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Notes from the diary - October 2008

Theatre workshop with young Tibetans

I'm writing this simply because I really must share what has happened over the last couple of weeks.

Jangchup, my Tibetan friend, mentioned a conversation he had had with the Chief Representative in Bangalore. The Chief Representative is the official representative of the Dalai Lama. The Chief Representative wanted to do something that would bring young Tibetan people closer, connected etc, so to speak. My first thought was theatre since the arts have always served to preserve, communicate and exchange thoughts on identity, culture, politics etc.

A group of about 12 young Tibetans signed up for the workshop. The young boys and solitary girl in the group took to the theatre exercises with uncommon ease. I was pleasantly surprised as we moved from simple games to more complex exercises including improvisations. I realized that I was working with a group that not only had a tremendous amount of talent but also were unafraid to share, trust and create.

One day we all sat in a circle and I asked them what were the issues that were most important to them, what were the things they really wanted to say something about. It's important that the theatre we do together comes from them and I didn’t want to impose material, scripts etc.

I had automatically assumed that since they all look between 16-21, they were all born in India. I was so wrong. Practically the entire group was born in Tibet and that day they started telling me their stories. I must mention moments from some of their stories.

One young boy (who happens to be a trained Tibetan opera singer) told me about how he didn't know when his birthday was since in rural Tibet birth happens at home and not at hospitals. Slowly I found that most of the group had no idea when they were born or how old they were. Since at college/work in India one has to provide a birth date, he called his mother in Tibet to find out when he was born. By the way, none of their families are in India. In most cases the father or brother smuggled them out of Tibet and went back. Many of them came alone. The young man's mother said, in response to her son's question, you were born just before winter. When he asked what year or exact date she had no idea. She only knew that he was born before winter. Most of the group have invented birthdays for themselves so that they can celebrate when the day arrives.

Two boys walked from Tibet to Nepal. Most of them came to India through Nepal. They walked for 46 days through rivers, across mountains in freezing cold. They all suffered from frostbite. One of them said he found the rivers ‘ok’ but the 'mountain with snow' was very difficult. He was referring to Mt. Kailash in the Himalayas. To come to India they have to pass through Lhasa before heading on to Nepal. The two boys reached Lhasa with no food or money. They begged on the streets of Lhasa for several days and managed to collect enough money for the onward journey. Another boy was caught in Chinese firing. He was on the way to the market with his mother when the Chinese started firing on a group of protesting monks. They hid under a cart while around them people fell bleeding and dead. Thankfully the soldiers did not find them hiding and they escaped.

Another boy who is studying physiotherapy said he would return to Tibet on graduating. He knew exactly what would happen to him when he goes back. He said they would first put him in jail for 2 months. He will then be released to return to his family but they will still watch him for a period of time.

Many of the group said they would return to Tibet when they finish their studies here.

I found it very difficult to rationalize what I was hearing. These boys are going to do a play together and over the next few months/years some of them may be facing torture or worse in Chinese occupied Tibet. They have never done a theatre workshop before and I don’t think they've shared their stories before. Not even with their friends. I felt extremely moved and overwhelmed. What theatre was I going to do? I was planning on writing an adaptation of LeRoi Jones' 'the great goodness of life'. Written in the 60's the play is a brutal exposition of racial violence in the US. There are essentially two sides. The black man and the klu kux clan. I thought it would be good raw material for an adaptation for a workshop production but how do I engage with persecution and murder in a play knowing that the situation is all too real for the actors? It's so easy for us Bangalore theatre people to be profound and provocative. We are never on the receiving end of the real stick. I realize and applaud the courage with which theatre practitioners in India work in dangerous situations with people for whom this might be their only outlet for expression.

Coming to India has made things a little easier for the young Tibetans, but not too much. They don't have family or money and are completely dependant on what the Tibetan admin here can provide them. I asked them about life in India. They smiled and nodded their heads but didn't say anything. They asked me one question though. They wanted to know why the police, who know they are refugees and have no money, ask them for money all the time to sign their documents. I had no answer.

On another day the lights went out in the middle of our discussion. The boy who was born before winter got up and said he would sing. In a voice that froze my blood he sang part of a Tibetan opera that he said was a prayer for the Dalai Lama. The whole group joined in the chorus. I have never been more moved, stunned or overwhelmed at any point in my life before, and all this in pitch darkness.

When these boys made their respective journeys to India they would have all been between 9 and 14 yrs old. Most of them have walked from Tibet to India, and when they were recounting their experiences they all did so with a smile. Smiling seems to come naturally and easily for a people that have been persecuted beyond belief. And despite their uncertain futures they want to do a play about drug abuse because they feel that young Tibetans in India are increasingly taking to drugs.

- Preetam Koilpillai