Home’s where earth is: Tibetans get a feel of homeland in exile

They are not veritable sons of the soil, yet thousands of Tibetans living in Dharamshala for the last about 50 years would henceforth have a feel of their soil on a foreign land.

On Wednesday, US-based Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol made this possible for the Tibetans in Dharamshala by importing about  20,000 kg soil from Tibet (China) and  spreading it on the playground of a Tibetans’ school in Mcleodganj near Dharmashala.

Mcleodganj is the headquarters of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile. The soil was spread on the premises of the Upper Tibetan Children Village, a school run by the government-in-exile.

Inaugurating a three-day event, ‘Our Land, Our People’, at a function on the school premises,  prime minister Lobsang Sangay said it was an emotional moment for all those Tibetans living in exile here and it would reaffirm their resolve to get back to their homeland. He regretted recent incidents of suicides of Tibetans in China, which were prompted by excesses committed by the Chinese authorities.

Septuagenarian Tsering, who had to leave Tibet along with others, many years ago, termed it as a dream moment. “I am longing to touch the soil of my country,” he said.

Rigdol said he was motivated by his father to organise such an event. “In 2007, my father fell ill while living as a refugee in New York. His desire to visit Tibet before his death remained unfulfilled. So, I decided that I would give Tibetans — who are living like refugees, in some cases separated from their families — a chance to connect with their native land,” said Rigdol. “For some, it will be a feeling of nostalgia, and for others a completely new experience,” he added.