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New script on the prayer flags

By Gautam Datt

Gautam Datt is a Special Correspondent of The New Indian Express. He has visited Dharamshala many times, and has travelled to Lhasa and other parts of Tibet in 2004. Photographer unknown

The 12-year-old has of late been pacing around McLeodganj’s congested square. Rabsel has been unusually busy these days. The little suburb of Dharamshala in the Dhaulagiri Range of the Himalayas overlooking the picturesque Kangra Valley has been his home only for the last three years. Today, in his grey sweater and a pair of striking blue trousers, Rabsel is preoccupied as the place is abuzz with activities — as it always is at this time of the year.

The 10 March is the day when the Tibetan government-in-exile remembers the failed uprising of 1959 against Chinese rule. Rabsel is too young to understand the significance of the event, but he is well aware about his status in his new adopted home. He is one of the most recent members of the 100,000-strong community of Tibetan refugees in India. In fact, Rabsel represents a new generation that finds itself at the crossroads. It is the 50th year of the unrest. And as the third generation of Tibetan refugees begin their journey into the future, the community from the Roof of the World finds itself caught between hope and despair.

Rabsel has stood first in his class ever since he arrived in 2005 with his younger brother at the Tibetan Children’s Village (popularly known as TCV, a school run by the government-in-exile for the refugees). The two were smuggled out of Tibet’s Amdo region by their parents with the help of shepherds so that they could complete their education at Dharamshala.

It’s a crack team

Rabsel’s classmate Gyatso has a similar story to tell. Gyatso and Rabsel crossed the border in the same year, but from different places — with different groups. Unlike Rabsel, who wants to be a scientist, Gyatso’s first love is football, followed by singing. They have set different career goals for themselves but have a common desire — to be back in their homeland with parents. Ditto, it has been in the case of Rinchen, 16, Tse Wang, 23, and Tenzin Yangdon Kura Amje, 25.

These are the young Tibetans who are growing up in India in the shadow of a struggle that promises to take them back to their homeland. Rinchen has come to McLeodganj, the home of the Dalai Lama, from Mussoorie where he is studying in 9th standard at Tibetan Home School. He attended several prayer sessions and eagerly awaited the Dalai Lama’s annual 10 March address. As Rinchen goes around the narrow by-lanes with classmates, there is another group of youngsters busy pasting posters on the walls.

Tse Wang is one of them. “The Dalai Lama is the only leader of Tibetans”, reads one of the posters pointing to the fact that all is not well with the struggle. There were strong voices of dissent within the community. Tse Wang does not represent these jarring notes. He arrived in India in 1994 when he was just eight. After completing his studies at TCV, Gopalpur, he went on to complete a degree in Tibetan medicine. Today, he is in McLeodganj to serve his people.

A strong supporter of the Dalai Lama’s middle-path approach of reconciliation, Tse Wang is comfortable with the idea of seeking legitimate autonomy within the Chinese rule. He is a follower of Dr Khenrip, a well-known practitioner of Tibetan medicine who leads the movement in support of the middle-path approach. The fact that there was a need to reinforce the Dalai Lama’s authority through a movement is a reflection of a divided community. With half a century behind them, the community is sceptical — to say the least — about reconciliation as the right approach.

Stuck in limbo

No one knows if such a doctrine is going to work with the Chinese. Even the Dalai Lama appears to be frustrated with the way China has thrown his proposals out of the window during the last round of talks. Even after eight rounds of dialogue, Beijing looks at him with suspicion and doubts his motives.

Perhaps that is the reason that despite the buzz in the air in McLeodganj, where hundreds have gathered like every year to take part in a series of programmes for the “cause”, there is a general sense of pessimism and apprehension. The crushing blow delivered by the Chinese government to the violent unrest witnessed last year in Tibet also seems to have smothered the hopes of refugees.

“It was one of the most defining moments of the struggle,” claims Tenzin Yangdon Kura Amje, a young office-bearer of the Tibetan Youth Congress. She was inspired by the courage displayed by the people of Tibet who came out on the streets of Lhasa last year and stunned the world by exposing the Chinese claims that all was calm inside Tibet. This is one of the reasons why Tenzin is in Dharamshala. After studying in various schools in Mussoorie, she had moved to the US with her family 12 years ago. Her father had taken up a job as a library clerk in Minnesota, where she went on to major in biology and English literature.

However, Tenzin didn’t go ahead with her career, instead she returned to India and joined the TYC as one of the members of its central executive committee. The TYC has been the aggressive face of the movement. Even when the Dalai Lama speaks to his followers, the TYC brigade would be busy organising demonstrations, protests and break-ins at various locations all over the world to embarrass the Chinese. It might have not reached anywhere, but the Tibetan movement has got worldwide support.

Chalo Dharamshala

Not surprisingly, Dharamshala is today one of the most sought-after destinations for Westerners. Watching a procession of monks on 10 March from the sideways is Wando from Brooklyn, New York. He hums the prayer in Tibetan after the monks. Wando claims to be a supporter of freedom and has been a regular at McLeodganj.

For Ileria from Barcelona, it is her first visit, but her mother has been coming here regularly for the last 10 years. Ileria is carrying a candle while marching along the Tibetans who carry on with their peace procession. These are just prayers. No slogans, no anti-China slur. They just recite.

Dharamshala’s important status on the international tourist circuit, thanks to the popularity of His Holiness, has meant good business for the locals who have prospered due to the influx of tourists. But at the same time they have not been able to merge with the community of refugees.

They often marvel at the amount of money that the young Tibetans have been spending. They complain that the young refugees are brash and no more care about the cause. “All they want is a good life…and they never shy away from flashing money,” says a Himachali taxi driver in Dharamshala.

There have been several skirmishes between the locals and the refugees in the past, but they have been settled after intervention of the elders as both realise they cannot do without each other now. At 50, the movement is in a state of reflection. The Dalai Lama is now 73 and talks about his possible successor are gaining ground. The spiritual leader has declared several times in the past that it is for the people to decide if they want to keep the institution alive.

The Karmapa Lama, the head of the Karma Kagyu sect — one of the four streams of Tibetan Buddhism — is one of the frontrunners. The Dalai Lama’s authority as a spiritual leader is complete, but his political path has invited severe challenges in the past. And even today, there are many more voices that speak openly against his policy of reconciliation.

Lhasang Tsering is one of his most vocal critics. He calls the Dalai Lama “a shepherd who is taking his flock to the wolf’s den so that wolf can have a feast”. Lhasang Tsering, who lives in Exile House, has been part of the violent face of the movement. He was one of the members of the Mustang Warriors that launched guerilla operations inside Tibet.

“I hope I am wrong. However, for me, I do not see anything for the movement. I don’t see people making any headway,” he shrugs, talking about the bleak future he sees for the struggle. “Tibet is for Tibetans,” he avers, describing the Chinese as an evil force guilty of genocide in Tibet. He expresses surprise over how the Dalai Lama expects Beijing to give autonomy to Tibetans.

The people are staring at the future with a sense of dejection. This time around, it seems the loud sounds of Rengzen — the Tibetan word meaning independence — in the past have been muted. The random trickling in of new, young faces from the Roof of the World may help stoke the few return-to-our-homeland embers left in Dharamshala. But that discrete, discreet influx alone won’t be sufficient fuel in the long run.

Copyright © 2009 The New Indian Express

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