ABSTRACT
Tashi Tsering was born during what is now called the 'old society', although while he was growing up he had no idea there was going to be a 'new society'. The flat-roofed houses were two and three stories high, and like most families, they lived on the second and third floors, keeping their animals on the first. The district meeting place was three or four hours by foot from our village, and when his mother caught up with him about halfway along, she scolded me severely, he thinks in part because of her apprehension at the thought of losing me. This competition, he thought, was going to be my chance! When people got to the district center, they were called to the governor's castle and told to wait in the courtyard till His Excellency came to examine all. A crowd of about twenty or thirty other boys had already gathered, each accompanied by a parent.
