I pondered several times before submitting this article to the
beautiful and timely magazine of Himalayan community of New York
and New Jersey. ‘Is it going to help or harm our society
if I highlight this issue openly in the public forum?’ I
thought. After evaluating pros and cons in my mental beam balance,
finally the green signal in my brain flashes and said, ‘Tashi
let us do it. Let us do it to stop the urgent red signal that
will disintegrate every Tibetans eventually’.
It is high time that we Tibetans in exile should reconstruct
many of our ideologies and way of thinking for the betterment
of our future and our society. Be it our approach to free/autonomous
Tibet, the trend of Tibetan immigration to the west counting it
as a negative move or our newly arrived Tibetan brothers and sisters
from Tibet labeling them as second class people in our society
by calling them ‘Sanjor’. Do we really deserve to
be called ‘Gandharwa’ (meaning higher and blessed
beings in Sanskrit) by the scholars of Indian sub-continent in
the ancient times? Of course not, at least at this point of time.
My heart cries in blood when I see some of our exile Tibetans
labeling our recently arrived brothers and sisters from Tibet
as ‘Sanjor’ and looking down upon them. Of course,
I am not saying that everyone in our exile community carries the
same notion that many half boiled Tibetans in exile do. A good
majority of our populace still realizes and feels for the recently
arrived Tibetans from
Tibet – our blessed brothers and sisters in true sense
for they are the real Gandharwa who lived and survived on the
heavenly nectar of blissful Avalokishrawa’s plateau. Unfortunately
like every human societies on this planet, ours is also no exception
to the evils of disintegrating people on the numerous baseless
grounds which we should address the issue at broader level.
Imagine someone who has been abused and deprived of very basic
human right in his own country by someone- a total stranger, consequently
crossing the snowy, lofty mountains bare footed several weeks
in the hope of finding warm reception from his exiled brothers
and sisters who abandoned him in the year 1959 yet hurting his
sentiments all over again by labeling ‘SANJOR’ with
contempt. It would be an immeasurably heartbreaking experience
for these helpless brothers and sisters. More importantly our
mindless attitude and gesture will bear serious consequences in
our attempt in freeing Tibet from the clutches of giant uncle
Dragon in the long run. It is SARJOR meaning ‘recently arrived’
and not ‘SANJOR’ that many of us address callously.
Our mundane and mindless attitude towards our Sarjor brothers
and sisters comply to the very propaganda of Communist Chinese
in their claim in the international community that that the Tibetans
in Tibet are incapable of doing any progressive activities due
to which Han people from West migrate to Tibet to help the local
Tibetans. No doubt, the Chinese authority would cite our exile
people’s approach towards Tibetans in Tibet as a testimony
for their false and baseless claim over the centuries old Tibetan
plateau.
Many Sarjor return Tibet with polluted mental picture of our
exile community due to the callous gesture of some factions of
our society and spread word in their local community in Tibet.
Nyima (name changed), one of my Sarjor friends in New York City
would say,
‘When I was in Tibet in my region of Kham, we considered
Tibetans in Exile as someone worthy of inviting to the religious
altar. Whenever someone from India visits Tibet, there are so
many occasions where the native people seeks blessings with
their bare hands for the former is blessed by HH the Dalai Lama
in flesh and blood in exile. It is after visiting India and
Nepal I learned for the first time that we are not given the
duly respect by our exile brothers and sisters. The very heart
breaking and ground reality further fueled my eagerness in immigrating
to the US in the late nineties. After coming to the US, very
rarely do I indulge in Tibetan gathering in NYC either during
Losar or any other functions.’
When such is the mentality of our brothers and sisters in Tibet
toward us (exile Tibetans), does it really make sense to label
them ‘SANJOR’ in contempt? I also agree that some
of the Tibetans from Tibet should be Chinese informers and be
cautioned upon by every Tibetans in and out of Tibet. But the
individual case should be dealt individually and shouldn’t
be made an excuse to mask a whole faction of the community. They
also risked their lives for a better future and religious freedom
like all of us and our parents did in the 1959.
If not from human societies, at least learn from the animal kingdom
as to how they live peacefully and harmoniously with one another.
H. H the Dalai Lama very often expresses his deep concerns and
urgency on the very issue. I still remember in Tibetan Institute
of Performing Arts giving a special cultural show to our newly
arrived brothers and sisters from Tibet during the last Kalachakra
at Bodhgaya. I was the program announcer then.
For the first time in my entire life, I saw their reaction to
the institute’s gesture in tears that choked my throat and
consequently I had difficulty announcing the later parts of the
program. (Imagine the whole crowd shedding tears in front of your
naked eyes). Among the audience was a poor and destitute elderly
woman, clad in tattered clothes. She was from Toeh region of Tibet.
After the program, she came towards my desk flanked by our institute’s
director. The woman puts her hand into her Chupa cabinet, takes
out a folded and rugged piece of cloth. With her hands shaking
violently, unfolds the cloth and takes out an Indian Rupees fifty
note to be donated to TIPA for the preservation and promotion
of our unique culture in exile. She muttered with tears in her
eyes, ‘We confide in you that our holy land shall be
freed one day. We are counting every single day to unite with
His Holiness and our exile brothers and sisters.’
Tears kept rolling down her crisscrossed chicks. How were we
supposed to advice her not to shed tears for we were also in tears?
At that very moment, I realized that that our freedom struggle
would be baseless and unfruitful if there is no support from the
general mass in Tibet.
So, let us not alienate our own brothers and sisters from Tibet
by giving them names. If not help, at least do not hurt their
feelings. Time has come for all Tibetans to come together and
fight for our common cause. People of Tibet, do not loose your
heart for we are always with you for our eternal cause. Tibet
was and will be a free nation under the supreme guidance of His
Holiness and his exile government in India. Long live HH the Dalai
Lama, Long live our Exile Government. Bod Gyalo!!!
Tashi Wangchuk is a film student at SUNY Buffalo.
