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Windhorse
Winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2014- the Young Writer Award from the National Academy of Letters.
'Barua tells the story of the Tibetan people’s struggle to regain their homeland in affecting prose … The pages turn themselves and the reader is reminded this is history we are yet living’
Mridula Koshy
‘By deftly fusing individual stories with the narrative of a community-in-exile, Barua creates a canvas of memories and loss that’s as much personal as it is universal.’
Indian Express
‘Windhorse is remarkable not just for Barua's attentive historical research, but the skill with which he imbues it with life. The broad sweep of the narrative is punctured with heart-wrenching accounts of atrocities witnessed and suffered, of familial separations and unimaginable loss.’
Sunday Guardian
‘A gripping account set against the background of power politics.’
The Week
A ‘deep and sensitive exploration of identity, freedom and the meaning of home for a people who have only ever known conflict.’
Elle India
‘Barua’s very first novel is an intricate pattern of cultures and politics, refugees and resisters and locates South Asian politics in a wider context. A political analyst and commentator, he turns to Tibet but spreads out in other directions both space wise and at ideological levels—India, China, Nepal and the US. A perceptive study of the violence both of aggression and of resistance, it moves between hope and despair.'
The Book Review
‘Barua tells a story of how exile kills your past and creates monsters of memories.’
Millennium Post
WINDHORSE follows the lives of a group of Tibetan rebels who set up an armed resistance movement against the Chinese.
Lhasang grows up in Eastern Tibet but is forced to flee after the Chinese occupation, making the death-defying trek across the Himalayas with his family. In forced exile, he realizes his only option is to fight to return home.
Norbu is from an affluent Tibetan expatriate family based in Delhi. As he befriends Dolma, a young college student, and interacts with the newly arrived refugees from Tibet, he is drawn towards the resistance.
They join a motley group of fighters: an ex-monk who has renounced his vows of non-violence; a former serf who is scarred by his past; a trader who joins the resistance for profit but stays on for his beliefs.
But in taking up arms, they have to defy the instructions of their spiritual head, the Dalai Lama. To restore their religion in its home, they have to first relinquish their faith.
'Barua tells the story of the Tibetan people’s struggle to regain their homeland in affecting prose … The pages turn themselves and the reader is reminded this is history we are yet living’
Mridula Koshy
‘By deftly fusing individual stories with the narrative of a community-in-exile, Barua creates a canvas of memories and loss that’s as much personal as it is universal.’
Indian Express
‘Windhorse is remarkable not just for Barua's attentive historical research, but the skill with which he imbues it with life. The broad sweep of the narrative is punctured with heart-wrenching accounts of atrocities witnessed and suffered, of familial separations and unimaginable loss.’
Sunday Guardian
‘A gripping account set against the background of power politics.’
The Week
A ‘deep and sensitive exploration of identity, freedom and the meaning of home for a people who have only ever known conflict.’
Elle India
‘Barua’s very first novel is an intricate pattern of cultures and politics, refugees and resisters and locates South Asian politics in a wider context. A political analyst and commentator, he turns to Tibet but spreads out in other directions both space wise and at ideological levels—India, China, Nepal and the US. A perceptive study of the violence both of aggression and of resistance, it moves between hope and despair.'
The Book Review
‘Barua tells a story of how exile kills your past and creates monsters of memories.’
Millennium Post
WINDHORSE follows the lives of a group of Tibetan rebels who set up an armed resistance movement against the Chinese.
Lhasang grows up in Eastern Tibet but is forced to flee after the Chinese occupation, making the death-defying trek across the Himalayas with his family. In forced exile, he realizes his only option is to fight to return home.
Norbu is from an affluent Tibetan expatriate family based in Delhi. As he befriends Dolma, a young college student, and interacts with the newly arrived refugees from Tibet, he is drawn towards the resistance.
They join a motley group of fighters: an ex-monk who has renounced his vows of non-violence; a former serf who is scarred by his past; a trader who joins the resistance for profit but stays on for his beliefs.
But in taking up arms, they have to defy the instructions of their spiritual head, the Dalai Lama. To restore their religion in its home, they have to first relinquish their faith.
365 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2013
About the author
Kaushik Barua
2 books22 followersKaushik Barua is the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar award (the Young Writer Award from the Indian National Academy of Letters) for his first book, Windhorse, published by HarperCollins in 2013. His work has been translated into Italian.
His second book, No Direction Rome, was published by Fourth Estate/ HarperCollins India in 2015, and will be published in the US by Permanent Press in end-2017. No Direction Rome is a dark comedy and described as a narrative where 'Kerouac meets James Joyce meets Harold and Kumar'.
His writing has appeared in The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Guardian, Open Democracy and other Indian and international publications. He is currently based in Rome. He has worked over the last decade in the development sector, supporting development projects across Asia and Africa.
His second book, No Direction Rome, was published by Fourth Estate/ HarperCollins India in 2015, and will be published in the US by Permanent Press in end-2017. No Direction Rome is a dark comedy and described as a narrative where 'Kerouac meets James Joyce meets Harold and Kumar'.
His writing has appeared in The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Guardian, Open Democracy and other Indian and international publications. He is currently based in Rome. He has worked over the last decade in the development sector, supporting development projects across Asia and Africa.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 18, 2022
Kaushik Barua's Windhorse is a love letter to the turmoils of modern Tibetans set in Delhi, Western China, and Nepal. It takes a lot of courage and compassion to write a book like this, so fundamentally outside of Barua's comfort zone. The novel strides various timelines, characters, and perspectives to highlight a very serious concern: what is the meaning of Tibetan life during a time period in which modern Tibet is parcelled across various borders? The language is riveting, the storytelling is quickly paced... Windhorse, much like its title, gallops on.
I'd recommend this book for anyone who wants to see Tibetan narratives humanised. I'd recommend Barua's work fora nyone whow ants to emphatise with characters and cultures rarely discussed across borders.
I'd recommend this book for anyone who wants to see Tibetan narratives humanised. I'd recommend Barua's work fora nyone whow ants to emphatise with characters and cultures rarely discussed across borders.
September 1, 2014
Barua does a fine job of 'writing' Windhorse. A couple of things recommend themselves about this book.
One- In terms of content: While I am an ardent supporter of the Free Tibet movement, it was so refreshing to read a narrative that is not steeped in nostalgia, spiritualism and the whole Shangri La evocation. The book is crisply written, the narrative is well paced and most significantly, the characters are believable. Barua does not idolise or exaggerate heroism. His characters come across as vulnerable, fraught with insecurity, trying to make sense of the whirlpool of events in which they've been caught up. Very much like all of us.
Yet their heroism comes across in small, daily and seemingly insignificant choices as well as the cataclysmic, life changing ones.
Two- in terms of form (or craft, if you will), the author has a real flair for drawing the reader in. His eye for detail, his description of mundane activities like rolling a cigarette, cooking a meal or a supposedly simple post- coital conversation is layered, sophisticated and believable.
End end, Barua- not by accident, but by cunning calculation,crafts a narrative that subtly and slowly drew me in. With its layered confusion, mutually contradictory emotions and a sweetly token resistance to manipulation, Windhorse involved my hands and my eyes, and then my mind and my heart, leaving me with a sense of bitter-sweet melancholy; and perhaps a little heart-broken!
One- In terms of content: While I am an ardent supporter of the Free Tibet movement, it was so refreshing to read a narrative that is not steeped in nostalgia, spiritualism and the whole Shangri La evocation. The book is crisply written, the narrative is well paced and most significantly, the characters are believable. Barua does not idolise or exaggerate heroism. His characters come across as vulnerable, fraught with insecurity, trying to make sense of the whirlpool of events in which they've been caught up. Very much like all of us.
Yet their heroism comes across in small, daily and seemingly insignificant choices as well as the cataclysmic, life changing ones.
Two- in terms of form (or craft, if you will), the author has a real flair for drawing the reader in. His eye for detail, his description of mundane activities like rolling a cigarette, cooking a meal or a supposedly simple post- coital conversation is layered, sophisticated and believable.
End end, Barua- not by accident, but by cunning calculation,crafts a narrative that subtly and slowly drew me in. With its layered confusion, mutually contradictory emotions and a sweetly token resistance to manipulation, Windhorse involved my hands and my eyes, and then my mind and my heart, leaving me with a sense of bitter-sweet melancholy; and perhaps a little heart-broken!
March 13, 2019
This review first published on Oh Just Books.
Why did I pick this book? I've known since the very first chapter that every character I'm getting acquainted with, is hurtling towards death or something even worse. Reading it has been like watching a grenade explode in slow motion.
The book isn't about the characters or the plot or the ploy; its about a people. Individual stories are interspersed with the woes of a community in exile. If you've ever been to Dharamsala, and then seen the marketplace deserted during the Tibetans' prayer time as the entire town congregates to pray with the monks draped in red and yellow, seen the photos of all the Dalai Lama's in their museums and turned the prayer wheels at the Buddhish monasteries, the book will find a place in your heart.
Read the rest of the review here.
Why did I pick this book? I've known since the very first chapter that every character I'm getting acquainted with, is hurtling towards death or something even worse. Reading it has been like watching a grenade explode in slow motion.
The book isn't about the characters or the plot or the ploy; its about a people. Individual stories are interspersed with the woes of a community in exile. If you've ever been to Dharamsala, and then seen the marketplace deserted during the Tibetans' prayer time as the entire town congregates to pray with the monks draped in red and yellow, seen the photos of all the Dalai Lama's in their museums and turned the prayer wheels at the Buddhish monasteries, the book will find a place in your heart.
Read the rest of the review here.
August 30, 2024
A glimpse into the Tibetan community and their struggle for freedom through the eyes of freedom fighters.
March 23, 2015
When you choose to tell the story of a strife torn land like Tibet, you cannot do it without taking sides. For me, this is why the book comes out a winner!
As the author deftly guides the reader through the complex layers of social relations and customs of Tibetan society - bound together by a common thread of faith, there is no attempt at hiding the fault lines. The same simple and peaceful balance is, therefore, shaken by the Chinese machinations (not to mention the excesses of its occupation) as they present themselves as real opportunities for some Tibetans. As this epic story, after winding its way trough the many lives, dilemmas, places, mythologies and geopolitics, reaches its climax, you are left with little doubt that it comes from a deep understanding of the human condition and above all, from a place of kindness. Because the author shows that freedom has no price tag and the underdog who fights for his freedom is always the hero.
Refreshing to see someone telling a story about Tibet without the usual exoticizaton attached to it. The sheer scale of background knowledge needed to tell it with such ease in itself was an amazing achievement.
As the author deftly guides the reader through the complex layers of social relations and customs of Tibetan society - bound together by a common thread of faith, there is no attempt at hiding the fault lines. The same simple and peaceful balance is, therefore, shaken by the Chinese machinations (not to mention the excesses of its occupation) as they present themselves as real opportunities for some Tibetans. As this epic story, after winding its way trough the many lives, dilemmas, places, mythologies and geopolitics, reaches its climax, you are left with little doubt that it comes from a deep understanding of the human condition and above all, from a place of kindness. Because the author shows that freedom has no price tag and the underdog who fights for his freedom is always the hero.
Refreshing to see someone telling a story about Tibet without the usual exoticizaton attached to it. The sheer scale of background knowledge needed to tell it with such ease in itself was an amazing achievement.
September 13, 2014
I came to Windhorse not knowing anything about Tibet but prayer flags and "Free Tibet" bumper stickers. But I came away from the book with a sense of having witnessed the struggle of the Tibetans after the occupation of their country by the Chinese and its resulting resistance movement. Windhorse follows some of the lives transformed and brought into the struggle, first through alternating chapters and then through the characters' intertwined story. The pacing of the book fits the action well, taking me from one scene to the next without stop. The characters Lahsang and Norbu are easy to sympathise with and believe in as they fight for the freedom to return to their home. Thank you Barua for opening my eyes to a piece of history that shouldn't be forgotten!
August 24, 2014
The story was there but Barua for me screws up this book pretty bad. It did not hold my interest at all! The book is inconsistent in its quality of language and does not offer any depth. All the "research" is from the gem of a book that is Buddha's Warriors. If you'd like to read about the Tibetan armed struggle I suggest you pick that one up instead.
February 10, 2015
The issues of exile, home and belonging are brilliantly addressed in this carefully crafted novel about the little known Tibetan armed resistance against the Chinese occupation. Barua’s protagonists and their personal struggles come to life from the very first page. Demonstrating thorough historical research, this is a real page turner and very difficult to put down.
March 22, 2015
A nicely written narrative in terms of the context. However,when it comes to the language it oscillates somewhere between trying to be a tepid mystery thriller and a truly engulfing historical tale.Did not feel like I have grown richer by a great degree after reading through.More like a starter manual on the Tibetan movement.
April 20, 2014
Average writing and factually incorrect in some areas.
July 22, 2015
Interesting book..well written
Fact and fiction blurs
Good characterisation.
History still being written on Tibet
Wonder how it will end
Fact and fiction blurs
Good characterisation.
History still being written on Tibet
Wonder how it will end
September 27, 2016
Excellent. Gripping book on a very important, but neglected, topic.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews