Will the Tibetan refugees return to their homeland tomorrow, when the Dalai Lama decides to return to Lhasa? It might seem obvious that they will. A closer look, however, and the situation appears more ambiguous.
What many refugees thought was a temporary sojourn when they came out in 1959 has stretched into more than three decades in exile. Today, the refugee population of over 100,000 is scattered around the world, but is concentrated in India, where there are about 80,000. Approximately 15,000 live in Nepal — in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Solu Khumbu, Walung, Rasuwa, Chiti, Dhorpatan, Jumla, Mustang and Dolpo.
Pokhara has a refugee population of 1500 or so. Among them, about 40 percent were born in Tibet, while the remaining 60 percent constitute second generation refugees born in exile. As elsewhere in Nepal, the refugee community here also is better off than the Nepali cross-section. Many have acquired citizenship, and learnt the language and the ways of the Nepalis. While they have become nearly one with Nepali society, the Tibetans have also built a vigorous cultural world for themselves, establishing monasteries, promoting the Dharma, and drawing on links with the numerous mythical Buddhist sites in Nepal. While this might not be true for Tibetan refugees all over, those in Nepal have adapted socially and settled down fairly comfortably.
The adaptive process is best illustrated by the case of Tenzin, now in his 50s, who recalls how shocked he was back in 1961 to see Nepalis eat "grass" with their daal-bhat. "Do you think I will eat this green stuff for lunch?" he remembers asking the innkeeper. Today, Tenzin not only eats the "grass" (tori ko saag, mustard) with relish, but even grows it in his garden plot.