Stop Genocide in Tibet

My movie of the month

2008-02-10T21:43:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

“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

2007-10-07T10:36:00.001-07:00

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

2007-03-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

-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

2006-10-09T04:49:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-05-24T05:43:00.001-07:00

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

2006-02-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

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!

First Aid

2005-12-19T03:01:00.000-08:00

First Aid

Dude wat is your intention, people visit Dharamshala in February for only two purpose. The first one could be if they haven't seen snow in their life and the other if they wanna commit suicide. Dude what is ur purpose? The place experience its third coldest month in February and mind you it's freaking cold for people who are accustomed only to coastal climate. well the road to Dharamshala is tolerable. Any train leaving to Delhi is fine. G.T. Express and Tamil Nadu Express takes around 32 to 36 hrs. Congrats ! your half journey is done. Now from Delhi you have to take bus to Dharamshala. You could either get the Bus from Govt. Bus Stand or from Majnu Ka Tilla ( a tibetan ghetto place). The buses heading to D'sala departs only at 5 pm and reaches D'sala at 5 30 next morning. Get down and a red carpet welcome is guaranteed. ahhaha
There is another way, where you dun have to come by Delhi. Get any train from Chennai going to Pathankot. From there board a bus going to Dharamshala. Which is just four hours journey to Dharamshala.

2005-12-03T03:31:00.000-08:00

Drop a line for Free Tibet !!!

2005-12-03T03:21:00.000-08:00

Drop a line for Free Tibet!!!!

What could be worse

2005-12-03T02:59:00.000-08:00

I was all alone in my room, dreaming away my unfulfilled wishes. Solitude is bliss if you have a broken heart. You avoid getting into crowd coz that reminds you of your loneliness. For about a month, silence has laid siege over us and there was a complete breakdown of communication. Mixed emotion of agony and ecstasy chilled my soul when i heard that she was in town for a holiday. Ecstasy of course was momentary and died soon. What really exist was the pain and agony- and it is still alive and kicking....

she sat in silence, staring at da pictures on the wall.
hardly turned her face towards me, she responded only by moving her head.
fixed and unmoved was her lips.
she wore a turquoise floater, and a dark red nail polish that glows her beautiful toe.
Strong and smart, she is

exile

2005-09-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

no one really knows what is it like to be in exile.
the pain and the sorrow at Home,
the hope and the faith for freedom,
still remains an enigma.

some said,
exile is the beauty in reproach,
but to me it's a step away from extinction.

Happy the man,
who has a place to call home,
an air to breathe comfortably,
power to live and die freely.

if life is a series of unending struggle,
let's not rest n rust,
as Thum Gunn said:
One is always nearer by not keeping still.

as day tuns to dark,
i walk in accompanied
with fear n forgotten,
watching the birds flew
pointed back to its home.

Much Ado About Nothing

2005-09-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

I was just reading 'Much Ado About Nothing' and i found out the genuis of Shakespeare is beyond my comprehension.

The follwing is an excerpt from this play

Beatrice :
With good leg and a good foot, uncle and money enough in his purse, such a man would win any woman in the world if a could get her good will

Context:
Leanato teases Beatrice by proposing Benedick, she hastily adds further conditions for an acceptable husband. He must be will-built, wealthy , and able to get her good will. Leg implies both physique and elegance; a 'good leg' could be a graceful bow. At the same time thre is an extended sexual pun: 'leg', leads to foot, but 'foot' can mean 'penis', and occurs in the Bible as a euphemism for the sexual organs (e.g. 'The Lord shall shave with a razor the head an the hair of the feet: (Isa.7.20)

note: i have realised the 'will' could also mean sexual desire.

Shakespeare has brilliantly answered the most complex question of this age!!!!!#@$#!! What Women Wants? infact, a million dollar question.

2005-09-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

Tibetan Khata--known for its multi purpose

The Cycle of Life

2005-09-07T04:39:00.000-07:00

It was a Sunday morning with rain and just more rains to pour. Sun hardly makes it’s way to Dharamshala and it is a fact that this place receives the second highest rainfall in India.
The previous day was full of activities, it was my cousin sister’s birthday and the celebration went beyond mid night. We got back home early morning and before I laid myself into deep sleep, my cell phone began to flash. It was my ex hiberian Mass. Com. Guy (who had unusually kept his ‘Thesis’ as arrear ) called up to say; one of St. Thomas’s guy’s uncle has expired early morning.

I rushed up to this guy’s house with a khata (white scarf) and a cash for burning lamp. As I reached his home, it was in complete silence and an air filled with exotic Tibetan incense. I couldn’t see the corpse but could see few monks moving their lips mutely with few sheets in their hand. Later I found out that, these monks did the astrological calculations and they predicted that the boy’s uncle would be reborn to a boy in down south. The one thing that shocked me was, these monks said “the dead mans soul still lingers over some left over food”. I was like Jesussssss mannnnnn !!!!(da seach party began) and we all went to search for it and surprisingly we found a bowl of porridge, that was prepared for him by his nephew, but sadly the uncle refuse to drink it before he died.
There were much more complex things happening, which my small brain could hardly comprehend. So I said my prayers and gave consoling words to my st. Thomas’s friend.I appreciate his strength and the sacrifices he made for his late uncle.

Death keeps no calender and it could be you and me anytime….anyday….so better start doing some good things before Death visits you…..

Carl Sandburg beautifully describes how Death snips in—

Death sends a radiogram every day:
When I want you I ll drop in—
And then one day he comes with a master key and lets himself in and says;
We will go now.

Death is a nurse mother with a big arms:
‘T won’t hurt you at all; it’s
your time now; you just need a long
sleep, child;
What have you had anyhow better than sleep?

Junkie, me n my seat mate

2005-08-15T04:29:00.000-07:00

Lonely Pipal Tree - Junkie me n my seat mate

It was a sunny evening around 5 p.m. that I boarded my bus to Dhasa from Majnu Ka Tilla. M.T. was unusually silent that day and I could see few of my co-passengers escaping the heat of bus and sheltering beneath skinny Pipal tree.
The bus was supposed to leave at 5:30 p.m. but there was no sign of haste on driver's face. He was wearing a cotton shirt and a khaki color trouser that was folded above his Kolhapuri sandal, where your toe enjoys a full privacy. His hands were enormously huge and were busy moving up and down between his leg and balls, while his right hand holds a Tarzan bedi in his mouth and comfortably blows it out in smoke beneath a lonely Pipal Tree.

I sat on my seat and gave a meaningful glance to my seatmate; whose was an English girl of twenties. Her clothes were so dirty that it gives out an appalling smell, mixing harmoniously with the Tibetan Junkie begging right over my window. Tibetan junkie has their own story to reveal and they knew how exactly to grab a few cash from new tourist. He didn't beg me because he knew I am in no way appear more better off than him except, I carry a bottle of Aquafina.

Act I

He started on with his rituals and began with "I had lost all my luggage and has no money to go back home". But this English girl who looked more pathetic than both Junkie and I stick glued to her book and never replied. But the Junkie proved to be a tough nut to break and he highered his voice a little bit and now his dialogue sounded loud and clear.

Act II
She finally ran out of her patience and said, " I don't understand English". The junkie got wild because his hungry eyes can see she was reading a novel in English and just shrieked back in English moments ago. Sensing that he was fighting a losing battle he resolved back to his last resort.

Act III

The Junkie: You fock you
You shit, ass hole, bitch
You think I no no English,
fock you again...(and the flowery language keeps flowing freely...)

I pulled down the curtain, as if the show is over but suddenly our junkie was grabbed behind his back and another huge hand covered his entire innocent looking face and pushed him away from the Bus. The hand was quite familiar to me and I realize it was playing gulli danda a moment ago, under a lonely pipal tree.

The Last Act
The sight of Junkie grew smaller and smaller as he made his way into the streets of M.T. It was bad day to him and I would say " Dude, better luck next time". However it was my first encounter with a Tibetan Junkie and it was a memorable one but I wish he would find a better way to live.
As the engine began to make sound, I pulled up my curtain hoping not to see another junkie. My journey has just begun....

My Roots

2005-06-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

tibetan culture
Tibetan Culture in the 21st CenturyWhen tracing our cultural heritage, we Tibetans talk about three main sources of influence: for our spiritual tradition we looked towards our neighbor to the south, India; for our culinary tradition towards our neighbor to the east, China; and, for our style of dress we looked towards our neighbor to the northeast, Mongolia. We amalgamated these borrowings with our existing traditions to come out with a distinctly Tibetan culture. His Holiness the Dalai Lama points to the khata, the Tibetan greeting scarf, as a concrete example of this fusion of influences. The khata's origin can be traced to India, but it has been mostly manufactured in China, and it is used only in the Tibetan cultural areas. In its artistic expression and other aspects, Tibetan culture has a deeply spiritual foundation. In the Tibetan medical tradition, for example, Tibetan physicians place equal emphasis on medicines (mostly herb and mineral based) and on the spiritual component. Patients need to recite certain prayers before taking some medicines; in other instances, medicines, particularly the rinchen rilbu (precious pill), are said to be more efficacious if consumed during certain holy days. Tibetan culture has a holistic approach. It encourages a macro perspective of the issue, whether it is a discussion of deeper Buddhist philosophy or the treatment of sick people. The local lama (teacher) is a spiritual leader, psychiatric counselor, medical doctor, and business advisor all rolled into one. The culture also has a pragmatic side, with people encouraged to find creative ways of adhering to their tradition. For example, traditionally Tibetans refrain from starting on a journey on a Sunday or on inauspicious days as calculated by Tibetan astrology. But when people cannot avoid doing this, they first undertake a make-believe journey on the previous day, complete with a backpack, before returning home after a short trek, to fool the evil spirits. They then begin their actual journey the next day. The arrival of Chinese troops in Tibet, which forced a sizable number of Tibetans to seek refuge outside of their homeland, upset the Tibetan cultural balance. Tibetan culture, which had until then blossomed in familiar terrain, was exposed to pressure on a large scale. Within Tibet, Chinese values have been forced upon Tibetan society for predominantly political reasons. Chinese influence has become a norm in the daily lives of the Tibetans in Tibet, particularly those living in urban areas. Tibetan dress has become sinocized. Tibetan literature, painting, music, and dance have taken on Chinese overtones with a common theme: depicting the supposedly terrible situation in Tibet in the pre-Chinese era and the so-called positive aspect of Chinese rule. Tibetans in the diaspora have experienced a different kind of pressure. Having been transplanted to a different cultural environment, Tibetan refugees have had to cope with the cultural values, including climatic conditions, of their host societies, whether in the Indian subcontinent or the West. The post-1959 period also saw Tibetan cultural and religious institutions assuming dual identities. Major Tibetan monastic communities have been re-established in the Indian subcontinent. Today, there are Sera and Tashi Lhunpo monasteries both in Tibet and in exile. The interaction with the outside culture has posed a dilemma for the Tibetans, particularly when there was contradiction between traditional Tibetan beliefs and the modern world view. The Dalai Lama from an early stage asked Tibetans to be pragmatic as they faced such a situation. Tibetans, he said, should differentiate between the essence of their culture and its more superficial ritualistic accouterments. He stressed the importance of preserving the former while being able to forgo some of the latter, particularly in terms of rituals like customary ways of greeting that included sticking one's tongue out, or traditional burial styles which are not feasible at lower altitudes. Tibetans are in the process of doing this. Take Tibetan dress, for instance. The traditional chuba (kimono-like garment) is not suitable for the climatic conditions in the Indian subcontinent. Thus, although Tibetan men in exile still preserve our chuba, they only use it during formal occasions. Tibetan women, on the other hand, have adapted the chuba for daily usage. Tibetan Buddhists also have learned to accept that the world is round, as scientifically proved, instead of being flat, as contained in some of the Buddhist scriptures. The experience of the past four decades, during which Tibetans experienced close interaction with the outside world, showed that Tibetan culture had much to contribute to the development of world civilization. For example, in India there has been a reverse spread of Buddhism, from the Tibetans back to India. There is an interesting and moving process of re-translation from Tibetan to Sanskrit of Buddhist scriptures which had been lost in India. Tibetan Buddhist philosophy is a field of study in very many institutions of higher learning in the West; the Tibetan medical tradition has a pride of place in the alternative healing systems of the world. Tibetan culture itself, rather than being submerged in the cultures of our host societies, has acquired new dimensions. The exposure has created a new breed of teachers of Tibetan Buddhism. Western scholars in suits and ties as well as Western monks and nuns in Tibetan Buddhist robes now lecture on the deeper aspects of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, which 50 years before would have been a strange sight for Tibetans. The widespread recognition of Tibetan culture has also engendered a new market for "Tibetan items" ranging from ashtrays, lighters, and singing bowls to designer prayer flags and root beer. It has also resulted in the secularization of Tibetan culture, if you will. The thangka paintings and sacred statues, which traditionally could be found only in the shrine rooms and altars of houses, have also moved into the living rooms. In addition to being symbols of spiritual visualization, these items have become decorative objects. Today, Tibetan culture is at a crossroads. Diaspora life has changed the mode of its preservation. An institutionalized system has been established with knowledge of the culture passed on more through the classroom than through living experience. The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, the Norbulingka Institute, and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in India, and Tibet House and numerous Dharma Centers in the United States are but a few examples of this development. The Asian Classics Input Project and Nirtartha International, both based in New York, have harnessed the power of the computer to preserve and make available Tibetan literature on the Web. The test for Tibetan culture is to be able to maintain its continuity while adapting to the changes in the situation. One important factor in this is the ability of Tibetan religious and cultural values to make themselves relevant to the daily life of the Tibetan people, whether in Tibet or beyond the land of snows. This 21st century will be a critical period in the evolution of Tibetan culture