Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 329

I think a wonderful symbol of the Tibetan culture is the...

I think a wonderful symbol of the Tibetan culture is the behavior of the stray dogs around their monastery. Most everywhere else I’ve traveled, stray dogs have been very skittish around humans. Here, they seemed right at home.

(Dharamshala, India)

We were eating lunch with the door open, and a monkey started to...

We were eating lunch with the door open, and a monkey started to peek through the door.’Isn’t that cute?’ we thought. 
'Hello monkey,' we said. 
Then the situation quickly deteriorated. 

(Dharamshala, India)

"I came to Dharamshala when I was nine years old. Back then, we...

"I came to Dharamshala when I was nine years old. Back then, we weren’t allowed to learn the Tibetan language in school, so my parents sent me to India. For a whole month we walked over the mountains. It was very snowy, and we only walked at night. One night I almost fell off a cliff, but one of the adults grabbed onto my hand and pulled me back up. It’s been twenty years now since I last saw my parents. Just a few months ago, I had a really bad stomach problem and had to go to the hospital. Even though I’m an adult, I’ve never missed my mother more. Being that sick made me realize that I have nobody watching over me."

(Dharamshala, India)

"I think the great fear of every Tibetan is that our story will...

"I think the great fear of every Tibetan is that our story will die out. It’s been over fifty years now since Tibet lost its independence. Our monasteries have been destroyed. The Chinese language curriculum is being mandated in our schools. More and more Han Chinese are moving into Tibet— building homes, building malls. I think now we are all starting to think that the Chinese are too powerful and that the dream of returning home is fading away. I think our mistake was that we didn’t keep up with the world. We held on to the monastic tradition too tightly. We didn’t embrace modern education, and so we weren’t connected with the outside world. Because of that, we lost our freedom silently. I think our challenge now is to educate our children in a modern way, so hopefully they will be better at sharing our story."

(Dharamshala, India)

"The right to protest is very limited in Tibet. But the Chinese...

"The right to protest is very limited in Tibet. But the Chinese laws allow for ethnic minorities to practice their traditions. So every Wednesday, to demonstrate solidarity, Tibetans all over the world express their culture. They speak Tibetan, eat at Tibetan restaurants, and wear traditional Tibetan clothing. It’s a form of silent protest." 

(Dharamshala, India)

I walked into a classroom where some young Tibetan students were...

I walked into a classroom where some young Tibetan students were practicing their chants, and all the kids suddenly grew very focused and well-behaved on account of the visitor. Except for this guy, who started laughing at me. Then he started laughing at himself laughing. Then he started laughing that he couldn’t stop laughing at himself laughing.

(Dharamshala, India)

A bit of context on this next series of photos: Dharamshala,...

A bit of context on this next series of photos: Dharamshala, India is where the exiled government of Tibet resides. Led by the Dalai Lama, nearly 100,000 Tibetan refugees live in this northern Indian city, where they seek to maintain their traditions and culture in exile. The long journey from Tibet to India includes a grueling 28 day walk through the Himalayan mountains. Many of the refugees make this trek as children, sent by their parents in hopes of studying their language and religion in freedom. In conclusion, here’s a young Tibetan monk playing with a kitten.

(Dharamshala, India)

"My mother-in-law is giving me problems."(Kotla, India)

"My mother-in-law is giving me problems."

(Kotla, India)

"My father was very simple, but everyone respected him. The...

"My father was very simple, but everyone respected him. The former president of India came to his funeral, even though we weren’t a wealthy or powerful family. Everyone saw my father as a peacemaker. Whenever there was a fight, he’d put himself in the middle and beg for it to stop. Once there were two groups of men fighting, and my father ran over to break up the fight. Someone threw a stone and it accidentally hit my father in the head. He was so respected, that as soon as the stone hit him, everyone went calm."

(New Delhi, India)

"I don’t have any dreams. What’s the point?...

"I don’t have any dreams. What’s the point? I’m poor. I don’t have any skills. I wash the utensils in the kitchen— that’s what I do. But I like the girls I work with. We make fun together. I tell jokes. They tell jokes. I’m happy— it’s in my nature."

(New Delhi, India)