Assamese author follows a group of Tibetan refugees

Stories of people who rose beyond the powerful circumstances of their times to create meaning in their lives inspired Assamese author Kaushik Barua to pen his 'Windhorse' set in the Tibetan struggle.
The book published by HarperCollins has received positive feedback from other authors, including Mridula Koshy, Jahnavi Barua and Mitra Phukan, as the first major work of fiction set in the Tibetan struggle and the turbulent period immediately following the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
Barua recounts how he stumbled upon the story of Tibetan resistance, and of how he was "inspired by the stories of people who rose beyond the powerful circumstances of their times to create meaning in their lives".

"Over the last few years I have been researching Tibetan culture, history, the resistance movement and especially the covert guerilla resistance that was launched against the Chinese from the 1950s to the 1970s" Barua told PTI in an interview.
"These experiences and the unique, tragic tales that I uncovered led me to write 'Windhorse'", said Kaushik, who is a core supporter of Students for a Free Tibet, the leading youth mobilisation arm of the Tibetan movement, with over 650 chapters in universities and high schools worldwide.
Barua, who works for the United Nations currently based in Rome also said, "a writer is shaped by his context, and in my case, it is my childhood and youth spent in Guwahati" from where he hails.

"'Windhorse' is set in Tibet, India and Nepal from the 1940s to the 1970s and follows two main protagonists: Lhasang and Norbu. Lhasang loses his home and all that is familiar when the Chinese occupy Tibet.
As a refugee, he realises that to regain his life, he must defy his family and his faith", said Barua about his maiden novel.
"Norbu grows up in an affluent expatriate Tibetan family in India. As he moves towards the Tibetan resistance, he prepares to forsake more than just his family fortune. They join a motley group of young fighters to restore freedom in Tibet", he said.