Exiled Tibetans’ Dilemma in Dharamsala

　　When sunshine broke the serenity of Mcleodganj, a small town in uphill Dharamsala, India, travelers all took pictures to keep their memories of the blue sky. But few cameras focus on the ground. It is another scenario.

　　The arrow streets of Mcleodganj, also where the 14th Dalai Lama and his "government-in-exile" stay, can allow only one car to pass through. They were scattered with trash and filthy water.

　　"The town is becoming messier as there are no maintenance workers to clean the streets," a local vendor told the Global Times.

　　The tumbledown buildings of Mcleodganj are dotted with shops and stalls that sell India-style souvenirs, ranging from wool shawls to decorations. Shops selling Tibetan-style objects sprung up in recent years.

　　Most Tibetan shops sell food such as instant noodles, seasoning and beef coming from Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Chinese smart phones like Vivo and OPPO are gradually emerging.

　　Chinese commodities were very rare in Mcleodganj a few years ago, because the "government-in-exile" forbids the sale of these, said a Beijing-based expert who traveled to Dharamsala several times. They have become increasingly popular in recent years because of praise from tourists and local people alike.

　　"Most of them are from Tibet and transported to this town from Nepal," said a Tibetan vendor holding a pile of green sapphire bracelets.

　　The signs of Chinese smart phone brand Vivo are the most conspicuous in Mcleodganj.

　　"This is the most popular phone brand here because it has a Tibetan language system," an Indian employee at one of the Vivo shops told the Global Times.

　　Almost every Tibetan living in this town has Chinese instant messaging app WeChat on their phone, which they use to communicate with their families back in China and their friends in India.

　　Many Chinese reality shows and TV shows are also the new things among many young Tibetans who were born and bred in India.

　　Forty-year-old Tsering, who was born in a small town near Dharamsala, said the show he loves most is I Am A Singer [a reality show aired on Hunan Television].

　　"I have watched every episode of this reality show and I even downloaded the app of Hunan Television on my phone," he said.

　　He also said Chinese singer Liu Huan is his favorite. In order to trot out his singing skills, Tsering, who could barely speak Chinese, loudly copied one of Liu's best-known songs.

　　"My Tibetan friends and I would watch Happy Camp [one of the most popular variety shows in China] in our spare time. They are very interested and always ask me to interpret. Sometimes it annoys me so I'd ask them to learn Chinese," said 30-year-old Karma, who is originally from Northwest China's Qinghai Province and came to India in 2009.

　　"I would like to learn Chinese very much. More and more people here [in Mcleodganj] learn the language," Tsering said.

　　Previously, speaking Chinese is prohibited in this town. Once a student got fined for speaking Chinese in class, said the Beijing expert.

　　On the streets of Mcleodganj right now, many posters require volunteers to teach local people Chinese, and hire those able to speak Chinese.

　　Tibetans in Dharamsala were hostile toward people from the inland of China many years ago because they were instilled with a stereotype by their parents, who fled to India decades ago, said Doiba, owner of a teahouse in Mcleodganj.

　　"We now know they are good, nice and hard-working people," Doiba said.

　　Although he never set foot on the soil of Tibet Autonomous Region, Tsering said he would love to go and see "the place which is my real hometown… and see other Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu [capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province]… they look very modern and cool."

　　The India factor

　　Indians are also living and doing their business in Dharamsala. However, instead of becoming close neighbors, the two groups have parallel lives.

　　Indians and Tibetans mix on the streets. Shops owned by Indians used to be larger and better decorated than those owned by Tibetans. There's no presence of Indians in activities hosted by Tibetans. Even more, for many Tibetans, they are downtrodden by Indians, said the interviewees reached by the Global Times.

　　Although he claimed to have many Indian friends, Tsering was never spotted by the Global Times reporter greeting a single Indian on the street, where he has been living for many years.

　　Many Tibetans are still having a hard time fitting into Indian society.

　　"My heart is not here. They are Indians, we are Tibetans, and one can just look at our faces to know the difference," 59-year-old Tsogon, who was born in India, told the Global Times.

　　According to Karma, a Tibetan girl was stabbed several times by an Indian in Mcleodganj several months ago.

　　"She was lying in blood on the street, but other Tibetans were too afraid to do anything and other Indians just did not care. So finally a tourist sent her to a hospital," said Karma. "But she eventually died."

　　The Tibetan community's precarious existence in India is symbolized by documents called Registration Certificate and Identity Certificate.

　　"We have to renew the documents every year. If the renewal is late, the Indian government will fine us $100, while other foreigners need to pay only 100 rupees ($1.44)," said Karma.

　　When walking on the street, Tsering would occasionally look at Indian girls who pass by. He said he and his friends all find Indian girls very attractive.

　　But asked if they'd like to marry one, Tsering gave the bitter smile again, "It is impossible… they will never marry us; even if they want to, their parents will disagree… because we don't have money."

　　Lure of better life

　　The narrow streets of Mcleodganj are always packed with people from all over the world, mixed colors of skin and languages are what makes the small town "diverse." But local Tibetans are leaving, or thinking about leaving.

　　"The town is shrinking with more and more people leaving while no one's coming in," said Karma, noting that it is rich and young Tibetans who are leaving.

　　"The Tibetans in India are considered foreigners, so they cannot acquire land, they cannot get jobs, jobs in the public sector," Srikanth Kondapalli, chairman of Centre for East Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, told the Global Times.

　　Life in Dharamsala, as well as in other parts of India, is difficult for Tibetans.

　　Unofficial estimates from the Foreigners Registration Office in Dharamsala show that around 100 Tibetans out of an estimated 15,000 Mcleodganj population have migrated each year in the past two years, India's newspaper Hindustan Times reported in April 2018.

　　Many are dying to go back to China after they have realized how fast the Tibet Autonomous Region is developing, said several people reached by the Global Times.

　　They also said that the difficulty of obtaining a visa is the biggest obstacle for those who wish to go back.

　　Many turned to Western countries such as the US and Europe for a "better life."

　　But it is also impossible for these Tibetans to migrate because their statelessness makes it difficult to obtain even a tourist visa.

　　Most people just pay agents approximately 150,000 rupees to get fake documents to travel, said Tsering.

　　"There's hardly 'better life' abroad. Most Tibetans just work as babysitters, drivers or waiters, even though they have PhDs," said Karma.

　　The enactment of the Indian Citizenship Act (Amendment) of 1986 allows Indian citizenship for anyone born in India between January 26, 1950 and July 1, 1987.

　　The amendment has made a large section of the second- and third-generation Tibetan refugees eligible for Indian citizenship.

　　"About 94 percent of the exiled Tibetans don't want to acquire Indian citizenship… because it also means there's an opportunity for them to go back," Kondapalli told the Global Times.