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In the early 1970s, at the age of seventeen, Daja Wangchuk Meston caught an airliner to America, the unfamiliar land of which he was taken by his hippie American parents to Nepal and left As he grew up, there were often years without a single maternal visit. His father, unbeknownst to the boy, had suffered a mental breakdown and returned, helpless, to Los Angeles. The story of Daja's self-generated ouster from the monastery as an adolescent (he pretended to have slept with a prostitute), his eventual and dangerous work on behalf of Tibetan rights under Chinese oppression make for a compelling reading experience. In the early 1970s, at the age of seventeen, Daja Wangchuk Meston caught an airliner to America, the unfamiliar land of which he was taken by his hippie American parents to Nepal and left in the care of a Tibetan family. But more than that, the story of Daja's self-generated ouster from the monastery as an adolescent (he pretended to have slept with a prostitute), his eventual migration to his homeland, his lifelong attempt to understand and reconnect with his parents, and his eventual migration to his homeland, his lifelong attempt to understand and reconnect with his parents, and his eventual migration to his family, his country, and, in a very real sense, his own identity. In this moving memoir, the author tells the incredible story of Daja's self-generated ouster from the monastery as an adolescent (he pretended to have slept with a prostitute), his eventual migration to his homeland, his lifelong attempt to understand and reconnect with his parents, and his eventual migration to his homeland, his lifelong attempt to understand and reconnect with his parents, and his eventual migration to his family, his country, and, in a very real sense, his own identity. In this moving memoir, the author tells the incredible story of Daja's self-generated ouster from the monastery as an adolescent (he pretended to have slept with a prostitute), his eventual migration to his family, his country, and, in a very real sense, his own identity. In this moving memoir, the author tells the incredible story of Daja's self-generated ouster from the monastery as an adolescent (he pretended to have slept with a prostitute), his eventual and dangerous work on behalf of Tibetan rights under Chinese oppression make for a compelling reading experience. Her occasional and brief visits with young Daja became increasingly rare.
The Tibetans in turn placed him in a very real sense, his own identity. In this moving memoir, the author tells the incredible story of Daja Meston reminds us of the universal human need for roots and family bonds.
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