Opinions

Tibet electrifies people's imagination with images of exotic people who once dwelled in a "Shangri-la" world. True, Tibet is spiritually distinct, yet it is also a country that has witnessed tremendous upheavals in the wake of invasion by the forces of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Many of my non-Tibetan friends get quite disappointed when I say that I don't do prayers, prostrations and other rituals. They wanted me, not only me, all Tibetans to be staunchly Buddhists; wearing a rosary around our neck

My mother, Lodey Lhawang (née Tethong) passed away, very peacefully, on the morning of January 9, at my home in Monteagle, Tennessee. Her daughter Rigzin Dolkar, daughter-in-law Tenzing Chounzom, grand daughters Namkha Lhamo and Namtso Kyi, and myself were at her side.

Tibetan medicine has become a lucrative business yielding million-dollar profits to large pharmaceutical companies in China. Various new policies have been instituted to standardize the production and distribution of Tibetan medicinal products, mainly for commercial and bureaucratic reasons.

Behind one such closed door, in front of the stunned and staring eyes of my classmates, our teacher demanded from me a recitation of the poem we were told to learn by heart the previous day. My poor memory could retain only the first few lines, and then I went blank.

My introduction to a Tibetan community in the West happened four years ago in Berkeley, California. The occasion was the birth anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the church, which doubled that evening as the celebratory venue, throbbed with precious jubilation.

A prominent part of Mcleod Gunj, Dharamsala, was gutted by a fire two days ago. Luckily, no lives were lost; but the blaze that was subdued all too late left forever scarred and altered a small town

Due to its bad reputation and being rejected by civilized societies, imperialism is no longer mainly about the simple expansion of territory or robbing the wealth of other nations.

There is forward movement, however slow, in setting direction for clearing away the blocks in the India-China relationship. But, India has still to come to terms with the past and the demands of the present.

On Dec. 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares, "All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms."