Nearby, at a Tibetan shop selling clothes and shoes, a song from a newly released Hindi-language movie blares out of a music system.

"If you live in a place for 35 years, you obviously learn the local language," says Tampo in halting Kannada.

For 18-year-old Dechen Wangmo, who came to India from Tibet 10 years ago, the local Kannada language or India's national language, Hindi, are still new.

"But I like to listen to Hindi pop music albums and also to Boyzone," she says, naming a popular Western band.

Like Tampo and Wangmo, a large section of the nearly 15,000 Tibetan refugees in this settlement have assimilated popular local culture and tradition.

The first settlement created by India in 1960 for Tibetans who fled from Chinese rule in their homeland 40 years ago, Bayalakuppe is a cultural island struggling for the right balance between native Tibetan and local Indian culture.

GENERATION GAP

"My two children prefer Indian food like rice and wheat pancakes, rice dumplings and spicy food," says Chuni Lhundup, 42, who teaches the Tibetan language at a public school for Tibetans.

"But since my husband and I prefer Tibetan food, as a compromise, we cook one Tibetan meal and one Indian meal a day."

Sonam T. Khorlatsang, representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India in the neighbouring settlement of Gurupura, believes the "big generation gap" between young and old Tibetans in Indian settlements could become a major problem.

"Young Tibetans generally don't agree with what their parents think. They take decisions on their own."

But senior Tibetans are unanimous that there exists no difference of opinion between themselves and the young about the desire to return to a Tibet free from Chinese rule.

"There is a very strong determination among the youngsters to go back," says Khorlatsang. "They might have adopted Western culture but they respect sentiments about the homeland."

Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950 and the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, fled into exile in India nine years later after an abortive uprising against communist rule.

China has rejected negotiations with the Dalai Lama over his return to Tibet until he acknowledges that the region is a part of China and that Taiwan is a Chinese province.

LIMITED INTEGRATION

Young Tibetans may hum along to Hindi film songs and they may prefer spicy local cuisine, but senior Tibetans say their integration with local Indian communities has been very limited.

"There is nothing like any serious cultural integration happening as we live as a separate and intact community," says Kalsang Yulgial Jorkhang, representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Bayalakuppe.

"We have cordial relations with the locals but do not mix with them too much."

Nyima Dhondup, secretary of the Buddhist Gyudmed Tantric University in Gurupura, cannot remember the last time a Tibetan married outside the community.

"Intermarriage is very rare, as even young Tibetans realise that our culture is rich and not rigid and so want to stick to it," Jorkhang says.

Would she allow her children to marry outside the community? Lhundup pauses for a moment of reflection.

"No, I won't allow them to do that," she says at last. "There will be lots of compatibility problems for both husband and wife due to cultural differences."

"But if the Indian boy or girl is willing to join our community and convert to Buddhism, I have no objections."

PROBLEMS OF INCREASING POPULATION

A harsher and more immediate problem confronting the refugee community, however, is that of the growth in their population and the restricted ways available for earning a living.

Each refugee was leased an acre of land by the Indian government when the settlements were created. Situated in the plains with no irrigation or water supply, the Tibetans are entirely dependent on rains to feed their annual maize crop.

"When the old Bayalakuppe settlement was formed in 1960, our population was 3,000 and we got 3,000 acres of land on lease," says Jorkhang.

"But today, the population is 8,000 and the land with us is the same. The government has no more land to lease and as refugees, we cannot buy land either."

Confronted by this problem, some refugees have branched out into running shops in Bayalakuppe and some have migrated to towns and cities across the region where they sell clothes off the pavements.

Others receive financial assistance from the government-in-exile and donations from abroad.

"Business at the shop is low and agriculture doesn't bring in much money either," says Thechok, 58, who runs a clothing and footwear business in Bayalakuppe.

His son ekes out a living in a nearby city selling clothes on the pavement and his wife looks after the farm.

Being uneducated, Thechok has few options.

"We want to go back to Tibet. But if China is not willing to give us freedom then we don't want to return. India is a free country and we will somehow manage here."

[ Homepage ] [ NewsRoom ]

This site is maintained and updated by The Office of Tibet, the official agency of His Holiness His Holiness the Dalai Lama in London. This Web page may be linked to any other Web sites. Contents may not be altered.

Last updated: 10-Mar-99