Tibetan Foothold

In July 1963 Dervla Murphy, one of our best-loved travel writers, arrives in a sweltering Delhi by bicycle. Deciding that the heat precludes further cycling, she sets about finding some useful way of filling in her time until the cool of November arrives. So begins a unique and unforgettable experience in the Tibetan refugee camps of Northern India.Using extracts from the diaries she kept at the time, Dervla vividly describes the day-to-day life in the camps where hundreds of children are living in squalor while a handful of dedicated volunteers do their best to feed and care for them, attempting to keep disease at bay with limited resources. Quickly falling in love with the ‘Tiblets’ – cheerful, uncomplaining, independent and affectionate children – she pitches in with a helping hand wherever it is needed (just about everywhere), and even finds time to meet the Dalai Lama and his entourage.