Stopover in Calgary possible
By JIM LEGG
Meeting the Dalai Lama in India will hopefully mean one thing for a local man — a visit to Calgary by the spiritual leader of Tibetans.
That’s precisely what Ashid Bahl, president of the For Love of Children Society of Alberta, hopes comes true later this year when the Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Canada.
“He was very spiritual — there is a high aura and incredible compassion about him,” Bahl said after returning from India and Nepal, where his charity is spearheading a number of projects.
“He makes you feel at home — very loved — and even seemed to know what I was going to ask for before I asked.”
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Vancouver and Toronto in April, but Bahl hopes the trip can be extended to include Calgary.
Bahl visited Dharamsala, located about 500 km north of New Delhi, the site of a Tibetan refugee children’s village, where the society pays school fees for students, in addition to well water, a school bus, computer and telephone link to other villages in the region.
He said the Dalai Lama, whose followers practise a form of Buddhism, was told about the society’s work in Dharamsala, as well as the five Tibetan refugee camps in nearby Orissa.
“There’s no stop (to the charity work),” Bahl said. “It’s like a runaway train. You just climb on top and do what you can.”
Bahl also met another leader in India — Premier Ralph Klein — during a visit to see Lucie Edwards at the residence of the High Commission for Canada.
