Fantasy of free Tibet and truth of being refugee in India, as seen by Tenzin Tsundue

By Sounak Bhadra*
Tenzin Tsundue, a 42-year-old Tibetan artist, essayist and Rangzen (freedom) activist, first grabbed the eye of the worldwide media in 2002 for enrolling a surprising type of dissent against the Chinese control of Tibet. During Chinese leader Zhu Rongji's visit to Mumbai, Tsundue climbed the platform outside the lodging at which Rongji was staying and spread out a 20-foot pennant that read "Free Tibet: China, Get Out.”
His poems and different compositions uncover forthcoming attention to the Tibetan circumstance and are set apart by an accentuation on growing up estranged abroad. Presently situated in Dharamshala, Tsundue has devoted his life to the cause for Tibetan freedom, as represented by the red kerchief that he has pledged to take off just when Rangzen has been accomplished.
Tenzin was brought into the world in the Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh, where his folks were functioning as street development workers at that point. Before long, in 1975, they were restored to an exile camp in Kollegal, Karnataka. He grew up there before being received by a little school in the Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh that housed around 300 Tibetan youngsters. After seventh grade, he completed his studies in Dharamshala.
At that point, he moved to Madras for a Bachelor of Arts degree and to Bombay for a Master of Arts. He lived in Bombay for a very long time and finished a twofold major in writing and reasoning. When Tenzin was 22 years of age, he went to Tibet illegally. The thought was to go there, battle for the opportunity, and maybe kick the bucket. In any case, he got captured. He was blindfolded, beaten, and investigated in prison for a quarter of a year before being tossed out of Tibet. That was a sort of resurrection for Tenzin.
Being an outcast and battling for freedom came early in Tenzin’s life. He was born in India, yet the possibility of Tibet came to him through the melodies and stories his grandmother would describe to him in the displaced person camp in Karnataka. He found out about snow-mountains, yaks, sheep, and the life of travelers and ranchers.
Additionally, there were customary games and food. In this way, he grew up envisioning Tibet through these. At that point, in school, his instructors informed him regarding how Tibet is under Chinese occupation. They revealed to him that he should re-visit his nation one day; that opportunity won't come for anything or by killing the Chinese; and that it can't be purchased, however, will be conceivable just when we enable ourselves with instruction and reason.
After the games and stories, this was his first genuine schooling about Tibet. His teachers revealed to him that the world doesn't think about Tibet and that to illuminate them, he would have to learn English. When he was in fifth grade, Tenzin made a promise to be a political dissident when he grew up and educate the world regarding Tibet through his writings.
Tenzin believes that India needs Tibet to be free later on, however right now, if India can bring in cash out of China, it wouldn't fret saying that Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) is important for the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Yet, over the long haul, it would be extravagant. Indeed, even now, India is burning through the large number of crores on the Himalayan outskirt considering the Chinese military on the opposite side. If Tibet is recovered as a free nation, quite a bit of that cost, alongside the peril, won't be there.

Tibetans have transformed their lamas into divine beings, which has added to the degeneration of a normal, balanced religion

Also, the Tibetans and the Indian populace in the Himalayas have consistently had conjugal, exchange, and social ties. Indeed, individuals across the Himalayas share more for all intents and purposes with the Tibetans than with the standard Indian culture found in the fields.
A significant part of the Tibetan culture is faith-driven. Curiously, however, faith here isn't faith in a divine being, because in Buddhism there is no god. It is an agnostic religion. Be that as it may, the Tibetans have transformed their lamas into divine beings, which Tenzin feels adds up to the degeneration of a normal, balanced, and important religion with a bad situation for blind faith.
In the Tibetan people group, individuals will not think strategically. They state that the Dalai Lama is aware of the past, present, and future. Whatever he decides for Tibet is likewise their decision. At the point when somebody like him attempts to contend for freedom opposite self-governance, he is asked, "For what reason do you superfluously acquire your explanation in front of the insight of the Dalai Lama?"
The Dalai Lama is their chief, and he has high regard for his astuteness. And yet, there are various components to consider: conceivable outcomes of progress inside China, or in worldwide exchange and legislative issues, for example.
His Holiness isn't settling on choices for Tibet, and it isn't his longing or wishes to do so all things considered. He has supported the vote-based system for as long as 56 years. In 2011, he surrendered his political expert to fortify and enable a real arrangement of the Tibetan government.
To unite everyone of these components for Tibet, the Tibetans need to work. The People of Tibet, whoever they are -- priests, monks, sweater-merchants, individuals in the military, journalists, educated people, or craftsmen -- have tasks to carry out in helpfully uniting the Tibetan conscience. They can't rely upon His Holiness for eternity. Something else, when he bites the dust, that will be the finish of everything, adding to the calamity of Tibetan freedom.
According to Tenzin, the life of a refugee is rousing as it makes one humble as well as sensitive to different causes. Be that as it may, its a daily routine experienced between the fantasy and the truth: the fantasy of a free Tibet and the truth of being a refugee in India. It resembles the Tibetan idea of bardo, or the irregular time among life and demise, wherein one exists before entering the following life.
---
*Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad | PGP 2019-21

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