Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, turns 90 on July 6. Fourteenth in the line, His Holiness (born Tenzin Gyatso) arrived in India in March 1959 after an uprising against China failed. In February 2025, he gave his quirkiest autograph to an Indian Army veteran.
Front page of the @HindustanTimes---and the cover of @TIME magazine---after the Congress government of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru offered sanctuary to the Dalai Lama, 66 years ago. Thankfully, India did not have philistines who think only a 'dharamshala' offers asylum. @AmitShah
Unfailingly cheerful, the Dalai Lama has met millions of Indians---and bumped his forehead with thousands---in Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) and Mysore (Karnataka), where the Tibetan settlements are located. This February, @vembushankar joined the queue in Bylakuppe. (3/9)
@vembushankar has worn many hats with aplomb. At 22, he was decorated with the Shaurya Chakra for his valour. He is a philatelist, a magician, a quizzer, a Mastermind finalist. Above all, he is a stellar autograph hunter, approaching his subjects with precision planning. (4/9)
Hundreds lined up each week to meet the Dalai Lama during his two-month retreat to seek his blessings. One left a copy of his autobiography for his signature. Another had a set of pens blessed by him. @vembushankar got his autograph on a remarkable piece of paper.👇🏾 (5/9)
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, signed his name---in Tibetan; in his original name Tenzin Gyatso---on a rare edition of 'Tintin in Tibet' for @vembushankar. Equally remarkably, the Dalai Lama had the mindspace to do so after having lost his brother just two days earlier. (6/9)
'Tintin in Tibet' was the 20th in the comic series by Herge. It was serialised in a magazine in 1958-59 when the Dalai Lama was about to flee Tibet. The Belgian cartoonist called it his favourite work. It came when he was leaving his wife for a younger woman. Dalai Lama
In an interview in the 1970s with the legendary Indian editor and publisher Aveek Sarkar, Herge revealed that the rich details in 'Tintin in Tibet' came from photos in 'National Geographic' magazine. The Hindi words were supplied by the Indian embassy in Brussels. @NatGeo (8/9)
The first Indian journalist to interview the Dalai Lama when he arrived via Tawang in 1959 was Naresh Chandra Rajkhowa of 'The Assam Tribune'. Rajkhowa had mistakenly been delivered a letter addressed to a government official in Shillong seeking asylum. @assamtribuneoff (9/9)
