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THE LAST EMPEROR'S WISH
If needed, here is another testimony to India’s hospitality and compassion. After years in exile, the Dalai Lama says he will be happy to die in India. In an interview that covers Tibet to Osama bin Laden, the unflappable Dalai Lama becomes passionate on India and its kindness. He should know. When he was thrown out of China, he was given asylum by the then Prime Minister Nehru as a persona non grata. That was in 1959. Considering the volatile Sino-Indian relations then, it was a highly risky decision by Nehru. Many countries denied entry to him and his followers. But India opened its doors and offered him and his followers an Abode at Dharmasala. Forty-seven years later, the world has changed. But the situation in Tibet has not. One of the most widely travelled persons on this planet, the Dalai Lama knows international realities like the palm of his hand. And when he says India is full of compassion, the world will listen. With the dream of a free-Tibet remains a mirage, he knows his final days will be spent in Little Lhasa in India. It is like a home away from home. A million others, like Chakmas, Bohras and Sri Lankan Tamils, will agree. I stop here; read the simple, but brilliant interview in Daily Telegraph.