- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; New edition edition (6 Mar 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006552137
- ISBN-13: 978-0006552130
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
140,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > Tibet
Tibetan Foothold
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The moving tale of Dervla Murphy’s experiences working in the Tibetan refugee camps of Northern India in the sixties.
In July 1963 Dervla Murphy, one of our best-loved travel writers, arrives in a sweltering Delhi by bicycle. Deciding that the heat precludes further cycling, she sets about finding some useful way of filling in her time until the cool of November arrives. So begins a unique and unforgettable experience in the Tibetan refugee camps of Northern India.
Using extracts from the diaries she kept at the time, Dervla vividly describes the day-to-day life in the camps where hundreds of children are living in squalor while a handful of dedicated volunteers do their best to feed and care for them, attempting to keep disease at bay with limited resources. Quickly falling in love with the ‘Tiblets’ – cheerful, uncomplaining, independent and affectionate children – she pitches in with a helping hand wherever it is needed (just about everywhere), and even finds time to meet the Dalai Lama and his entourage.
Several months later she is on the road again, first to Simla, hitch-hiking on to Delhi and then back to Dharamsala for final farewells. During her travels she bicycles up the Kulu Valley – The Valley of the Gods – to find out what life is like for the adult Tibetans working on road construction and living in camps on the sites.
Dervla’s first-hand account of the problems she encounters is enlivened by her trademark dry wit and candid humour and she gives us her own views on the particular cultural and social problems associated with trying to help a people who have been living in isolation, out of step with the rest of the world, for several centuries.
From the Back Cover
July 1963, and Dervla Murphy, one of our best-loved travel writers, arrives in a sweltering Delhi by bicycle. Deciding that the heat precludes further cycling, she sets out about finding some useful way of filling her time until the cool of November arrives. So begins a unique and unforgettable experience working in the Tibetan refugee camps of Northern India.
Dervla vividly describes the day-to-day life in the camps where a handful of dedicated volunteers do their best to feel and care for them, attempting to keep disease at bay with severely limited resources. Quickly falling in love with the "Tiblets" – cheerful, she pitches in with a helping hand wherever it is needed (just about everywhere), and also finds time to visit the Dalai Lama and his entourage.
Dervla's heart-rending account is interwoven with her own observations on the particular cultural and social problems associated with trying to help a people who had always lived in isolation from the rest of the world, and a new perspective is afforded by her present-day reflections.
"This is a moving – at times even harrowing – story. But it is leavened by the writer's irrepressible zest for life, her warm humanity, her courage and good humour."
IRISH INDEPENDENT
"Dervla Murphy's eye for the unusual and her capacity of recreating the people she meets by the way remains as acute as ever."
DAILY TELEGRAPH
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book follows immediately on from Murphy's epic journey described in Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, and can be read almost as a sequel. It is 1963, and Tibetan refugees are flooding into Northern India. Murphy's love for the landscape and the people shines through, particularly for the children or "Tiblets" as she calls them.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A good book for supporters of Tibetan independence
6 July 2000
Format:Paperback
When travel writer Dervla Murphy arrives in Delhi in 1963, rather than continuing her bike journey in the sweltering heat, she decides to spend a couple of months involving herself in voluntary work. Through a number of contacts, she ends up working in Dharamsala amongst the newly exiled Tibetan community. The author admits to her ignorance of the situation in Tibet at that time, but soon becomes deeply involved. With most of the Tibetan parents having to work on Indian roads, the number of 'Tiblets' being brought to Dharamsala to be cared for was continuously rising, causing various overcrowding problems for the volunteers. Despite poor conditions, through hard work and the impeccable behaviour of the 'Tiblets' (except at bath times), things start to improve.
The time that Dervla Murphy spent working with the Tibetan children seemed to effect her greatly. Having spent a small amount of time in a Tibetan refugee settlement in Nepal myself, I found that her observations about their wonderful temperaments correspond with my own findings. Written in diary form, her forthrightness and individuality makes interesting reading. A good book for supporters of Tibetan independence. 'The Waiting Land - a spell in Nepal' continues her work with the Tibetan refugees.
Sincerely hilarious account of life amongst Tibetan refugees
3 Jun 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Sincerely and warmly written, the Tibetan Foothold describes Murphy's time spent volunteering with Tibetan refugee children in India. Murphy writes straight from the heart and I laughed out loud on many occasions at her hilarious but accurate descriptions of her 'Tiblets'. Highly recommended!
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