Meeting Yangdon - A teacher at TCV School

The sun had set by the time we had finished eating and it was time to meet Yangdon – a Tibetan lady from a tribe called U-tsang from Eastern Tibet region. I got in touch with her through a collegue and friend, Shilpa, I worked with at Upasana during my internship at Auroville, Tamil Nadu. Yangdon is a teacher at TCV school.

We met Yangdon and her collegue and friend Gyaltsen on the main road in the Tibetan Colony. From our conversation over the telephone before we left for Himachal she told me she had arranged a few of her students at her school to wear costumes from the Khampa tribe inorder to help us document.

While walking down to the school, Yangdon & Gyaltsen told us about Tibetan Childrens Village (TCV) school. TCV Schoolis a CBSE boarding school for students who come from Tibet to India for modern education. This school runs on donation and does not charge a penny to the students and inturn it gives Rs. 140/- to each student per month as pocket money. What alarmed me was the fact that these students (including tiny kids) walk down from Tibet for about 4 months to get into India – all this,  for the sake of modern education. The teachers here act as foster parents to these children. Some students are orphans and do not have any anyone to go back to during holidays. Their class teachers take them along with themselves for holidays. Yangdon is one such teacher. She took about 20 students to Auroville last year during the summer break! So much love and compassion I have never ever seen or experienced before. They do know how to live life and how to live a beautiful life. I adore you two - Yangdon & Gyaltsen.

Though it was only 6.30ish when we started walking it was so dark and deserted that it felt it was 11 in the night. We walked in a line using our mobile torch lights on a narrow kaccha road. It was a beautiful experience for all of us as none of us had ever experienced something like this before –we felt we were on some wild life expedition like what we see on Discovery Channel. Ahem ahem!! I am not lying – that’s how we felt really :)

Walking to TCV School

Since it was really dark we could see a lot many stars, more than what we see from the city sky – it was lovely :)

We met some 7^th grade and new batch students in the school. It was their self-study hour and all of them were sincerely studying in their respective classrooms. They were happy to see us and though not all of them spoke English, we could see they were happy to see us around.

After seeing the classrooms and the enthusiastic students we went to the temple in campus. It was a big hall with various statues of Buddha & Tara. We sat in the temple on the aasans which were made out of up-cycled material. We spoka a lot about their traditions, culture, beliefs, political issues with China and their experiences and way of life.

The temple in the school premises

Discussing their culture, religion, way of life and more

Discussing their culture, religion, way of life and more

This was one of those moments when I felt blessed for being where I am, for doing what I am, for experiencing all I am and thanked God for being so kind for people around me who supported me so much that I could do what I dreamt of:)

Yangdon took us to her residential quarters for a cup of chai and to talk more and share more. Yangdon pulled out her chupas (Tibetan costume for females) and Gyaltsen got hers from her quarters to show us.  Gyalsen is from the Khampa region (the one I was documenting) and Yangdon is from the U-tsang region. Tomorrow when we get to the school we will find out about the difference in costumes of both the tribes. One thing I felt since I spoke to Yangdon which was reinforced after I met them is that Tibetans are really friendly & hospitable. Yangdon got married in September this year and shared her wedding album where we could see their traditional costumes worn on weddings. She even showed us her wedding dress and the accessories which we will study and document in detail tomorrow.  Besides the costumes we spoke a lot about the culture & their life. 

Laaju wearing a traditional Chupa

Chai time at Yangdon's home

Chai time at Yangdon's home - Tsering (Gyaltsen's brother), Laju, I and Yangdon      
(L-R)

Chai time at Yangdon's home - I and Yangdon

Gyaltsen with her brother Tsering

Finally at about 9.45pm we left her home to get back to the hotel. The song playing in the taxi was the soulful Saiyaan by Kailash Kher. What more shall I say, it was overwhelming and a few tears silently trickled down! The experience and learnings from this place was more than I had expected it could be. I was thankful...