Opinions

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."

They string brilliantly colored flags from the mountaintops here in this land of impossibly crisp blue skies.

Last year around this time, a television news channel quoted His Holiness the Dalai Lama as saying that he is willing for Tibet to be a part of China. This shocked many Indians. One of them happened to be the landlord of my Indian college friend living in Pune.

Is it possible that the Dalai Lama will realize his attempt this time to visit South Korea next year for attending to religious affairs? It is currently hard to tell because the issue must be resolved diplomatically rather than religiously in light of the relations between Seoul and Beijing.

I have never been hated by anybody more than this dog: this dog barks at me with extra enthusiasm and aggression making me a villian in front of the people lazing around in the neighbourhood.

A four-man delegation from the Tibetan government-in-exile visited China last month -- the third time since September 2002 that a special envoy of the Dalai Lama has met with the Beijing authorities.