Sunday, January 16, 2011

Ravangla

The original plan was for Tenzin Namgyal Tethong la to visit Ravangla on the 14th, but because of train delays on the 14th, we were not able to make that schedule. So we had to get up around 5 in the morning and leave for Ravangla.
(TNT la welcomed by the Tibetan Community in Ravangla)

We reached Ravangla around 9 am in the morning and the regional TYC had organized this event. Since it was on a Sunday, the number of people attending were less than Gangtok and the reason for this we were told is that there is a Sunday Market in Ravangla and the residents sell their vegetables and others on this day and this is one of their main source of revenues.
(TNT la answering questions from the Tibetans in Ravangla)
So, if the train was not delayed, we would have made it to Ravangla on the 14th and not on a Sunday. TNT la spoke about the importance of the Kalon Tripa Elections and how important it is for Tibetans to participate in it and spoke about his personal reasons for standing for the post of Kalon Tripa.
During the Q & A, one resident, a young woman became extremely emotional while talking about the Kalon Tripa election and how we need to take it seriously. Listen to her in the video below.

The local groups arranged a lunch and after lunch, we had to make haste as we had to be in Kalimpong at 2 pm which has been setup from before.