Tibet Tibers in exile in India crave of identity and homeland

What does it mean to live in exile?

“When we studied at school, our teachers said that there is” R “on our forehead – it means refugees,” says the Tibetan writer -activist of the Tenzin Tenz.

Mr. Tits – one in about 70,000 Tibetans living in India, is distributed in 35 designated settlements.

In 1959, thousands of Tibetians escaped after a failed rebellion against Chinese government.

After their spiritual leader, Dalai -Lama, they crossed the insidious Himalayan passes and reached India, where they were accepted as refugees on humanitarian grounds and because of common religious and cultural ties.

But living or even born in India does not make them Indians, says Mr.

Tibetors in India live on renewable registration certificates, which are issued every five years. Those born here can apply for passports if the father was born in India from 1950 to 1987 – but they must submit a certificate for this. Many are shy because it is closely linked to their Tibetan identity.

In July, when the Dalai -Laom turned 90, thousands of Tibetan Buddhists gathered in Dharamhal -a quiet city located in the foothills of the Himalayas in the North Indian state of Himachal. The city serves as the headquarters of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)-Tibet government in exile.

Even when they prayed for the long life of their leader, many are like Mr. Switch, who reflected on the uncertainty of life in exile.

The emotional weight of the relocation, the legal limb of statelessness and geopolitics around the Dalai -Lama hung up heavily at the birthday celebration.

The Tibetors continued to migrate to India for decades after 1959, running away, running away to China in the homeland.

Dava Sangbo, 85, reached Dharamashala in 1970 after grueling seven -day campaigns through Nepal. “We ran at night and hid,” he recalls.

Not having where to stay in India, he survived, living in a 12 -year tent and sold spices in the villages near Dharamhaly. Now he lives with his son and wife in the neighborhood, which is largely inhabited by the Tibetans.

For many, like Mr. Sangbo, escaping to India, they may have secured security – but they still strive for their homeland.

“In the end, the house is a house,” says Pasang Galpe, who fled Tibet to Nepal before he dwell in India in 1990.

Five years later, Mr. Gelp bribed Nepali guards and slipped into Tibet to bring his family to India. But the Chinese police pursued him shortly after arriving, causing him to escape. His family remains in Tibet.

“They are in the Motherland, I am in a foreign land. What else can I feel but pain?” he asks.

For young Tibetans, such as Mr. Tund, born in India, pain is more existential.

“The injury is not that we have lost our land,” he says. “This is that we were not born in Tibet and we have no right to live in Tibet. It is also a wonderful sense of deprivation that something very important for our land, culture and language has been taken away from us.”

Lobsang Youngts, a researcher on the regions of Tibet and Himalayas, explains that it is stateless means that there is not enough feeling of affiliation.

“It’s hurt,” she says. “I have lived all my life here (in India), but I still feel homeless.”

Tibetors in exile are grateful to India for the shelter, but complain about the lack of rights – they cannot vote, their own property or easy to travel abroad without an Indian passport.

“We have Isla (official travel document) given by the Indian government as a certificate,” says Furb Dolma. But the airport immigration staff often does not recognize it.

Dorjee PHUNTSOK, Born in India, noted that many corporate jobs in India often require Indian passports. “Without one we miss a lot of opportunities.”

In recent years thousands of Tibetans in India emigrated Western countries that use IS, which some countries take for visa applications.

Many have gone to student or work visas, crossed countries such as the United States and Canada, or went abroad on sponsorship with religious and humanitarian groups.

Penpa Tering, the CTA president, believes that the reason is mostly economic. “The dollars and the euro go further than what is here,” he says.

But for some, such as the 36-year-old Wangchuk, who has moved to India as an eight-year-old, motivation is more personal.

“For (almost) for 30 years I have not met my parents and relatives. I am not here,” he says. “The only reason I want to go to the Western country is that I can become a citizen there. Then I can apply for a visa and go to Tibet to visit my parents.”

Some Tibetians recognize the need to be pragmatic, given geopolitical craving and pressure.

“If you ask any Tibetan, they will say they want to come back,” says Kunchok Migmar, CTA official. “But now there is no freedom in Tibet. Nobody wants to go back to beat the Chinese.”

The last point of Flashpoint appeared in a few days to the 90th anniversary of the Dalai. He said his successor would be chosen by his office – moving to China rejected, insisting that he would decide by law. Beijing called the issue of continuity “thorns” in his connections with India.

India Official position This is what “does not take any position regarding beliefs and practices of faith and religion.” In particular, the two senior ministers of the Indian government shared a scene with Dalai -Lama on birthday.

Dalai -Lama announcement that he would have a successor to brought relief among the Tibetans. But there is an uncertainty about what his death for the Tibetan movement can mean.

“If we prepare well from now when his holiness lives and (if) the future leaders who will follow us can continue the same impetus, then I think it should not affect us as much as people think it can,” says Mr. Tsing.

Its optimism is not shared by all Tibetors.

“This is thanks to the current Dalai -Laom that we have such opportunities and resources,” says Mr. It adds a lot of Tibetans who are afraid that after its passing the community can lose the long -standing support that supported them.

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