Leading on the Frontline

7Meaningful connection

How I learned the meaning of true connection from HH the Dalai Lama

My extraordinary friendship with the Tibetan people began in 2001 when for six months I travelled the length and breadth of India visiting remote and scattered Tibetan refugee camps. The problems faced by the young people in these camps had become so serious that His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself was keen to hear the results of my research. That meeting was to have an extraordinary influence on my life.

On Saturday, 26 October 2002, I travelled to Mindrolling Monastery, near Dehradun in India’s north-west. I was greeted by the sight of a joyous carnival, a bobbing sea of burgundy and saffron. A throng of monks, meditating and reciting sutras to the musical accompaniment of sacred horns and cymbals, had gathered to catch a glimpse of this revered man of peace.

Inside the monastery I was taken to an austere office lined with dusty, dilapidated furniture, where I waited for two hours while an Indian official performed the required screening procedures. I sat and watched him move paper documentation painstakingly from one pile to another, pausing a moment to study a page, and occasionally asking me for my signature. This was followed by a close scrutiny of my passport, with a great deal of head-scratching and ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’. I understood it was a serious business: the Indian police were responsible for the safety of the Tibetan leader, so it was no wonder I was grilled on my background ...