Customer Reviews

5 reviews

• Breena E. Coates, Ph.D.

  This is a great book for people of all ages and all disciplinary ...
  
  This book weaves the inspirational, poignant, and touching journey of a young boy, Christopher Keen Ahoy, who grew up in Kalimpong, India—a region set in the foothills of the Himalayas near Mount Everest. Told with rich historical detail, the narrative is based on the true story of Chris whose remarkable journey teaches us that challenges of all kinds can be overcome by intelligence, and listening to the wisdom of nature. Chris grows up, goes on to study architecture at UC Berkeley, and then moves on to a successful career as an architect, and acclaimed university executive in the United States. The soulful quest for meaning and deep reflection on the psyche gives the book a profound spiritual quality. The beauty of the mountain landscapes shaped the eternal thinking of Chris Ahoy, to see the splendor in human existence, which in the end makes this book inspirational. This is a great book for people of all ages and all disciplinary persuasions, who will relate to the multi-layered bricolage that makes up human existence.
  
  Breena E. Coates, Ph.D.
  Professor of Corporate Strategy
  California State University, San Bernardino
  

• Chiahou Zhang

  Great semi-autobiography from a little known part of the world: foothills of the Himalayas!
  
  This semi-autobiography contains mostly real happenings from someone who moved from India to the US and made a great success of himself
  
  It makes interesting reading. Highly recommended.
  

• SCD

  Remarkable!
  
  
  This book tells the story of a remarkable childhood, intertwined with a history and description of an Indian subculture that I had no idea existed. Not only was Ahoy a Chinese Indian, but a Chinese Indian boy educated, at least initially, by Christian nuns in an all girls' school! Parts of this story read like a novel, and the entire tale is fascinating and a joy to spend time with. One really comes away with a sense of what life was like for this growing child and his family, and for their community as it evolved over generations. Highly recommended.
  

• The Boy From Kalimpong is an interesting and informative book written by Christopher K. Ahoy, a remarkable author. The book is a pseudo-fiction novel, which parallels his experiences in life. Born in India in 1939 of Chinese descent, his journey begins in a small Himalayan town in the foothills of Mount Kanchenjunga in India. Kalimpong (“Land of Thunder Clouds”) is ethnically diverse and had, at the time, fifteen major schools with many Scottish teachers. It lies in the shadow of the Silk Roads of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India.
  
  His family, like other Chinese Indians, were deeply affected by the Sino-Indian border war in 1960 and were stranded, declared stateless and homeless. Some of his family members were incarcerated. And so the main character in Chris’ book was forced to go abroad. He came to the United States where he had four scholarship offers. He chose to attend UC Berkeley where he was awarded the Regent’s Fellowship with a full tuition free education.
  
  In the book there is much history of China, India, and local cultures including the Lepchas of Kalimpong, a UN designated ancient tribe. From this beginning Chris became a highly respected executive and author of three non-fiction books on university leadership and management. Chris Ahoy is the most impressive person that I have ever known, who is able to excel at such diverse activities as teaching physics, dancing, and becoming an expert in leadership development, strategic planning, efficient management and organization analysis of large institutions.
  I am fortunate to have hired Chris Ahoy in 1980 to plan, develop, manage and direct capital programs, design, construct and build education facilities for three universities, eleven community colleges and 22 extension centers throughout Alaska. Chris has had a remarkable life as he traveled from Kalimpong to the United States where he has become an honored and recognized author, and expert in leadership, management, and mentoring.
  

• David H. Malcolm

  I found myself engrossed in "The Boy From Kalimpong" as it carried me away into a remote and exotic world of which I am not familiar and which has so much interesting history. A tremendous amount of research has clearly gone into the making of this book and Chris Ahoy's personal story is brilliantly woven into the fictional fabric that is sometimes difficult to differentiate. He was obviously the beneficiary of much love as a child, well supported in his endeavours but increasingly challenged by the political and social turmoil that progressively developed as a result of the Indo-Chinese conflict.
  
  As a result of his high early scholastic achievement, perseverance and good fortune, he was able to migrate to this country and subsequently earn many professional qualifications along with academic and scholastic honours.
  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book with my only criticism being that I believe that better proofreading is needed.
  

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