A book and then lot of books.

As promised , let me write about "Seven years in Tibet". If one has to talk about this book,one has to talk about it's author. Because it's non fiction.:)
Heinrich Harrer, (Do a wiki, google search about him) an austrian mountaineer comes to scale Nanga parbet in Pakistan (the then British India). This happens during late 1930s. He is captured by british and interned in of their camps. He along with fellow white prisoners tries 2 times unsuccessfully to escape from confinement. In his 3rd attempt he is successful. He escapes not because confinement was bad, but because he yearned for freedom, adventure. Infact, nice treatement by british enables him to make all preparations for escape.
After escape , he teams up with another caucasian to proceed to tibet while fellow escapees had their own plans. Without any valid permit and limited resources, they face lot of hurdles. Severe cold, Bandits, hostile authorities... But postive experiences outweigh negative experiences as is evident in their successful flight to Lhasa, capital and abode of Dalai Lama. They arrive in a wretched state. Good natured to tibetans look treat them well. Harrer and his friend in turn utilise their higher skill set to prove themselves useful to local population. Their popularity increases with time. So much so that , young Dalai Lama expresses his wish to meet Harrer.
These foreigners build dams, fountains, gardens. They also get involved in town planning, making videos on behalf of Dalai Lama.
Let us digress here for a bit and talk about the then tibetans. Tibetans respect life so much so that, they don't even kill mosquitoes and ants. Their needs are simple. Their progress is stuck up medieval ages. Their hygiene is poor. For them religion is above everything. Their contact with external world is poor. (as can be guessed from rest of factors) Dalai Lama is god king for them. Lama is Buddha's incarnation. Polyandry and polygamy aren't taboo.
Let's come back to Harrer. Harrer had no problem fitting in Tibet and leading his life there. he doesn't miss his home much. But after second world war, China's communists start threatening the independance of Tibet. Tibet is aware of threats, but can't do much about the whole scenario. China considers tibet to be it's integral part. When china starts taking decisive steps for annexation of Tibet, harrer takes leave of Lama and starts leaving Tibet. Very soon Dalai Lama too takes the same option and leaves Lhasa and starts towards India.
The book ends at this point. For those who want to know what happened next. Dalai Lama and his loyal followers are still in India with no hope of returning to Tibet in his lifetime. India has come to accept officially and otherwise that Tibet is integral part of China.
A movie featuring Brad Pitt was made based on the book. The author is still alive and active. There seems to be controversy about his SS(Hitler) background.
China has it's own interpretation about motives, backgorund of Harrer and other foreigners based in Tibet around 1940. (I came across a website)
Ideally I should have made and included a map showing Harrer's route. But then I am either lazy or busy or both.:)
Coming to Lot of books (Title) I have lot of books crying for my attention. If I need to make money, I need to stop reading this kind of stuff and start reading books like "Captive generation in India:A report".Later.