Here in exile

Though our grandparents came from high in the Tibetan plateau, we were born in a refugee settlement in the warm plains of South India. Though we were raised on stories of yaks grazing the vast green pastures, surrounded by snow mountains, as a child in South India we had to flee wild elephants, who often visited from the nearby jungle to eat our corn. Our prayer flags, which once whipped in the Himalayan winds, now hung between tropical coconut trees. 

It is a complex diaspora to be a part of, yet we are grateful to have been raised in the Tibetan tradition within the foreign (yet native) land that accepted us. And as a refugee, we feel uneasy when refugees are often portrayed as sad, hopeless, and grim. Pain and joy are the two sides of the same coin, and we as refugees experience both. Through this work, we wanted to show, with grace and beauty, the home we Tibetans have made here in exile.