -- My Life Changes -- My Student Days In Nanjing -- Stranded In India -- Becoming An Intermediary -- The Chinese Invade -- The Long Journey Home -- Home Again -- Escape From Tibet -- Beginning Life In India -- The Dalai Lama Visits China -- The Dalai Lama Visits India -- The Cia Offers To Help -- The Dalai Lama's Escape -- From Mussoorie To Dharamsala -- Mustang -- Settling Down In India -- The War Between India And China -- The Cia Stops Its Support -- A New Life In Hong Kong -- My Return To China -- The Tenth Panchen Lama -- Meeting Deng Xiaoping -- Return To Tibet -- Our Negotiations Fail -- Another Opportunity Lost -- Opportunity Lost Again -- Return To Tibet -- Watching The World From Kalimpong. Gyalo Thondup, Elder Brother Of The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, And Anne F. Thurston, Coauthor Of The Private Life Of Chairman Mao. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 315-331) And Index. For Over Half A Century, Noodlemaker Gyalo Thondup Has Been A Familiar Figure In The Himalayan Hill Town Of Kalimpong. But It Was Not Until 2010 That The Townsfolk Discovered His True Identity: Gyalo Thondup Is None Other Than The Older Brother Of The Dalai Lama And His Special Envoy, A Trusted Interlocutor Between Tibet And Foreign Leaders From Chiang Kai-shek To Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai To Deng Xiaoping. Indeed, Only The Dalai Lama Himself Has Played A More Important Role In The Political History Of Modern, Tragedy-ridden Tibet. Now, For The First Time, Gyalo Thondup Is Prepared To Tell His Story. His Remarkable Account Offers An Intimate, Personal Look At The Dalai Lama And His Immediate Family, As Well As An Insider's View Of The Vicious And Sometimes Deadly Struggles Within The Potala Palace - The Seat Of Power In Tibet. His Is A Story Of The 'real' Tibet - A Country That Is Secular As Well As Sacred, Where The Source Of Conflict Is Not Just With China But Between Tibetans Themselves. Candid And Insightful, This Long-awaited Account Reveals Gyalo Thondup To Have Been A Key Figure In The Great Game Played Out By China, India, Russia And The United States Over The Strategically Important Tibetan Plateau. Shortly before midnight on March 17, 1959, the Dalai Lama, without his glasses and dressed as an ordinary Tibetan solider, slipped out of his summer residence with only four aides at his side. At that moment, he became the symbolic head of the Tibetan government in exile, and Gyalo Thondup, the only one of the Dalai Lama's brothers not to don the robes of a Buddhist monk, became the fulcrum for the independence movement. The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong tells the extraordinary story of the Dalai Lama's family, the exile of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism from Tibet, and the enduring political crisis that has seen remote and bleakly beautiful Tibet all but disappear as an independent nation-state. For the last sixty years, Gyalo Thondup has been at the at the heart of the epic struggle to protect and advance Tibet in the face of unreliable allies, overwhelming odds, and devious rivals, playing an utterly determined and unique role in a Cold War high-altitude superpower rivalry. Here, for the first time, he reveals how he found himself whisked between Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the CIA, as he tried to secure, on behalf of his brother, the future of Tibet. Map of Tibet Table of Contents Introduction Preface 1. Taktser Village and Kumbum Monastery 2. My Family 3. The Search Team Arrives 4. My Brother Is Recognized as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama 5. The Dalai Lama’s New Life 6. My Family’s New Life 7. My Life Changes 8. My Student Days in Nanjing 9. Stranded in India 10. Becoming an Intermediary 11. The Chinese Invade 12. The Long Journey Home 13. Home Again 14. Escape from Tibet 15. Beginning Life in India 16. The Dalai Lama Visits China 17. The Dalai Lama Visits India 18. The CIA Offers to Help 19. The Dalai Lama’s Escape 20. From Mussoorie to Dharamsala 21. Mustang 22. Settling Down in India 23. The War between China and India 24. The CIA Stops Its Support 25. A New Life in Hong Kong 26. My Return to China 27. The Tenth Panchen Lama 28. Meeting Deng Xiaoping 29. Return to Tibet 30. Our Negotiations Fail 31. Another Opportunity Lost 32. Opportunity Lost Again 33. Return to Tibet 34. Watching the World from Kalimpong Afterword: Anne F. Thurston Notes Selected Bibliography Glossary Index