Karmapa March

As a group we participated in a peace march for the Karmapa. The Karmapa is a reincarnated lama that is next in line after His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Indian government accused the Karmapa of being a Chinese spy and smuggling large sums of money. Long story short we marched to show our support for the Karmapa.

We convinced our professor to allow us to have class later on that day and left for Mcleod Ganj as soon as we ate breakfast. We arrived at the monastery in Mcleod Ganj (His Holiness’ temple/house) and listened to a lot of speeches (thank goodness Kalsong was there to help translate). Michelle and I got interviewed by a Tibetan radio show only because Kalsong came up and said to do it. (I don’t know if she realizes how much I trust her.) After that we all lined up (I’d say there was about a thousand people, could have been more though) we began our march. Now, Indian signs tell you nothing about how far your journey is. For example, when we were going to Amritsar one sign would say “60 km – Amritsar” and after we traveled for at least 30 minutes the next sign would say “72 km – Amritsar”. Signs mean very little in terms of how far your destination is. So, when we attempted to determine the distance from Mcleod Ganj to the Karmapa’s monastery I received a lot of different answers. Kalsong said about 12 km, the lady who was walking in front of us said 9 km, one girl said 20 km (I strongly doubt that). I feel like it was about 10 km or 6ish miles.

So we marched. We were all holding pictures of the Karmapa and chanting our support for the Karmapa. It was a surreal experience being a part of a peaceful demonstration (not like I’ve ever been involved in any demonstration). The unity and loyalty Tibetans have even in exile is astonishing. I feel very privileged to have been included in the march.