Darjeeling Journal A column by Ann Tashi Slater

My Great-Grandfather’s Saddle Rug Helps Me Remember a Tibet That’s Gone

I borrowed a bicycle and explored, in the same way my great-grandfather had gone about on his pony sixty years earlier.

Nov 30, 2020
How a Tibetan Turquoise Pendant Keeps Me Close to Home

In giving me her pendant, was my mother not only wishing me well on my journey but handing over our family’s story?

Sep 30, 2020
Tibetan Death Horoscopes, Mothers and Daughters, and Legacy-Breaking

In my grief over my grandmother’s death, I derived solace from the idea that something could still be done to benefit her, that she hadn’t left us but was just in a different place.

Jun 04, 2020
What My Tibetan Grandmother Taught Me About Lasting Love

I felt sure my grandmother’s stories, her faith in marriage, had no bearing on my life plan.

Apr 29, 2020
Walking Paths to Self and Family in Darjeeling

In Darjeeling, the landscape and my familyscape seemed to be living, breathing beings, the paths like veins and the stories like the flow of blood.

Jan 09, 2020
What The Tibetan Book of the Dead Teaches Us About Life

When my grandmother died, lamas stayed for five days next to her body, guiding her through bardo by reading from The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Dec 02, 2019
Mountains, Monasteries, and Myths: What I Discovered While Living in My Darjeeling Family Home

After a youth spent trying to ignore my Asian heritage, I came looking for it. My journey turned out to be the beginning of an excavation that continues to this day.

Oct 28, 2019