Book Review: Another Time, Another Place
By Topden Tsering
Review of “Another Place” by Tsering Wangyal a.k.a Editor
Late Tsering Wangyal, author of the landmark Tibetan novel in English, “Another Place,” was less known by his name than his nickname: Editor. The man’s identity consisted not of words given by Tibetan religious lamas who can often fall susceptible to inconsistencies: think of Paljors who are dirt poor, Sangmos who are downright evil, Jinpas who are incorrigible misers, and the ubiquitous Tenzins who give the ideal Buddhist a bad name.
The man was his work. He was the words he banged away on his typewriter to knock out issues, month after month, of “Tibetan Review,” of which he was the Editor from mid 1970s until his resignation in 1996. In the Tibetan reading world, this independent English language periodical, published in Delhi, was most anticipated for its editorials. These one or two-page write-ups unfailingly offered ruthless, and sometimes humorous, dressing downs of the politicians and civil servants in Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) or Tibetan Government-in-Exile in Dharamshala, India. They put up an unflattering mirror to the naïve, misguided, occasionally stupid and sometimes corrupt ways in which the power wielders handled the Tibetan freedom struggle and Tibetan democracy. No one—except the Dalai Lama—was exempt from his sarcastic incriminations.