Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Free Tibet!

A casual train conversation that turned into a full fledged political discussions on Tibet... I promised to blog about it so here goes...

  • Tibetans travel through the passes of Himalayas to reach India via Nepal illegally in search of a better future/education.
  • They have a 'Government-in exile' in Dharmashala, Himachal Pradesh headed by the Dalai Lama
  • The Government-in exile has various departments much like our own. For example the education department allots Tibetan students to study at various educational institutions across the country. Chennai has 120!
  • Apart from Himachal Pradesh Tibetans live in a few large Refugee camps around the country in places like New Delhi, Karnataka etc
  • Children make the treacherous trip via the mountains to reach India to study. They don't see their parents for years together. They have a school in Mussorie where they study and move on to colleges. They can return to the school even during their college holidays!
  • Though all Graduates dream of returning to return to Tibet, many choose to work for the Government in Exile in India.
  • When the Dalai Lama dies he'll leave a clue as to where his next incarnation would be and the Tibetans will have to go an identify the child.
  • Next in hierarchy to the Dalai Lama is the Panchen Lama, the real Panchen Lama was a 5 year old kid when he and his family 'disappeared'!
  • Now there's a Chinese government 'installed' Panchen Lama who is doing the rounds in Tibet. He gives 'religious sermons' which at least one person from every family has to attend.
  • Considering the Dalai Lama is the only potent force for the Tibetans, wonder what the Chinese will do to the child who gets identified as the next Dalai Lama
  • They're happy to have self rule within the Chinese framework
  • They're happy with India's neutral stance. But an aggressive posturing from India is like their main hope!
  • The Yummy part: There's just one Tibetan run Tibetan restaurant in Chennai, Mount Kailash, near Loyola. Recco: The mo-mo :D

I'm sure at least half of this is news to most people!

3 comments:

sansmerci said...

Hey thats an awesome informative post, i do have soem tibetan friends and know a few of these except the dalailama part.. sounds interesting..

and hey me being a foodie its gr8 to know tht theres a tibetan cuisine restaurant in chennai.. will def chek it out .. i write reviews at chennai.burrp.com.. being a chennaite i tht it ll b very useful for u to read/write reviews on hand-out places in the city..

anyways awesome blog .. gr8 work .. keep writing .. ur welcome to my blog too :)

Surendran said...

well... doc add one more bit to the "news" list that Trinley Dorje or Karmapa Lama i.e the third in line is seen as the potential replacement to dalai lama and recognized as the tibetian face to be banked upon, in continuing the legacy

Prahalathan said...

hmmm...