Struggle in exile

Somo typifies a Tibetan story in Ladakh. The long and endless trek; the struggle to settle down in an alien land; days of hard work; and an attempt to keep their campaign for freedom alive amid the problems of life.

Almost every Tibetan here has a similar story. Many of them sell souvenirs with the Free Tibet8217; message to visiting foreigners. The rest have the slogan of their lives pasted on their walls. That is how about 8,000Tibetans settled in this arid desert keep alive their peaceful struggle for independence of their homeland.

Hardworking Tibetan women knit Free Tibet8217; onto designer pullovers, a rage among foreign tourists. Donation boxes in local restaurants for the cause of Tibetan refugees are a major source of funds and social support for the community in exile.

Stickers, posters and flags espousing the cause of independent Tibet can hardly escape the gaze of visitors in Leh town and its suburbs. The women who sell wares ranging from smuggled Chinese crockery to Ludhiana-made pullovers in the local Tibetan market too silently campaign for their political cause. Slogans are placed at vantage points in their makeshift shops. 8220;I am at peace with myself and have absolute faith in the powers and capabilities of the Dalai Lama,8221; says Trsing Chogyal, a salesman.

Hardworking Tibetan artists have kept alive their traditions in exile. Tibetan carpets, hand-woven shawls, tankhas being sold at the Tibetan co-operativeoutlets at Leh are major shopping attractions for foreigners.

8220;The goods are beautiful and I am buying these also for a cause. It will be my small contribution towards their struggle,8221; said a British tourist, buying souvenirs for his friends at the local Tibetan store.

Nevertheless, it is a hard life for the Tibetans who are living in segregated colonies allotted to them by the government. 8220;Ladakh gives us a feeling of being nearer home and it looks so much like our place,8221; says Tundup, an aged Tibetan, who trekked hundreds of miles of rugged terrain along with his two daughters and wife to escape the marauding Chinese 40 years ago.

Choglamsar, the Tibetan colony, about 8 km from Leh town, is mostly a cluster of mud houses from where these people run their small businesses. The women narrate success stories of their neighbours which have origins in the single-room shop-cum-residence.

Their children study at the SOS school, funded by an international voluntary organisation. Some educated youth getemployment in the SOS school and a few get small jobs at the local Tibetan medical clinic as their status as political refugees does not entitle them to get jobs in India. Others end up as petty traders and manual labourers in local markets.

Choglamsar is stoic and gloomy. Bright red prayer-wheels break the monotony as the spirited Tibetans talk of their ultimate deliverance from homelessness.

The colony remains a neglected corner of urban Ladakh. However, its residents have no complaints. 8220;The Indian Government has given us so much we should not crib about small issues like water and electricity,8221; says Somo, who gets a spontaneous approval from all her customers.

Their memories of home are fading from their minds as the Tibetans get more and more involved in their daily struggle for survival. 8220;Life is difficult but we have faith in the Dalai Lama who will one day free us from this state,8221; says Dolma, a Ladakhi married to a Tibetan. Dolma, who earned the wrath of her parents for marrying ahomeless Tibetan, is sure that one day she will go to her husband8217;s native village as a proud bride.

The Tibetans8217; faith in ahimsa remains unshaken even after the self-immolation of one of their compatriots in New Delhi a few months ago, though it has invariably created some rumblings. 8220;It is difficult at times to convince the children to remain calm,8221; Somo says.

Peace and prayer have become the daily mantra in the lives of these Buddhists. 8220;I look at the Shanti stupa a Buddhist temple located on the highest peak in Leh and say my prayers all the day in the hope of returning home,8221; says an old woman in Choglamsar. She says the Tibetan cause is known worldwide only because they resorted to peaceful struggle and did not succumb to temptations for resorting to violence.

Tibetans have contributed to the Ladakhi society as well. Even Ladakhis confess the hardworking Tibetans had shaken the community out of its characteristic slumber. So they are repaying their debt by joining the Tibetan struggle. WhenTibetan settlers in Ladakh conducted torchlight processions in protest over the self-immolation of Tundup Gyalson in New Delhi, native Ladakhis joined them.