Frustration creeps in, yet faith in Dalai Lama keeps Tibetans going

Bombay News.Net
Sunday 22nd November, 2009 (IANS)

The red-blue-yellow coloured Tibetan flags flutter everywhere in Majnu Ka Tila, a Tibetan settlement in the northern part of the capital. Five decades after the Tibetans fled to India, members of the community living here still have unflinching faith in the Dalai Lama and that their homeland, Tibet, will one day be free.

However, the long wait has given way to hints of frustration and hopelessness amongst some in the community, especially the younger lot.

Tenzin Tsering, a 20-year-old Tibetan who lives in the resettlement colony, said: 'I don't follow the political news like my parents. I want to go to Tibet and see all the beauty for myself that my mother keeps talking about. But I don't know when will that happen.'

A student of Delhi University, Tsering, said she is content with her life here.

'I am born and brought up here. I have a number of friends outside the Tibetan community who I hang out with after classes in the university - it's just like any other youngster's life,' Tsering told IANS.

The Tibetan population in India is over 100,000 of the total 140,000 living in exile the world over.

Rinjin Dorjee, a 26-year-old Tibetan who lives in Bangalore but often comes to Delhi for business, said the only thing that is keeping the youth and indeed others going is their belief in the Dalai Lama.

'You will never see the Dalai Lama talking in an arrogant manner, showing off his power like other leaders may do, and yet see the amount of respect he commands. It has even made US President Barack Obama urge the Chinese for peaceful talks with him,' Dorjee said.

'It's because of him and his belief that Tibet will finally be free, and we believe that it will. That unflinching faith - you just know that whatever the Dalai Lama says is true,' Dorjee told IANS.

Fifty-seven-year-old Sonam Lhazon, who runs a popular eatery in the colony called Dolma House, acknowledged the growing frustration among the young Tibetans.

'It's natural, isn't it? They are born and brought up in India, but are daily fed with stories of Tibet and the Tibetan struggle for their motherland's freedom. Year after year, it's the same story, so of course there will be a little frustration,' Lhazon told IANS.

A mother of four daughters - three of who stay abroad - Lhazon was quick to add that the community has implicit faith on their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

'His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, never speaks ill of anyone - not even of China who is depriving us of our homeland. We keep reading in the newspapers, how much respect he gets the world over. Therefore, I am sure that Tibet will get autonomy soon,' she said.

The Dalai Lama was in Delhi University Saturday to give a valedictory address on Tibetan culture and history. He will be in Delhi until Nov 23 after which he will return to Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Rani Dolma, another 45-year-old restaurant owner, said: 'Last year before the Beijing Olympics, there were many cases of violence by members of the Tibetan Youth Congress. But after indulging in such activity, they apologised to the Dalai Lama.'

'We keep telling ourselves that India took so long to gain independence. So we will gain freedom for our motherland too someday. This generation's kids are a little impatient that's why they sometimes try and resort to other means, but at the end they realise that the way that Dalai Lama has pointed is the right one,' she added.

Lhazom, who was one of the thousands of Tibetans fleeing to India in 1959, said she will never lose hope.

'I will live to see the day. I am just 57. China will not be able to withstand the pressure for long. We have the rest of the world supporting us,' she said, sitting under a smiling picture of Dalai Lama in her restaurant.

(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.p@ians.in)