Tulshuk Lingpa Approximately 1950

It was autumn 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis threatened to end the world as we knew it. And in the shadows of Kanchenjunga in Nepal a visionary lama was leading over 300 followers to find a hidden land of immortality, a place of refuge and plenty that Tibetan tradition dating back to at least the 12th century declared could only be opened at the time of the most dire need, when cataclysm racked the earth and there was nowhere else to run. The lama's name was Tulshuk Lingpa. The hidden land was called Beyul Demoshong, and it was ensconced below Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain the world.

A Step Away from Paradise Penguin Books India, 2011 ISBN : 9780143415466 296pages with 48 pages illustrations NPR 600

A Step Away from Paradise is the result of ten years of research and writing by the American writer and photographer Thomas K Shor (author of Windblown Clouds). He tracked down and met most surviving members of Tulshuk Lingpa's expedition and discussed what for most was the seminal experience of their lives. Now mostly in their 70s and 80s, he met them in their monasteries and in homes located in Sikkim, India and Nepal. The book is richly illustrated with their portraits as well as photos of the places significant to the story and historical photographs of the people involved. Many of the photos will be on exhibit at the Siddhartha Art Gallery in Kathmandu 11-17 December.

The book will be launched on 11 December at 3pm at Siddhartha Art Gallery, and Thomas Shor will have a conversation with Kunda Dixit on 18 December at Cheeno Caf� at 3:30pm.

Life in the Sacred Himalayan Landscape
Siddhartha Art Gallery
11-17 December (daily 11AM-5PM)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsgsc0CxpCo

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Songs of our past, AMAR GURUNG
A rare archive of folk music recorded during the 1960s returns home to Nepal