Miss Tibet - Women with Wisdom from the Roof of the World

Freedom struggle takes beauty route

Indian Express (IE)

Published in:
www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=10788

by Manraj Grewal

MCLEODGANJ, India, 5 October 2002 (IE) – Call it the 36-24-36 formula for freedom. A group of fiery young Tibetans are determined to take the "Free Tibet" struggle to a different level with a beauty pageant of their own: A Miss Tibet.

This novel assertion of statehood — which kicks off on October 10 — is creating ripples in the Tibetan diaspora, long used to being seen as refugees. For some, the mere idea of the contest is an affront to Tibetan Buddhism but for most, it's turning out to be an entertaining experiment, one they hope will succeed.

Walk into Hotel Om to see the pageant in the making. It's easy to spot its architects: a group of animated youngsters, including a doctor, an editor, an accountant. The participants — one of whom has flown all the way from Denver — fresh from a lecture on inner beauty by Goldie Hawn.

The pageant didn't happen overnight. They conceived it in October last year, soon after the Free Spirit festival — a celebration of art and culture and the brainchild of Lobsang Wangyal. This ponytailed journalist-photographer says what got his adrenaline flowing was the thought of Miss Tibet getting on to the world stage with Miss China on the one hand and Miss India on the other.

"Now, isn't that wonderful", he says, going into a highly infectious state of excitement, telling you how the winner has already been invited for the Miss Tourism World contest to be held in Colombia.

For Tenzin Namgyal, editor of Tibetan Bulletin, the Tibetan government's bi-monthly journal, this is just another chapter in the evolving freedom struggle. "We have to keep finding new ways of keeping the cause in the limelight", he declares, and points out that some of the Tibetan Youth Congress activists had made it to the front pages of dailies last year by painting slogans on their bare bodies.

Slogan-smeared chests may be alright, but the Tibetans are not yet ready for bare legs on the catwalk. Which is why the contest's swimsuit round has raised hackles even though it's out of bounds for the public. It's also managed to scare away most of the 30-odd wannabe beauty queens — who fulfilled the strict specifications, including a minimum height of five feet six — and leaving only five out-of-towners in the fray.

They don't mind slipping into swimsuits. "It's mandatory in all contests", reasons Dolma Tsering, the budding model from Delhi, before mouthing a few platitudes about Tibet. You are tempted to make light of these until she tells you how she escaped from Tibet at the age of eight. "It was tough," she recalls, "we had to walk for 21 days."

Swimsuits are obviously no big deal for her. Nor is it for Lopsang Jampa, a 24-year-old monk at the Institute of British Dialectics. "Tibetan women are very shy, it'll be nice to see them showing their talent", he says with a benign smile.

The girls are working hard for that. Tenzin Deki Chokteng, studying engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, is busy boning up on Tibetan history. Tenzin Yanki, a DAV College student of Dehradun, is sprucing up her confidence. "Answering questions in front of so many people won't be easy", smiles the hardworking student, who's also studying fashion design and computers. Lhakpa Dolma, a teacher from Mainpat, MP, is worried about her weak English.

But Wangyal is making sure the girls make the grade with a colourful dose of training, a la Miss India, with a sprinkling of yoga, grooming, catwalk, language, and history.

But a lack of funds means the judges are yet to be finalised. "I collected Rs 2 lakh after selling a story about Pierce Brosnan to Hello magazine", says Wangyal, "but where do I get the capital to arrange the air fare?"

Dolma Gyari, the first woman deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, is quite hopeful that the contest will happen, judges or no judges. "It's a voluntary expression of nationhood by our youngsters who are denied the chance of taking part in any international contest. Besides, they are just emulating the good example set by Indian beauty queens, who've boosted the country's image."