Exiled Tibetan beauties walk the talk in controversial beauty pageant

by Staff Reporter

The Province

CHANDIGARH, India, 2 June 2010 – Four exiled Tibetan women will strut their stuff on a runway in India to create awareness of China’s repressive rule of their homeland.

The ninth edition of the Miss Tibet pageant will be held June 4-6 at McLeodganj — near Dharamshala, home to the Tibetan government-in-exile in India.

Exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, nine years after China crushed an anti-Beijing uprising in Tibet and occupied the Himalayan region sandwiched between India and China.

The controversial event is hailed by some who say it helped their cause for a free Tibet, and denigrated by others who contend the pageant brings into disrepute the sacred home in exile of the Dalai Lama.

MEET THE CONTESTANTS

Rinchen Choden was born in Tawang in north eastern India in 1985. She is a hair stylist with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

She speaks English, Hindi, Tibetan, Tamil and Kanada, and likes reading, swimming and shopping.

She has many future goals in life, but says "we can only stick to a single goal and aim for it". Her goal right now is to take part in the 2010 Miss Tibet contest and win, so that later she can do something for her people and country Tibet, which is facing many troubles with the Chinese. In future she wants to become a top model which she has dreamt of since childhood.

Tenzin Namchoe is from Lhasa, Tibet, and was born in 1988. She came to India in the year 2000. Presently she is a second-year student at St Joseph College Bangalore, pursuing a Bachelors of Social Work.

She speaks Tibetan, Chinese, English, Hindi, and her hobbies are reading, helping others, playing piano and dance.

Her goal is clear from her school course. She want to be a good social worker in the future, as she found in her Tibetan society many of the younger generation, due to western influence, become drug addicts, alcoholics, etc. She wants to bring new life for them and let them wake up from that big hallucination, and struggle for a free Tibet.

Tenzin Norzom was born in Hunsur Tibetan settlement in South India, in 1986. She just completed Shastri degree (equivalent to Bachelor of Arts degree) from the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Varanasi.

She speaks Tibetan, English, and Hindi, and likes reading, dancing, badminton, and music.

Her first goal is to win this crown, and be the messenger of the Tibetan freedom movement to the people of the world. Her second goal is to boost confidence in the younger generation Tibetan girls to participate in this Miss Tibet contest and prove to the world that "we Tibetans can do it." Lastly, she wants to make her family and friends feel proud of her!

Yangchen Metok is a student, and has studied up to class VIII in Golok in Amdo. She was born on Golok in Amdo, in 1991.

She speaks Tibetan and Chinese. She likes dancing and singing.

At the moment she is studying English language. Once she becomes proficient in this language she would like to become an air hostess. She also would like to contribute as much as she can for the Tibetan cause, and would like to work to uplift the lives of poor people.

Published in: TheProvince.com

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