By Pawan Sharma
McLeodganj, September 30 – THE MISS Tibet pageant will not be disaster this year. The five contestants, who arrived here today, will ensure that the crowning of Miss Tibet 2004 will not be as tough or should we say as embarrassing for the organisers as it was last year when the lone contestant had to be crowned winner.
No wonder then that soon after the five damsels reached Ladies Venture amid the frenzy of flash bulbs, the pageant director, Lobsang Wangyal, beamed, “Thank God! Five daring girls have arrived. Now the show will go on.”
The girls took on the media confidently and insisted that it was the “political aspect” of the pageant that had drawn them to the event.
“We are proud of the rich Tibetan heritage. The pageant provides us a platform to make the cause of Tibet popular. The pageant puts Tibet on the world map. Imagine Miss Tibet standing alongside Miss China. Is it a small achievement for the cause of Tibet?” asks Kalsang Dickey, one of the contestants.
“Last October, I escaped from Lhasa. We were a group of four young Tibetans. After covering most of the distance in a vehicle, we walked for over a day to cross the Nepal-Tibet border. My dream is now turning into reality,” says Kalsang.
The desire of becoming Miss Tibet may have brought her to Dharamsala but she’s anxious about the state of affairs back home. “Lhasa has changed since the Dalai Lama left for India. Beer is cheaper than soft drinks there. Brothels and gambling centres have mushroomed in the area. The youth have gone astray. This is the other face of the so-called development in Lhasa,” she rues. Of the three contestants born in India, Tashi Yangchen of Sikkim is a computer engineer and Dhondup Wangmo of Dehradun is a Delhi University graduate, while Thinley Dolma of Baijnath runs a shop at McLeodganj. The fifth contestant, Sonam Dickey, had escaped from Lhasa in 1989, studied at the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala and runs a business in Nepal.
As for the contest, the countdown has begun. The girls have started lessons in catwalk and Tibetan culture and history under Wangyal’s direction. The pageant kicks off on October 8 with the swimsuit round.
“We are all Miss Tibet. We are not looking at the pageant as a contest. Our aim is to inspire Tibetan girls and make this show a platform for the cause of Tibet,” adds Tashi.
