Love at first sight

Some people and places attract you at first glance. It was my love at first sight! Love by instinct. The very first day when I landed in Macleod ganj, the hill station near Dharamsala, my heart was leaping with an unknown joy. I felt a sense of belonging even before seeing the place. The sight of little monks jumping out of the big van caught my eyes. They were happy and smiling, their innocence coupled with seriousness in the glittering eyes conveyed to my heart. I felt an innate attraction towards the place as to Tibetan Budhisam. I looked around with a child’s curiosity, the mountains seem hiding a beautiful mystery behind the dancing fogs, nature was as fresh as a new born child.

Macleod ganj looked like an International centre in India and it was the charm that place carries. I felt happy to be away from the staring and intruding people from the rest of India!

The place seemed like a ‘mini Tibet’, with all the Tibetans there. The land looked like blessed by divine grace. In that small place Tibetan refugees try to retain their culture, their art, handicrafts etc. It was great a souvenir roaming around Macleod ganj, the Tibetan Temple, where Dalai Lama resides, and the surrounding area look so majestic with the presence of monks in maroon robes. I relished on Tibetan dishes like veg shabri, momo, and variety of soups and salads on everyday till my departure.

For Tibetans, spirituality is part of existence, a way of life, they do believe and adore their spiritual leaders as they do believe in Budhism. With the monks all around, one gets an air of divinity around you. During my stay there, I never have seen a Tibetan shouting to anybody or staring at others. They smile from their heart, they are untouched by pretensions and hypocrisy. I was really moved by the warmth and affection of this people.

‘Tibetans escape to India every year in search of freedom, their life in Tibet is stooped to the level of second class citizenship. They are not even allowed to speak to foreigners'; one Tibetan Masseur says. He narrated how he was caught by the Chinese police for the ‘crime’ of giving cherries to foreign tourists! In Tibet, Tibetan’s are always been spied. I felt deeply grateful to India particularly to Nehru for giving asylum to this people.

Tibetans who are born in India have never gone to their mother land, because they fear of getting caught by Chinese authority. As one Tibetan guide jokingly put it, ‘ incoming is free, but out going is impossible’! But this simple peace loving people still live here in the hope of getting back to their mother country one day. They don’t resort to any kind of violence, they don’t shout for their freedom, but just wait with patience. But will Chinese authorities wake up to the reality?

Recently China claimed Arunachal Pradesh as the next incarnation of Lama is born there and try to control the Tibetans elsewhere. Again it is sad to remember what mighty does to the fragile. What harm a nations greed can does to another nation. As America’s Iraq invasion, Tibet invasion also is all about money. Fortunately(or unfortunately ?) Tibet is a blessed land with abundant natural resources and minerals. But again, as always, world watch in silence when a culture is being crushed, when her peace loving people are haunted away from their mother land.

I really felt sad seeing this people who are being fated to live as refugees in another country with none of their fault. I asked myself why this simple people are suffering?