3. The Dream རྨི་ལམ།

Menla Jyab was born in 1963 in a pastoral community called Lutsang, located in Mangra (མང་ར། Ch, Guinan 贵南) County, Tsholho (མཚོ་ལྷོ། Ch, Hainan 海南) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, PR China. Growing up in the chaotic years of the Cultural Revolution, he attended primary school in a tent at the age of seven. His studies were good, and he eventually matriculated to the renowned Tsholho Normal School, which served as an incubator for several of the post-Mao period’s most famous Tibetan intellectual and cultural talent. Then, in the 1980s he joined the Hainan Prefectural Song and Dance troupe (མཚོ་ལྷོ་ཁུལ་གླུ་གར་ཚོགས་པ།), and embarked on what would become a storied career as a comedian and public intellectual. Also publishing under the pseudonyms “Pleasure Bringing Snow Child” (T, གངས་བུ་དགའ་སྐྱེད།), and Burning Pebble (T, འབར་རྡེའུ།)—the latter being his childhood nickname and a reference to the childhood injury he received that causes him to conceal his right hand at all times (Anon. 2010)—Menla Jyabb has developed a strong reputation not only as a comedian but as an accomplished poet and essayist as well.