The Girl From Tibet
 

When China annexed Tibet in 1951, a large number of Tibetans escaped to India. Most of these migrants were women and children who fearing atrocities by the Red Army made India their home. In India special schools were opened for the Tibetan children. Among the refugees were three girls all by themselves. Their brother was killed by the army and their father taken prisoner. Their mother had opted to stay back in Tibet to wait for her husband. The children were accommodated in the refugee camp at Chontra in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.

In 1969, Norga, the eldest of the girls was studying in Tibetan School Dalhousie. One day she was hit behind the ear with a stick by one of the school staff members. Since that day she started having epileptic fits. Without money and medical care, she was advised to take shelter in Pingalwara. A shy and scared 14 years old Norga arrived in her new home to a warm and affectionate welcome.

After treatment her fits became very infrequent and she became one of the workers of Pingalwara. Over the years she would save most of her salary and send it to her sisters.

In Tibet Norga's mother did not hear anything about her husband for many years. It was presumed that like many other Tibetans who never came back, he must have also died. Norga's mother married again.

Norga would visit her sisters periodically. Once in a while they used to get some news about their mother and the stepfather. Over the years they heard that her mother and the stepfather were no more.

Norga was bitter. The life had not been kind to her. The trauma of leaving her home in Tibet and atrocities of the Red Army would not leave her. She was lonely and did not trust very many people. When one day a Pingalwara worker came to inform her that her father had come to see her; she let out a stream of curses in Tibetan. Her father had been missing for more than 25 years. How could one survive a Chinese prison for 25 years? The messenger insisted that there was a person to see her and had said that he was Norga's father.

Reluctantly Norga got up to meet the man. On seeing the faded old man standing there old memories came flooding back. It was the same man who had taught her how to sing and pay obeisance to the Dalai Lama; they had played and laughed everyday in their little home in Tibet. She wished the old man could take her to their old home where along with her brother and sisters they could be together once again. They talked and talked about the good old days. After couple of days her father went back to Chontra to stay with his other children.

Norga's brother and sisters have married and settled down now. Her father is no more. For Norga Pingalwara is her home. Every year on Bhagatji's Barsi she would dress up in her traditional Tibetan dress. Get on the stage for a few minutes and say her prayers to Dalai Lama in front of the audience. This is her tribute to Bhagatji.