East West - The Asian American Lifestyle Magazine

A visit to McLeod Ganj where Tibetans have found refuge and a new beginning
By Mridu Khullar

Walking down the busy Temple Road each morning, I’m greeted with familiar faces — monks going to or coming from their daily walks around the temple, shop owners setting up makeshift stalls on the side of the street, tourists sipping their morning tea in small cafés and children on their way to school. 

So normal is the daily life of the people in McLeod Ganj (also known as Upper Dharamshala), that it’s easy to forget that this quaint town in the Himalayas is at the center of a freedom struggle.

In 1950, Tibet was occupied by China, and while the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in northern Indian views the current rule in Tibet as “colonial and illegitimate,” the Chinese government maintains that Tibet has been an indivisible part of China for the past 700 years. 

When the Tibetan leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled into exile nine years after the occupation, the Indian government offered him asylum in Dharamshala. Since then,  thousands of Tibetans have secretly crossed the Chinese border and trekked over the Himalayas into this community of exile to join their leader.

Approximately 2,000 Tibetans are said to arrive at the Reception Center for Tibetan refugees in McLeod Ganj each year. Once here, they’re given health treatment and the option to go to school, learn new skills and become active members of the community. Children, who form the bulk of the new arrivals, are sent to one of the many Tibetan Children’s Village schools throughout the country, where they are provided with free education, meals and daily supplies until they graduate.

One thing, however, remains missing for these refugees: a nationality. For most people, having a nation to call their own or being able to get a passport is as normal as having a name. But for the Tibetans in India, there is no nationality. There is no passport. They are permanent refugees. And a yellow piece of paper is their identity.

* For the complete story, please pick up the Oct/November print issue of East West.