Pressed

Unhappy new year
News From Tibet and diaspora

As I am usually what passes for a Tibetan-culture knowitall at most gatherings, foreign friends have been asking me: "So when is Losar?" (the Tibetan New Year celebration).

In 2009, Losar is supposed to be February 26. But this year, I don't know whether there will be any celebrations, or to what extent.

At least one sector of the Tibetan community feels Losar should not be observed with any festivity this year. This is partly due to the extreme state of distress in Tibet at the moment and partly to observe the 50th Anniversary of the Dalai Lama's escape from Tibet into India, and the Tibetan Uprising.

(If you would like to know more about the events of 1959, the Times of India has finally justified its existence by providing a handy online archive going back some 150 years with original news articles from the period.)

Of course, some don't agree; and I can definitely see the irony of asking a culture whose very survival is an achievement *not* to observe one of the major manifestations of said culture - even moreso when the Chinese government has tried to force ethnic Tibetans to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year instead.


No more questions!
Recently, the Chinese government made a big deal of "inviting foreign journalists to Tibet" (after expelling most of them last year) for a highly-orchestrated press trip to Lhasa. The trip included a visit to Drepung Monastery, which last year became a centre of Tibetan resistance.

I read two different accounts of the trip (some excerpted below); the reporters from different news outlets appear to have spoken with many of the same people and gotten the same rehearsed responses. China defenders say things like, "You can't believe what you read; you should go there yourself." As if that were even possible for most people at the best of times, the Chinese government has now declared several Tibetan-majority areas off limits to visitors.

Those who do go - such as these various journalists - give very similar reports. Every tourist account I have heard first or second-hand has reinforced these accounts (from one Indian tourist: "I was on a boat with a uniformed police officer; later I saw him in the monastery wearing monk's robes").

Tibet's religious life still bruised by riots (Reuters):
Inside, monks take patriotic education classes on Chinese law, alongside their Buddhist scripture studies, and were kept closeted away from visiting foreign journalists on a rare and tightly controlled government visit on Thursday.

In Tibet, it's just the facts, ma'am (MSNBC): In this account, one of the brave young monks who, last year, interrupted a similar government-arranged press trip, is now mysteriously transformed and recants:

-He said he no longer felt the way he did last March, because he and the others realized they had been "misled by the wrong people" (he did not elaborate what he meant). Norgyal also maintained that he had been able to continue his religious studies although he did say the monks had been given "patriotic" study sessions, during which they learned about Chinese law and constitution.

At Drepung Monastery, Ngawang said his monks had also been studying the legal system. "We have legal knowledge sessions for all the monks," he said, in order to ensure order in the monastery.

"We study the laws and the constitution so we understand the laws better and do not break them," he added. "The monks are also Chinese citizens."

A visit to TibetInfoNet gives an idea where some of the dwindling monastic population may have gone: "Nine monks sentenced; others committed suicide"


This week's Site for Sore Eyes
If you're one of the majority who will never physically get close to the sacred places mentioned above, you might want a virtual visit via Sacred-Destinations.com -which looks extremely cool, well-arranged and informative, and is certain to become one of my preferred time-wasting devices. 


Related Reading: 
Tibetans in Exile 1959-1969 : A Report on Ten Years of Rehabilitation in India 
Tibetans in Exile: The Democratic Vision 
 

This just in

Undies For Fundies
Karnataka, India

This just in: Fundies Buckle Under Onslaught Of Undies
Whoo hoooo! Free, nonviolent expression works.

Don't believe the heap

This just in! mountain made from molehill, film at 11
Kathmandu, Nepal

We have enough mountains here in the Himalayan Former Kingdom. In fact, with no petrol, no money, no roads, limited diesel and propane, no electricity, no schoolbooks and no real government or rule of law it's about all we've got.

I can't help but notice that some writers have lately added to the surplus, marking "Mountain" on our cultural and political maps where mere "Molehills" once stood.

One easy way to create a mountain is to heap up the hype of "news" where there is none.

Case in point: (jumping over to the western Himalayas for a moment):
Nicolas D. Kristof's assertion a couple weeks ago that HH Dalai Lama's acceptance of Communist Party Rule in Tibet marked a "major turning point" (or some such nonsense) in the so-called dialogue between the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Chinese.

"An Olive Branch from the Dalai Lama"? What was he doing before, hurling invective?

Breathless with excitement, the double-Pulitzer winner Kristof rings what he clearly believes to be a clarion call:

One signal is this: For the first time, the Dalai Lama is willing to state that he can accept the Socialist system in Tibet under Communist Party rule. This is something that Beijing has always demanded, and, after long discussion, the Dalai Lama has agreed to do so.

News Flash to Nicky!: The Dalai Lama has always said this. He's been saying it for years (HHDL always says he's a socialist anyway, even calling himself a Marxist) and besides, it will hardly be seen as some major concession - the Chinese never considered it up for discussion.

Before I could muster my disdain for this silliness, Manyank Chhaya beat me to it in this very lucid article which explains the non-event.

Indeed, the entire (widely republished, including in the International Herald Tribune) article appears to have been written in order for Kristof to reiterate, "I met the Dalai Lama personally. That's right, I got to sit and talk with him. The BIG D.L.! and ME!"

It's just like last year's reports that claimed the Dalai Lama was going to "resign." The Dalai Lama's been saying for literal years that the minute he's not needed politically, he will devote himself entirely to delivering Buddhist teachings and spiritual matters. This is nothing at all new. Every writer just wants to be the first to break some new angle on a Dalai Lama story so they try to put old Chhang in new bottles.

...dot dot dot.....

By the way, in case you were wondering what the so-called "dialogue" or "talks" between HHDL's special envoys and the Hu Jintao sound like, our special Siren On the Scene had her ear to a tea-glass against the wall at the most recent Round of Talks in Beijing. She swears it went something like this:

HH: We give in! You run the government, just let us run our own religion. That's all we want.

Chinese Govt.: DALAI AND "DALAI CLIQUE" IS A SPLITTIST WOLF IN MONK'S CLOTHING TRAITOR TO THE MOTHERLAND BARBARIC FEUDAL LORD WHO DRINKS THE BLOOD OF POOR PEASANTS FOR AN APERTIF AND SUCKS THE MARROW OF THE WORKING CLASS DURING HAPPY HOUR

HH: Not really, actually you can stay in political and military power....we just want to run our monasteries and rituals according to our own traditions.

China: YOU WANT TO DESTROY UNIFIED CHINA AND RETURN TIBET TO THE DARK FEUDAL AGES WHERE EVERYONE WORE LEG IRONS LIKE BLING BLING AND ON THE WEEKENDS WENT TO PUBLIC EXECUTIONS INSTEAD OF INDOCTRINATION RALLIES LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE

HH: Uh, no...

China (sticks fingers in collective ears): LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA LA........

(Lather, rinse, and repeat - for the past six years.)

The "di" in dialogue means "two." The Sino-Tibetan DI-scussion is more of a monologue, going only one way.

And in other non-news....

On the other side of the Himalayas, scandal-mongering secularists attempt to create child abuse stories where there are none. The way to create a mountain, in this case, is to accrete creative imagery and selective exaggeration atop a religious custom you clearly don't understand.

There is plenty of child abuse in Nepal. Bonded labour, child trafficking, and so on. But these folks aren't concerned with that.

Witness today's "news" by AFP's Sam Taylor:

KATHMANDU (AFP) - A Nepali tradition of locking a young virgin girl in a palace and worshipping her as a "living goddess" has been dealt a blow with the country's Supreme Court ruling she has the right to go to school.

"LOCKING a YOUNG VIRGIN" (as opposed to a wrinkly, OLD virgin) "in a PALACE! " Now there's real objective journalism - visuals courtesy The Brothers Grimm.

It's sort of like saying that child monks are locked in a monastery, or that kids in a Catholic boarding school are prisoners. They are kids. Their parents decided where they would go, like most kids. In those places, there are rules. No kid has a "right" to go just anywhere he or she wants to...that's part of what it means to be a kid.


These girls' parents accepted the title of Kumari for the girl. They could have refused. The girl receives home-schooling, which is quite a luxury in a country where many children get no education at all. Her health care needs are met. There is no "labour" to speak of and even if there were, why are the plaintiffs not equally concerned with the thousands of bonded child labourers across the region?Above: Sajani during, and below after, Kumarihood. Photos by me

What if the girl doesn't want to be a Kumari? What if she doesn't want to enter a beauty pageant, be a child spokesmodel on TV, or take piano lessons? Do kids ever really get to say no?

Sure, she could be non-cooperative. She could sulk and be rebellious (I definitely tried it). The parents could still force her to do any of these, non-abusive, activities.

Those claiming to be so concerned for the various Kumaris' "rights" should review the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the ones they keep harping on but haven't actually read. It seems none of them are violated by the Kumari tradition.

...the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.

I would submit that the meaning of participating fully in cultural and social life varies from culture to culture. In a typical Nepali household, "full participation" of girl children in family life means doing a full day of chores after school, if they do indeed attend school. Carrying water from the well, chopping vegetables, sweeping, cleaning, laundry and so on are all "full participation." Female literacy overall in Nepal stands below an appalling 27%.

The Kumari is exempt from all these things, and as such is quite privileged, rather than deprived. There isn't a whole lot of hanging out giggling at the mall involved in the average Nepali girlhood. All the Kumaris are able to receive visitors and play with children their own age - they are hardly sequestered in the locked palatial towers Taylor suggests.

Some interested parties made much ado about the Bhaktapur Ekanta Kumari's being "forbidden" to travel overseas last year to promote the documentary Living Goddess. In fact, Sajani Sakya herself was never forbidden to do anything. The seated KUMARI, however, traditionally does not travel in such a way. Sajani was free to go, but that would mean surrendering the title of Kumari. It was her (and her parents') decision.

Every title and position has its rules. Miss America, Eagle Scout, Class President and other titles can also be rescinded if protocol is not followed. The person is free to do as they like; but in order to retain the title, they must follow the rules. It's not a rights issue, it's an issue of whether or not you want to keep the job.

And that's about all the non-news that's fit to print.

Lost horizon

News from Uttarakhand & Kathmandu



I've been taking time off from blogging, worrying and other writing to compile some photos and paperwork for various photography festival submissions.

Meanwhile,

-Nepal's been officially declared a republic, The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. This followed the dramatic scenario, inside the Chinese-financed Baneshwor assembly hall, of the constituent assembly members taking oaths in their various "mother tongues." (It might be hard to appreciate the significance of this if you're not familiar with Nepali Khas Kuri nationalism and the old 'one nation, one king, one language' dictum),

-the King's been rumoured to have fled - some said to Nagarjun (another palace within a forest reserve on the edge of town), some said to Switzerland - then shown to still be in his counting house, presumably counting out his money from his various private business enterprises,

-six people were injured in small bombs around town last week (reportedly set by Royalist pro-Hindu nationalist parties)

-Angry protestors of many stripes thronged the palace gates just a few blocks away, insisting that the Monarchy's own dynastic flag be taken down and the National Nepali flag be hoisted. It was, though King G is still in da house.

-Those massive assemblies in the road, three across and three hundred feet long (photo above), are NOT a National Pride Parade. These are hapless commuters waiting six, seven hours and more in line in the boiling sun - for petrol (gasoline). Naturally this is a boon for the very small micro-businessman (soda pop and bhel puri vendors!).

-And, of course, in good Nepali tradition, the "government" gave itself a three-day holiday in honour of its own ratification.

None of this, of course, really means that anything at all will necessarily change. My Australian friend just came from Immigration, where he was given an (illegal) 2-month visa just for paying 1500 extra Nepali rupees. He was approached by a tout ("agent") outside the Maitighar office, who asked him "did he need anything?"

He said sure, I would like to go into meditation retreat and not come out for 2 months, instead of having to return here every 30 days. The tout took him inside, where they side-stepped the dozens of waiting law-abiding visitors and went straight to the counter. Voila, sixty days. (No one ever approaches ME for such things. I guess I look like a budget traveler.)

The most appreciable change of Maoist influence, for a foreign visitor, is the prices. There is now a 10% added "service charge" on any venue (hotel, bar, restaurant) of repute (ie, any place clean enough for most foreigners to eat). This, combined with the pre-existing 13% VAT (value added luxury) tax, means you pay 23% tax on every freaking thing.

This is new as of 2008, initiated (so I'm told my several hotel workers and owners) by the Maoist-run All Nepal Hotel & Restaurant Workers' union. (Their symbol is a white knife and fork crossed, in the manner of the hammer and sickle, against a red field.)

Sixty-six percent goes to the workers themselves. Another percentage goes to the business owner, ostensibly to cover expenses incurred by the workers such as broken dishes. In this part of the world, that normally comes out of the worker's own pocket - business owners do not build in the concept of incidental expenses to their pricing structure. If you (or your waiter) breaks something, the waiter normally pays for it out of the $2 or so he makes daily.

The remaining 3% or so goes to the Maoist party.

Though I don't like making an enforced donation to the party, I have to admit, this is basically a good thing. No wonder the Maoists became so popular. After all, the Seven "democratic" Parties and the palace have never done a thing for the workers.

On the border
The Return March to Tibet has been halted in its tracks, by the Indian police, and is now regrouping on the Indo-Chinese border in the mountains Uttarakhand state.

This in and of itself was expected. What was not expected was that all the march's food and supply trucks were impounded, making it difficult to continue in this remote area. Also, many (if not all - a few managed to hide in the bushes!) of the foreign supporters/ demonstrators/ media crew were arrested and given Quit India notices. This means they have 10 days to leave the country or face imprisonment. Basically, they are being deported.

Again, I halfway expected something like this. What no one expected was the charge against them. The foreigners were arrested on grounds of "violating their tourist visa by participating in religious activity."

Religious activity?? Since when is that illegal for anyone, including tourists, to engage in within India, of all places?

In a strange move, at a time when the government is promoting “Come to India - Walk with the Buddha” to attract foreign tourists to Buddhist circuit in the country, five foreigners have been given Quit India notice to leave the country within seven days “for participating in a religious activity”.

And if it is, what about the thousands of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Burmese, Taiwanese, Bhutanese, and Cambodian Buddhist tourists who throng to India every year to participate in religious activities? There are thousands more foreigners of all nationalities in the ashrams of Vrindavan, Puttaparthi, Pondicherry, Ganeshpuri and Amritapuri.
“On tourist visa, you cannot take part in a religious activity. If we allow that, you will have people coming here to propagate their religion."

((WHAT? oh, you can't take part in Missionary Activity! That's a horse of a different colour.))

".... It’s only for travelling and sightseeing, etc. So, they have violated the visa rule by participation in the march,” said Ashim Khurana, joint secretary (Foreigners) in the ministry of home affairs....

...However, legal experts Times of India spoke to said the notice in this case seems to be illegal. “The Quit India Notice is a very serious matter. It’s used sparingly only in such cases where the person is a threat to the national security.

In this particular case, it seems to be totally wrong, biased and prejudiced. There is no law in the country which prevents people, including foreigners, from taking part in a protest march or a rally,” said Shilpi Jain, a lawyer who deals with immigration and visa-related cases.

On the tourist visa application, you are asked your purpose. "Religious pilgrimage" is one of the boxes available. I always check this, and specify "attending Buddhist teachings" since it's always true, and is certainly something I can't do elsewhere in the world. (At least, not with the Dalai Lama and Karmapa.)

I figured that openly participating in political activity was contrary to the terms of a tourist visa - I'm sure it is in most nations.

But, if someone can be deported for partcipating in religious activity, it doesn't bode well for anyone in India - foreign or Indian nationals.

The Indian government appears to be willfully conflating "religious activity" with MISSIONARY activity. Perhaps they don't believe that foreigners, or more specifically non-Asians, can actually be sincere practitioners of anything but proselytizing.

South of the border

Or Bored of the South?
Kathmandu, Nepal

Indo-Nepal border to be sealed from March 10
Oh, great. Right in time for me as a I get my visa to return to India. How long is THIS sh*t going to go on?

They may end up having elections after all here in Nepal, but if they do, it will be a Maoist/YCL (Young Communist League)-controlled farce. Reports are already filtering in of YCL assuming "poll protection" duties in the rural areas.

The Election Commission (housed in the former building of the world-famous Hotel Royal) has printed up ballots. On the same page of the newspaper we read that electronic voting machines will be used. So which is it to be?

I THINK (reading local papers, one has to infer a great deal) the print ballots will be used for "practice" and dry-run trial elections - which of course, should have taken place 4 months or so ago.

Yes, Bhutan and Pakistan both recently had successful elections...but in neither case was it their first try. Bhutan went in baby steps... and Pakistan had several false starts for years.

Indo-Nepal border to be sealed from March 10 BAHRAICH, MAR 8 (PTI)--The Indo-Nepal border would be sealed from March 10 and additional barriers and pickets installed on all the passages linking the area with the Himalayan kingdom in view of constituent assembly elections in the neighbouring country.

DIG, Devi Patan, Manmohan Bashal told newspersons here yesterday that policemen in plain clothes would be deployed keeping in mind the sensitive nature of the border.

"A meeting of senior officials of both the countries would be held before the elections for better coordination," Bashal said adding that a close watch is being maintained on Maoists as well as Madheshiya activists.

V for Visa Victory

Yes, I finally got my long-awaited Indian visa for 6 months, double entry. It was a real uphill battle. Basically, they are changing all the rules and regs for second-time / repeat visitors to India from Nepal. I must blog about it soon in detail...just so burnt out right now.

How many times have I changed fonts within this post? At least twice. I tried changing them back and it's not working. Can't deal with it right now...where's tech support when you need them?

I dare ya

Wouldn't it be nice?
Delhi

It is Friday night, and I'm in Majnu Ka Tilla, Delhi's Tibet Colony. I need to get my Delhi-ing all in one location. MT is good for accomodation, but a lousy location with boring food. Paharganj is a good central location but too noisy and crazy.

There's lots of arguments about who should get this year's Bharat Ratna (India's highest civilian honour).

Mostly, it's Indian career politicians arguing about whether their cronies should be nominated.

The Indian Tibet Support Networks as well as other Indian Tibet activists, however, say it should be the man who is, if not the last true Gandhian, certainly the most prominent and beloved example of non-violence living today- HH the Dalai Lama.

The Bharat Ratna need not be given to Indians per se. Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.

Seeing as how the Central Indian government, back in November, directed Cabinet ministers NOT to attend a Delhi reception for HH upon his return to India from receiving the US Congressional Medal of Honour, this seems a distant dream.

It seems all the cabinet ministers dutifully stayed away, though one former PM did attend. Here's what Inder Kumar Gujral had to say.

He told the Dalai Lama that India shares the honor of the U.S. medal because it expresses the philosophy of modern India's spiritual father, Mahatma Gandhi.

"This inscription on the medal by itself embodies Gandhi in spirit and Gandhi's message, and your presence. And when the Congress presented it to you we felt honored, because we thought that this was a message which was not only given to you, but to the Indian nation also," he said.

The world's most coveted photo opportunity - a shot with the beaming bespectacled monk -
is also the most taboo for politicians.

Come on, guys. What is REALLY going to happen if you do it? China's going to stop sending over crappy plastic toys? flat screen TVs? running shoes maybe?

What were all those decades of anti-imperialism for if you can't stand up to the fastest growing empire?

What good is all the talk of independence and sovereignty if you live in fear of retribution for having your photo taken with India's greatest living saint? You wouldn't let America boss you around like that!

I dare ya! Honour HH Dalai Lama with the Bharat Ratna.

"A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything."

Her Holiness?

When I finally drag my cold feet outta here, which looks like it will be December 12, I will be on my way (a very long way, via Dharamsala, Delhi and Kathmandu) to see HH Dalai Lama in Mundgod, Karnataka at the famous Drepung Loseling Monastery. In the meantime, I keep up with the Lama Watch.

The photo below was taken (by me) at Annual Teachings last March in Dharamsala. Most of the old lamas (and some of the younger ones) seated on the platform near the Dalai Lama are also reincarnated lamas, or Tulkus. So when the Dalai Lama looks like he's greeting an old friend, he is possibly greeting a very, very old friend (like, through lifetimes).

Here's the latest:

News from Milan, Italy via Leh, Ladakh
MILAN: Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Thursday suggested that his successor could be a woman.

"If a woman reveals herself as more useful the lama could very well be reincarnated in this form," the 14th Dalai Lama told reporters in Milan, where he arrived for a private visit on Wednesday.

full story here.

But the visit was not without its political complications, as usual

...The Buddhist leader also said his 11-day visit to Italy was "not political" and that he did not intend to "cause problems for the state and the (Italian) authorities."

Beijing has complained to the Italian foreign ministry over the visit, which will take the 1989 Nobel peace prize laureate to Rome for four days from December 12, even though he will not meet with any members of the Italian government.

A planned meeting with Pope Benedict XVI was cancelled, in a decision that Italian media reports said facilitated the ordination on Tuesday of a new bishop in Guangdong, southern China, with the Vatican's approval.