h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorrow Mountain -Ani Pachen and Adelaide Donnelley.

This is a remarkable book about a remarkable woman. Lemdha Pachen was born in 1933, the daughter of a powerful chieftain in the Kham region of Tibet. She retained clear memories of her childhood there, doing household tasks or riding her horse. When she was seventeen, her father arranged for her to marry the son of another chieftain. She was horrified, because she wanted to devote herself to religion as a Buddhist nun. She escaped on horseback with a servant but was persuaded to return.

However, by now the Chinese had arrived in the region and stories of death and destruction followed. Resistance began and Lemdha’s father was involved in making preparations. When he died, Lemdha became chieftainess and felt duty bound to continue his work. She vowed to fight and led her people up into the hills. However, they could not keep back the Chinese and she was captured. This began a period of twenty one years of imprisonment and cruel torture. She was eventually released in 1981, but when she returned home, the village was in ruins. She managed to escape on foot over the Himalayas, to Dharamsala, where she met the Dalai Llama. She felt she had reached her spiritual home.

I found it difficult at first to understand Ani Pachen’s world view. However, once she leads her people into the mountains, her courage and steadfastness are remarkable. I’m sure her devotion to the Buddhist faith helped her to endure.