Dharamsala’s businesses nervous of post-Dalai economic prospects

By Chen Chenchen Source:Global Times Published: 2012-10-15 19:25:03

A couple of weeks ago I was traveling in northern India. On the way to the Norbulingka Institute, dedicated to Tibetan culture, in the lower part of Dharamsala, a framed pendant of the Dalai Lama on the car seized my attention.

The driver was a local Indian in his 40s. As the car bounced along the narrow, bumpy mountain road, the classical smile of the Dalai Lama bumped and rolled before my eyes.

"So you like the Dalai Lama?" We asked the driver curiously, guessing whether he himself was a believer of Tibetan Buddhism.

"Why not?" He grinned, "He brings so many tourists to Dharamsala, and brings me good business!"

His ready answer caught me in a surprise. This reason to like the Dalai Lama had never occurred to me.

But this reason is not ungrounded. The Dalai Lama's effect on the tourist economy could be felt everywhere of the small town of Dharamsala. When we arrived, a four-day teaching session given by the Dalai Lama "at the request of a group of Taiwanese," according to a notice by the office of the Dalai Lama, was about to commence.

The manager of a local hotel, who himself is a Tibetan, revealed to us that all the rooms at his place had been sold out due to the teaching. For local businesses, the spiritual seekers flying from other places are also a powerful purchasing force.

Besides, the leader of the Tibetan "government in exile" is a key contributor to the local town's prosperous publishing industry. His autobiographies and other books are arrayed in book store windows. Documentary DVDs on the "government-in-exile" are special features for video shops.

For many locals, their relations with the Dalai Lama are chiefly economic. But this points to a question which is drawing increasing concern: How will life go here in the post-Dalai era?

Religious life is one thing, and material living standards are another. And the former can hardly replace the latter. At the shops on the main streets, most of the shop owners looked Indian. Walking into the back alleys where the bustle and noise became remote, more typically Tibetan faces began to show up. Scrambled wires extended through a few five- or six-storey buildings. A few men sat in a nearby murky tent, selling potatoes, cauliflowers, thin turnips and a few other vegetables.

This border town is also trapped by brain drain. According to Nordan, a Tibetan in his early 20s who came here from China in 2007, he is still getting used to life in Dharamsala.

He has already survived the initial hardships, when he felt uncomfortable with the poor living conditions compared with his hometown. And he received five-year free education at a local Tibetan school. Now he is a bit lost as to his future.

According to Nordan, in Dharamsala, there are large Tibetan schools that offer children free, basic education, but most graduates who did well at school choose to leave Dharamsala and seek higher education or better development in other parts of India. As a fresh graduate of senior middle school, he currently helps out in a business run by a relative.

No one knows what will happen in Dharamsala in the post-Dalai era. It remains unknown what this would mean to local hotels, night clubs, souvenir shops, restaurants and other facilities that exist to accommodate tourists.

Moreover, it remains unknown whether the next administration will be able to continue its predecessor's influence, and what consequences will occur if it cannot.

During our talks about Dharamsala with Indian scholars at the Observer Research Foundation, an influential think tank based in Delhi, these worries were brought to the table.

They believe it could mean serious trouble for not only India, but other parties involved in the thorny Tibet issue.

But if chaos takes place in Dharamsala, it is always locals who'll be the first to bear the brunt.



The author is an opinion editor with the Global Times. chenchenchen@globaltimes.com.cn



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