Rajpal's Column

17th September 2000

Tibet, Lanka and the deja vu on the Gung

By Rajpal Abeynayake

But if you want to look for a people who have got used to their situation, then look at this city. Mac Leod Gung is the part of town where the Dalai Lama lives in exile, and nobody seems to be sure whether it's part of Dharmasala or not. Nobody seems to care. It's probably hard being a religious leader, and then being converted into a tourist attraction. But then, the considerable Tibetan community which lives here, have now put down roots, and tourism is essentially what they live by. Mac Leod Gung is a catacomb of tourist hotels and restaurants, and it's sixties hippie style ambience doesn't exactly do much to foster religious temperament. But then again, ask any hippie, and he or she will tell you that all they want to do is meditate.

"Free Tibet'' is the slogan here, but seen everyday on T shirts covering ample Tibetan and Jewish bosoms, the Free Tibet slogan seems to be more hip than passionate.

But, then again nobody is passionate about Tibet. At least, most people feel hard put to show any passion for the Tibetan cause. Kofi Annan caved into Chinese pressure, and refused to invite the Dalai Lama for the World Religious leaders conference at the UN just a few weeks back. So, it is an interesting study of how people evolve, as exiles, as refugees, and as people dealing with political conflict. That way, there is more Déjà vu here, looking at how people have adjusted. There are fourth generation Indian Tibetans here, who have know no other life perhaps, than running a tourist's paradise with the Dalai Lama as the Chief attraction.

At various street corners, and hotel lounges, you can still see signs of the fight. But the struggle seems to have hit the tired effete stage. And it is also part of the tourist attraction. People go around, and see herbal message clinics, temples, and political agitation centers. And they read literature, on the Tibetan struggle. The struggle is a saleable commodity, and most of our Sri Lankan NGO people will tell you that struggles often indeed are saleable commodities.

And in one way, the Tibetan conflict ended up in a place that has one hell of an ambiance, which is fine for people who want to romanticize the struggle but do nothing about it. The whole Mac Leod Gung here seems to be a massive exhibition ground for disillusioned Westerners on the drift. There is one guy, even as I write this, who is pushing back his long grey hair, and asking a restaurant man to play some reggae cassettes that he has brought along with him. Some good reggae, before the meditation class, and the herbal massage. And then, run into somebody, and he will say how badly the Tibetean people are being treated.

All very fine, except that nobody gives a hoot for a hippie who has been to Tibet to (….and forgets about his passion as soon as he discards his reggae cassettes.) Conflicts can be poised in many intersections, but sometimes, it's worth wondering why a conflict has to end up this way. I mean, a real substantial culture, and religion, ending up in hippieland.

But, on the other hand, it's better than conflicts that never end, and are far from any kind of Shangri La denouement. One tourist here, asks me whether I'm from Goa, and when I reply Sri Lanka he says, " a bomb went off there.'' Even the kind limbo that Tibeteans face in MacLeod Gung is probably better than a fight that drags on — even though one feels sorry nevertheless that the Dalai Lama had to come to this pass.

But, the resilience of these people on the other hand is still worthy of mention. In one way they have fought different kinds of hazards and affronts, like hippification, Westernisation, or being treated like some specimens from a culture that didn't quite die — a goldfish bowl existence.

But, no one can say there isn't enough of Tibet in Dharamasala. The monks wear their habit, even if tourists who take their photographs blithely are dime a dozen. The temple bells are still rung, at the regular interval, in the old fashioned way by means of a revolving drum. Tibeteans may wear denims, but they still swear that the Dalai Lama is god, even the man who sells beer for the tourists round the corner. It's difficult to say why — but everything here, even the Westerners, have a Tibetan flavour. There is a little bit of Tibet in every helping of breakfast porridge that is served, and every bit of bread that is baked in this town. That's not bad in a way for a community that everybody forgot, except perhaps some western flower-children.

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