Facts you should know about Eminent Tibetan scholar, Narkyid Ngawang Thondup, known as “Father of the Tibetan Typewriter”.
1: 1948 – 52: Staff member of Secretary Council of the Tibetan Government at Potala Palace, Lhasa.
2: 1948: Started designing of Tibetan typewriter which was finally manufactured by Remington Rand Ltd, Kolkata, India, 1976.
3: 1959: Involved in the Tibetan Uprising in Norbulingka , 10th March, and as youngest member of Lhasa City Mayoral Council (1958) had the responsibility of defending Jokhang area and fought alongside Lhasa Police and voluntary fighters.
4: 1959: Escaped to India. Joined the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and became staff member of Foreign Affairs (to work on Chinese documents and to translate the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” into Tibetan with Mr. Taing Dzasak.)
5: 1960 – 69: First General Secretary of the Department of Information and International Relations (Tibetan Government in Exile in Dharamsala, India)
6: 1960 – 62: First General Secretary of the first session of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.
7: 1971 – 76: He was the first General Secretary of newly established Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India, and taught Tibetan language to foreign students.
8: 1973 – 74: Granted a leave of absence from Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) to the Asian Library (Toyo Bunko), Tokyo, worked with Japanese scholars and taught Tibetan language and Culture at Tokyo University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
9: 1976 – 81: He taught Tibetan Language and Culture at Western Michigan University.
10: 1981 – 84 Compiled Modern English -Tibetan Dictionary with Melvin Goldstein (PhD, Chair Department of Anthropology) at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio.
11: Between 1984 and 2004 Narkyid was the official biographer of the 14th Dalai Lama, and from 2005 onwards he was a consultant for Tibetan language and literature in the Private Office of the DalaiLama.
12: Narkyid Ngawang Thondup passed away in Delhi on 13th February, 2017, He was 88.