My movie of the month

Today, lets open the window of our hearts n peep outside to see little little raindrops, meet the glorious sun or rainbow forming, sheer joy and great sun.

How could a child possibly go out see the rainbow, touch the little raindrops; if he/she is stuck with washing plates, sweeping, preparing dishes and a bucket full of potatoes waiting to be peeled. This was my instant reaction as the kids in the movie read the above lines. Child labor is so common in our Tibetan community yet no one bothers to blow the whistle. On the other hand, Tibetans in exile downplayed series of order issued by the exile government to end child laborers, but ironically child laborers in and around Gangchen Kyishong are in abundance.

The recent movie Tare Zameen Par managed to strike my thinking chord, and I feel the movie deserves all the accolades for being patri se hat kar (off the track). The movie is about an eight years old kid Eshan, who is a dyslexia victim, but everyone thinks he is a duffer, an idiot and, a lazy. Until an art teacher (Amir Khan, who in my VCD appears only in the second CD) recognizes the kid’s disease and discovers his talents. The absence of heroine in the movie adds one more reason to celebrate. The movie should be screened compulsory in all the schools to allow for fresh perspectives.

My whole childhood reeled before my eyes as the teacher in the movie hits the child with a scale, throws chalks to seek attention, and punishes to stand outside the classroom. We had our own share of teachers in schools who resort to such measures and on one occasion the students started calling our art teacher by the name of Yak Gya (a hundred yaks), because he makes children draw hundred yaks if they didn’t do his art homework. Such accounts are endless and deserve separate journals on their own.

~The punctual snowfall which was missing for the past two years has finally arrived in Dharamsala, and the courage to lay bum on the closet in a chilly winter never goes unrewarded. A little marrow left in my bone is either frozen or disappeared; so the chances of celebrating losar without meat are pointless. My apologies if you are wearing a T-shirt which reads Meat is Murder.

Miss Tibet or Tibet Missrepresented

“Miss Tibet is a beautiful platform through which Tibetan women can show the unique culture of Tibet." This quotation runs parallel to the image of Miss Tibet wearing a skimpy dress and flaunting her thighs. With five gals coveting for the controversial title and criticisms surrounding them the show is – as usual – sold out!!!! Which hardly matters to any homex. Lobsang Wangyal, we are terribly sorry, we owe you 750 Rupees for we got in without tickets.

For those of you who don't know who this pink psycho is --

He is also a homex, a class topper and shockingly the best boy in his class. The MC in a strange accent announces ladies and gentlemen please welcome miss Tibet director Lobsang Wangyal....fireworks lit the sky of Dhasa as we keep guessing the color of his suits. He would either turn up in his pink or silver suits - the chances are 50-50. And then he would appear on the stage as the rowdies at the back shout in unison lobsang wangyal gay....lobsang wangyal gay(the rhyme n the rhythms are intended)....

The contestants are shaky in their presentations and it is always a big challenge to speak in front of a huge crowd that is simply not listening to you. One of the contestants out-of-nowhere said “H.H. is receiving a continental gold medal???” On another occasion when one of the jury asked who is the first female I.P.S. officer of India, the Tibetan contestant with typical tibetan modesty bounces back to the geek and said “Sir ask me a question that is related to the Tibetans.” Her chances of winning were doomed and the poor girl was placed at the bottom.

Results were read out and media persons were busy taking pictures and interviewing miss Tibet 07 Tenzing Dolma. A sheer sight of motherly love was at display when the mother of Miss Tibet 07 rushed onto the stage with a scarf in her hand and hugged her daughter dearly. We all got emotional and said yes she deserves the title. However the show took a bizarre turn, when a guy jumped onto the ramp and started showing his gymnastic-cum-dancing skills. He must have felt this wasn't enough to entertain the crowd and the-god-forsaken kid took his pants off and continued dancing in his Rupa underwear, showing the last remaining shreds of his manhood or perhaps making a statement what is natural is never vulgar. The show can be summed up in a word, CRAZY.

Swim suit picture courtesy : http://arpleylate.livejournal.com/

One Wild Night

It was just another working day that the staffs were busy working on their computers. Suddenly the power cut that Dharamshala experiences once in every fortnight occurred and the tube lights went off followed by the computers after the UPS runs out with its saved power. Few of us got together for the usual round of discussions during the lunch break and someone suggested How about going for a camping this weekend? The idea jumped over like a flea and we all agreed to do something adventurous. Gyaltsen took out a paper and a pen and started drawing sketches of the potential spots. There were some confusions as some said “no no that place is not good, how about the one behind tcv.” And the discussions kept on and on but no one agreed on a common spot. Someone got up and said call up that guy who been to that place before. The discussions ended just like any other round table discussions going-round-and-round coming to no proper conclusion. We got dispersed and headed back to our own offices.

Saturday 4:59 p.m.

The phone rang and I knew it would be from Gyaltsen. He said “come out, we are leaving to Tapovan.” Tapovannnn????? Never heard of this name before and rushed outside leaving Kalsang to lock the office. Nyinje, Sonam and Gyaltsen waited eagerly outside the canteen and told me we are meeting at Dashoe at 6 p.m. Knowing that we don’t have much time, we hurried told each other to bring our own plates, mugs, spoons, sleeping bags and toothbrushes. With special emphasis for Sonam to bring his small pressure cooker. Then I said “what about the music, this is the second most essential thing next to the-king-of- good-times.” Ok who has got an I pod, we all looked at each other and shook in despair. Ok cancel the music.

6:10 Lower Bazar

The gang of four with our camping gears, sleeping bags rolled in round pouches hanging around our waists regrouped at Kirpu mor. Two boiler chickens, snacks, few plates of momos, fruits, potatoes and only one case were the main ingredients for the night. Its already 7:30 and we called up the taxi driver to come near the local wine shop. All set to move for the wild wild night in the deep woods. None of us knew where the hell Tapovan is but we do have a clue that there is a stream –– where we can swim–– forest –– where can toast that two boiler chickens and a kilo of potatoes. It is completely black outside the white maruti van and the driver lights up a cigarette and offered us with a smile. He turns his steering wheel to the left of a chowk and told us –– from here begins the Tapovan, tell me where you guys want to get down. Clueless and struck we replied take us into the jungle. He drove away a little further leaving all the signs of human settlements and said now it is jungle everywhere, where you want to spend the night. We insist him to drive a little further again and again until he got pissed off and shouts back we are almost reaching Kangra, where on earth is Tapovan and where are we now. We said o.k. o.k. chill!! turn back!! turn back!! looks like the spot we saw first was the most suitable. We drove back awhile and said ok just drop us here. I asked Gyaltsen hey did we buy match boxes. A pause. And he held his head and said oh shit we didn’t. Lost and helpless we all wondered how we going to eat those cute little chickens wrapped peacefully in newspapers. We unload our bags from the van and suddenly remembered the driver lighting a cigarette quite a while ago. We begged the driver to sacrifice his lighter but with a slight hesitation he offered us his lighter and said tum logo ka to bura hal hai!!! (you guys are hopeless). Just as we bid him goodbye another trouble soon surfaced –– none of us had brought flash lights. This is what happens when you plan in one afternoon.

The search for the suitable spot continues under moonless night with a lighter in hand and cell phone flashes that needs to press key after every twenty seconds. We are quite sure that we don’t want to spend the whole night searching for the spot holding a beer case in hand. Finally we found a place to settle in the deep woods but the stream was at such a distance that it was only to be heard and not to be seen. Sonam and Gyaltsen took the responsibility to set up a hearth while Nyinje and I have to go around in dark looking for firewoods. Nyinje went silent all over sudden and I shouted What happen? A voice echoed in darkness “one of the sleeping bags rolled down the slope.”

We were successful in lighting the fireplace and all cheered as the pressure cooker's whistle broke the silence of the night. The beer flowed freely and like every desperate bachelors we laid out our prejudiced thoughts on female species. As empty bottles lay scattered around the fire adds up, the guys seem to become more enlightened on women.

*sorry this part is missing*

We woke up with bad hangovers and the sun rays piercing down the pine trees. And we again looked at each other and shook our head in silence –– for the word fail to express ––– what a fascinating time we had. We slipped into our sleeping bags again free from the usual shouts of balay balay!! (bread-bread) that wake us up every morning.

Nangpa La-Shooting incident

-Richard Gere and the members of International Campaign for Tibet discussing about the tragic Nangpa La incident in Germany.
-The dead body of 17 years old nun
-Nangpa La footage, available in youtube or visit savetibet.org



Every year hundreds of Tibetan refugees risk their life crossing into exile. These people come to Dharamsala to seek blessing from their spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and live as a refugee in India. Out of the total Tibetan refugees coming out from Tibet every year, half of them are children sent by their parents in Tibet to study in refugee schools such as Tibetan Children's Village School, Tibetan Homes Foundation(my alma mater) and so forth. My class is full of student who haven't met their parents for decades, some don't even remember their parents' faces. But the point i want to make here is that though many succed to cross the border n seek a better life of freedom in exile, but there are many cases where they are ambushed, killed and detained by the Chinese border police. Though the Himalaya look magnificient but there is an ugly world behind this.

You talk to every Tibetan and they will tell you about the atrocities, sufferings, human rights violation and killings in Tibet. Yet the Tibetan voice is unheard and her justice denied. Forty eight years of Chinese occupation and the shooting of Tibetans trying to cross the border through Nangpa la is a tip of the ice berg.

The communist Chinese goverenment is making every effort in eradicating the race of Tibetans like they have done to Manchuria and mongolia. What is happening in Tibet is a histories worst crime of genocide. There are not more than 5 millions Tibetans in Tibet yet today Tibetans are overpowered by Chinese. Tibetans have become a minority in their own country. It is the dream of every Tibetans inside Tibet to send their children to India, instead of growing their child under the repressive communist regime. Yet the journey to exile is always demanding (hiding from Chinese border police): crossing the himalaya on foot for a month with little food, clothing often ending up in a frostbite and the Nangpa la is just one case being lucky enough to be witnessed by the foreign climbers at Himalaya.

I thank the guy who took the courage to tell the world about this incident (despite objection from other climbers) and the camera man for capturing the killings of innocent Tibetan at border.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere"

The Bengal Crisis

Bengali and me seems to get along pretty well. I had a hybrid Bengali friend when I was in MCC. He is one foot taller to me and lives in his lonely room transforming his thoughts into words with the help of special joints made available by his juniors. His name is Arindam and a nice guy to spent time with. I still remember how he clumsily walks down the corridor with a towel hanging around his waist with a toothbrush in his mouth. Little knowing that his juniors had already emptied the tank. My poor friend hasn't heard of the old age wisdom 'early bird catches early worm'. Dude I miss those days.
Now year passed by and here I am with another Bengali friend in Mumbai. I have high hopes for Bengali for their excellence in art and literary studies. It is believed that 'What Bengal thinks today India thinks tomorrow'. However my Bengali friend here is quite different, he thinks Kolkata is located outside India. I had a tough time unrolling Indian map and making him belief that Kolkata is in India. I felt like I had just taken a geography class but my student Shyam Sundar has never experienced classroom teaching and doesn't really know what it's like to be a student. He is probably around 12 years old (though he is not sure of his age) kept himself busy doing domestic chores while the children of his age plays in the streets near by. He has no friends to be with, just imagine how your life would be without a friend but Shyam Sundar happily sings latest Hindi song "just chill chill just chill" while I write this blog.
It is very dramatic and altogether a touching experience when he narrates what brought him to this city. How the consecutive years of draught at his village drowned his family in debt and poverty. I am sure everyone has plenty of things to learn from Shyam Sundar. I hope everything would be all right with him.

* Though i wrote it a year ago but i thought it is worth putting up in my blog.

RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE
by H.H. Dalai Lama

The end of Tibetan New Year is always followed by a fifteen day long religious discourse given by H.H. the Dalai Lama. Dharamshala witnessed a mixing of multi-national and multi-local devotees as they hurriedly made their way to the temple to lay down their cushions. This small hill station has suddenly sprung back to life from its long hibernation. It is my dismal attempt to translate the running commentaries made by H.H.'s during the teaching.

The word compassion is a broad term and a man who truly practices compassion would only be entitled to describe it. A dictionary meaning of word 'compassion' fails to convey the power, essence and significance of the term. Compassion is in-fact the core of Buddhism and the only way to achieve nirvana (if you believe it exists). According to H.H. all miseries in the world arises primarily due to attaching so much importance to 'self'. A compassionate mind brings peace and love to 'self' and 'others'. H.H. believes basic human nature is kindness, peace and loving( i.e. rational) contradicting many western philosophers' view of propounding human nature as greedy and cruel (irrational). But ironically, a thick veil of comfort and luxury of this material world obstruct us to see this true nature.

all fame and glory,
concocted by our mortal mouth,
takes no time to die.
(milarepa)

Je Rinpoche, a great Tibetan scholar in 14th Century once said,

While human mind is preoccupied with,
Sex.
Human action is preoccupied with,
Sin.

Attachment and hatred are the two powerful animal instinct that keeps them alive, however humans are blessed with wisdom and knowledge making us far superior from other species for we are endowed with potential to help other sentient being. His Holiness took the analogy of a butterfly* flapping its wing in the air, devoid of any potential to help others.
The teaching also highlighted a special relation between Buddhism and Science, how these two schools of thought compliment each other rather contradicting. Tibetan Buddhism appears to be the only oriental religion to explore into the field of human consciousness declaring physical

* Dharamshala witnessed a large number of butterfly during teaching session, perhaps the mating season coincides with the teaching session.

death doesn't necessarily bring death to human consciousness. Questions like how does our consciousness function and what is the driving force behind it intrigues every one of us.

His Holiness calls for the line that needs to be drawn between individual and its action. He said individual is not to blame for the negative action he performs, it is the element of delusion; sex, anger and hatred that is to be blamed. Human minds act in so irrational way that they show more love to their friends and families than to their enemies. If we speak from the karmic point of view, then we must exhibit compassion to both the sinner and the victim. Normally we feel more compassionate towards the oppressed rather than the oppressor, from karmic point of view the victim has now freed himself from his past bad karma by suffering at this moment but the oppressor unlike the oppressed has accumulated a new sin and shall bear the effect of this cause.

"it is hypocrite to love God
and hate poverty"

Negative emotions like biased and partiality plays a major role in dividing people around you into friends and enemies. This kind of distinction is purely unhealthy and widens the gap further between humans.

"enemies are not born,
they are made."
H.H.D.L.

"you are also responsible for making him enemy and if you don't like him, you must first hate yourself."
H.H.D.L.

A french philosopher Fredirick Neitzsche was perhaps justified when he proclaimed "God is Dead." A true Buddhist accepts the fact that nobody even the God can not deliver you enlightenment since you yourself are the savior and the messiah. To make it not complex, in simple words you are the potter and the pot.

Conclusion:
It is rooted in our deep psyche to see a solution to every problem in a revolution.
Nevertheless, none of these –isms and revolutions have been able to solve the problems encountered in day to day life. The reason is all these revolutions and –isms overlooked the spiritual side of humanity. Besides all these revolutions have taken up 'anger' and 'hatred' as their basic emotions through which their actions were guided. The teaching ended with the deep sense of realization evoked by H.H. regarding the empty nature of reality and existence of no self. At the end when all the things were said and done, it is ultimately the practice he preached.

Break up with Google this Valentine's Day

With all the things that are happening around me, I have no choice but to swallow this pain that the '21st century is a Chinese century.' The Dragon is soaring too high with win-win situation and it seems no one could stop them. Well i should warn you "the chinese are coming."
The Google has joined Chinese in betraying the world and spreading Chinese's lie! This recent move re-emphasise the fact that in this post-modern world everything is up on sale- needless to say it's love, values and today human-rights.
More than just blocking access to "politically sensitive information" (as if that wasn't bad enough), Google directs users in China, Tibet and other Chinese-occupied territories to the wrong information - propaganda Beijing wants them to see.

Pledge now to boycott google on valentine's day and take a action now!