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

This Miss loves Delhi

Didn't know city would accept me readily

By Mandakini Gahlot

Indian Express India

Published in: The Indian Express paper edition

Tenzin Dolma

Tenzin Dolma poses exclusively for The Indian Express

Photo by Tashi Tobgyal (Express photographer)

NEW DELHI, India, 20 October 2007 — Tenzin Dolma, 21, was crowned Miss Tibet 2007 in a small contest held by Tibetan refugees in Mcleod Ganj recently.

Born and raised in Dharamshala, Dolma came to Delhi to train as an airhostess two years back. She enrolled in one of the many training institutes found in the Capital, but soon found herself getting a lot of modelling assignments.

"I didn't know that somebody like me — they call us 'chinky' here — would be accepted so easily in Delhi," she gushes as she explains what made her quit training and turn to modeling full time.

Dolma did print ads and a bit of ramp modelling, before realising that it wasn't enough to provide sustenance in a city like Delhi. "I started working in call centre for a while but that didn't go too well either," she said.

It's then that the Miss Tibet contest came her way. "My friends encouraged me to participate but I didn't think I'd win," she exclaims. The Miss Tibet contest is in its sixth year and is usually shrouded in a lot of controversy. In 2004, the reigning Miss Tibet was forced to withdraw from a beauty pageant held in Zimbabwe owing to objections from the Chinese government.

Dolma, however, is all prepared to be the Tibetan contestant at the Miss Earth contest, which will be held in Manila, Philippines on November 11.

"As a Tibetan I will use this opportunity to highlight the plight of the Tibetan people. I have always wanted to do something for my country and this is my best chance," she says. Dolma’s parents were at first hesitant to let her participate in the contest "because of the fact that Tibet is an unrecognised country" but came around to the idea eventually.

Dolma says that she is a bit nervous about participating in a contest held on such a large scale.

"The Miss Tibet contest was very small, and most of the audience were either friends or family. It does worry me that I have not been formally trained to take part in Miss Earth," she says. However, her fears are soon cast aside as she starts talking about all the shopping she has had to do for the Miss Earth pageant. As winner of the Miss Tibet contest she got Rs 1 lakh, all of which is being spent in gearing herself up for Manila.

Dolma's mother, who is visiting from Dharamshala, is proud of her daughter and seems quite at home in their little rented apartment in Safdarjung Enclave, despite not knowing the language very well.

Dolma's father is a manager at Hotel Tibet in Mcleod Ganj. Now that she has won Miss Tibet, Dolma would really like to meet the Dalai Lama. "I wish I could meet him and talk about the problems faced by the people in Tibet. I was extremely happy to know that he has won the Congressional Gold Medal."