| Diplomacy
is a fragile business. For years India and China have fenced
delicately to find common ground. Only for a 14-year-old Tibetan boy
overcome by wanderlust to rock the relationship. The Karmapa is not
the first to flee Tibet. Since the 1950s, 1.5 lakh Tibetans have
escaped, 1.2 lakh of them to India. If a truce existed between India
and China, now it is an uneasy one. The Karmapa, head of one of the
four Tibetan Buddhist sects, was seen as a Chinese puppet. If that
makes his flight a mystery, it hasn't helped that the Dalai Lama
himself, in the midst of his retreat, has offered no comment. It means
Indian diplomats, keen to placate the Tibetans yet not offend the
Chinese, have been left walking a thin line.
But our cover
story does not just deal with politics, for Tibet, which has
become an international cause celebre, is as much a spiritual issue.
This mystical world, where the Karmapa is viewed as a reincarnated
temporal authority, is ridden with rituals and secrecy. Indeed, the
very choosing of a new Karmapa is left to an interpretation of symbols
and signs, which inevitably leads to dispute, suspicion and intrigue.
So to unravel this mysterious world we sent Assistant Editor Ashok
Malik and Deputy Chief Photographer Pramod Pushkarna to Dharamsala. At
the same time, Principal Correspondent Avirook Sen and Senior
Photographer Soumitra Ghosh travelled to the Rumtek monastery in
Sikkim, while Principal Correspondent Sayantan Chakravarty spoke to
the Tibetan community in Delhi. It was no easy task, for as Malik
says, "Although even local Tibetans know everything, they say
nothing. They're more secretive than a secret service."
Well, there are no secrets left about
the Millennium Male after our path-breaking survey this week that
looks at how Indian men have adapted to their changing environment.
There's some good news, and some bad, but I'm not telling. To find out
look inside.
(Aroon Purie) |
