sonam wangchuk

 

Early life[edit]

Wangchuk was born in 1966 in near Alchi in the Leh district of Ladakh. He was not enrolled in a school until the age of 9, as there were not any schools in his village. His mother taught him all the basics in his own mother tongue until that age.^[20][16] His father Sonam Wangyal, a Congress politician who later became the minister in state government, was stationed in Srinagar. At the age of 9, he was taken to Srinagar and enrolled in a school in Srinagar. Since he looked different compared to the other students, he would get addressed in a language that he did not understand, due to which his lack of responsiveness was mistaken for him being stupid. He recalls this period as the darkest part of his life. Unable to bear the treatment, in 1977 he escaped alone to Delhi where he pleaded his case to the school principal at Vishesh Kendriya Vidyalaya.^[3]