Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile Transcriptio

 

00:00:09 - Tsering Chungtak: I’m here to represent the roof of the world

00:00:13 - Tsering Chungtak: Tibet!

00:00:16 - Lobsang Wangyal: So I call myself a small-town impresario.

00:00:18 - Lobsang Wangyal: I love this word.

00:00:31 – Heidi Swank: Young women in their evening gowns is not what a lot of people think of when they think of Tibetans.

00:00:42 - Lobsang Wangyal: There isn’t any venue where you know, Tibetan women can be like this.

00:00:49 – Tenzin Khecheo: Sometimes I’m just questioning if I’m really Tibetan or not.

00:00:56 - Lobsang Wangyal:  Tibetan culture, Tibetan history, Tibetan language.

00:01:00 - Doctor Tenzin Namdol: We welcome you all to a beauty pageant with a difference.  

00:01:15 - Doctor Tenzin Namdol: My family have lost their country.

00:01:08 - Doctor Tenzin Namdol: And I became a refugee, I haven’t seen my country yet.

00:01:14 - Lobsang Wangyal:  We are a different people. We are in a different situation.

00:01:18 - Lobsang Wangyal:   We feel we need this.

00:01:34 – Tenzin Khecheo: Before I label myself as like American or Tibetan, I’m just a girl. I am a modern Tibetan American girl like, I do what any American girl do, you know.

00:01:48 – Tenzin Khecheo: My grandparents fled from Tibet.

00:01:53 – Tenzin Khecheo: My parents were born in India, as was I and my younger sister. And my dad won this thing for like the first um, thousand Tibetans to go into America.

00:02:19 – Tenzin Khecheo: So my dad got one of those Visas. And then later he came back for me, my mom and my sister.

00:02:28 – Tenzin Khecheo: So that’s how I came to America.

00:02:38 – Tenzin Khecheo: I came here when I was seven. You don’t know a single word in English. You have to go to school and communicate in English.

00:02:45 – Tenzin Khecheo: When I was younger I did get signed up to go to Tibetan school, but due to the fact that my parents were always at work and I was the oldest, someone had to be there to help around the house. So, then I dropped out of Tibetan school.

00:02:58 – Tenzin Khecheo: Later my parents actually ended up getting a divorce, which is pretty rare in the Tibetan community. And then my dad passed away.

00:03:07 – Tenzin Khecheo: So my mom has been raising me and my sisters all by herself ever since.

00:03:15 – Tenzin Khecheo: We live in a foreign world. We have to adjust to America, and I think it’s hard to do both, like to keep, like to keep your Tibetan culture. And then on the other hand you have to adapt to the American culture or else, like, it will be hard for you to live here.

00:03:33 – Friends: (Singing happy birthday)

00:03:42 - Tenzin Khecheo: Now I learned and understand and I can read and speak English, but now what happened to my Tibetan?

00:03:47 – Friends: (Singing happy birthday continued)

00:03:57 – Tenzin Khecheo: It’s very far away.

00:04:02 – Tenzin Khechoe: Why is Tibet a special place.

00:04:04 – Chime Yangzom: Yeah.

00:04:09 – Tenzin Khecheo: Back when I was little in India, you know, I kinda wondered, like, why we were living in India but not Tibet?

00:04:19 – Tenzin Khecheo: As I grew older I find out the reality of it, like why we are not in Tibet.

00:04:27 – Tenzin Khecheo: In the 1950s, China started gaining power and the military started attacking parts of Tibet.

00:04:37 – Tenzin Khecheo: Buildings were burned and monasteries were destroyed. Thousands of people were killed.

00:04:43 – Tenzin Khecheo: The Tibetans believed that His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama was their only hope. So they helped him to flee, and he went into exile in Dharamsala.

00:04:55 – Tenzin Khecheo: After that, Chinas brutality grew even worse, and many Tibetans tried to escape. They walked for weeks over the mountains to India. The fortunate ones made it, and the people who didn’t make it were sent to prison and tortured, or even killed right on the spot.

00:05:11 – Tenzin Khecheo: The Chinese government claims that Tibet is part of China, not it’s own country. And the Tibetans who do still live in Tibet have no freedom.

00:05:20 – Tenzin Khecheo: Their suffering terribly under the Chinese rule, and they can be arrested just for saying his holinesses name.

00:05:44 –Heidi Swank:There’s so much in the media and in kinda or popular imagination about Tibet as this Shangri-La.

0005:56 –Lost Horizon Film: Welcome to Shanrgi-La. You see we are sheltered by mountains on every side.  (Inaudible..) For Which we are very greatful.

00:06:13 –Seven Years in Tibet Film: If you can Imagine a hidden place, tucked safely away from the world, concealed by walls of high snowcapped mountains. A place with all the strange beauty of your nighttime dreams. Then you know where I am.

00:06:31 –Carole McGranhan: Here’s where the myth of Shangri-La comes yet again, right, the idea that Tibetans are a certain type of people. They are trustworthy, they are humble, that they are, are good.  It’s a very simple, kind people. But there are also many other character traits that Tibetans embody. There are Tibetans who are fierce, and who are brilliant.

00:06:51 – Tibetan: Is that crime not big enough to raise a voice?

00:06:56 – Carole McGranhan: What it’s meant to be a good Tibetan has kind of shrunk.

00:07:05 – Tenzin Khecheo: Most important of all is that Tibet holds the great spirit of peace.

00:07:14 – Tenzin Khecheo: Being Tibetan is just, it’s a special thing for me. I don’t know, it’s hard to describe.

00:07:56 – Tenzin Khecheo: You know we have this sad history of oppression and everything yet we’re still living life, we’re strong and we’re there supporting each other, not only in America but also you know, our brothers and sisters in Tibet.

00:08:11 – Tenzin Khecheo: When I was younger my friends and I, we used to go to all the free Tibet protests. But after a while I started feeling like it wasn’t making any difference. Nothing was changing.

00:08:22 – Tenzin Khecheo: People drift out, and I did.

00:08:26 – Tenzin Khecheo: So when I heard about the Miss Tibet Pageant, I thought it would be a great way for me to speak out for Tibet while doing something fun.

00:08:34 – Tenzin Khecheo: First learned about Miss Tibet through my friend, um, because she would watch, you know, all those Tibetan things on You Tube.

00:08:41 – News Anchor: Four lucky women will be competing for title of Miss Tibet this year.

00:08:47 – Sonam Cheodon: I know that there are many Tibetan women who are very talented and beautiful. I would like to urge them all to come forward and take part in the pageant.

00:08:55 – Tenzin Khecheo: I grew up you know, watching a lot of Miss America, Miss Universe pageants and stuff, and I was just like, oh, this is interesting. I’ve never heard about, you know, a Tibetan women, in bikinis.

00:09:08 – Tenzin Norzon: Being a Tibetan women, this platform is made for our Tibetan girls. Most of the girls are, they have not guts to participate in this, so for them I want to boost confidence within them.

00:09:22 – Tenzin Khecheo: I thought it sounded really cool, like an opportunity to boost my own confidence. So I signed up to compete in Miss Tibet North America in New York City.

00:09:30 – Tenzin Khecheo: The first prize for winning was so great. An airplane ticket to Dharamsala to compete in the 10^th anniversary of the original Miss Tibet pageant. But I was really nervous about my Tibetan not being good enough.  

00:09:42 – Tenzin Khecheo: That was my biggest concern entering this contest, my Tibetan language. I had recited my whole introduction in Tibetan, but, when I was walking on the stage, everyone’s there, everyone’s looking at me, and I feel like the moment I open my mouth they’re gonna judge me right away. Everyone would say, she doesn’t even know Tibetan, like, what is she doing here, you know. So I didn’t want to take that risk, even though I really really really wanted to show them that, you know, I can speak Tibetan.

00:10:10 – Tenzin Khecheo: The moment I spoke…

00:10:12 – Tenzin Khecheo: My name is Tenzin Khechoe, I’m from Minnesota,

00:10:14 - Tenzin Khecheo: …I’m like, crap. I wanted Tibetan words to come out, not English.

00:10:19 – Tenzin Khecheo: I never actually thought that I might win.

00:10:21 – Announcer: Tenzin Khecheo! (Applause)

00:10:27 – Tenzin Khechoe: Even though the prize covers my airfare to India, I still had to apply and be accepted to compete in the pageant.

00:10:52 – Tenzin Khecheo: Sometimes I’m just scared, because what we Tibetans here in America expect might not, not like, they might not be the same expectations as people in India.

00:11:03 – Tenzin Khecheo: I don’t want them to think, like oh, she’s from like America, she doesn’t have any Tibetan values or anything like that, but, cause I do like, I kinda want to prove that even if we are living in a different world, I mean we as Tibetans, we still have that duty to you know, carry our name.

00:11:20 – Tenzin Khecheo: Yay! It finally went through! I’m gonna be participating in Miss Tibet, 2011, in Dharamsala.

00:11:32 – Tenzin Khecheo: When I go back to India to participate in Miss Tibet it marks um, my dads one year death anniversary. So, along with my other reasons for doing the pageant um, I have a personal reason. I’m just doing it for my dad as well, um. If I do win you know, um, I think it would be a great gift for him.

00:12:18 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m telling her, like I should do my own right now. What are the chances that we’re not gonna get it. Obviously she’s coming with me to support me in Miss Tibet because um, like, it’s out first time going back and if she comes with me we cant leave, she doesn’t want to leave our two little sisters here by themselves. So motherly kicks in, so she decided to take them as well.

00:12:40 – Tenzin Khecheo: She doesn’t know whether she wants to wait for my sisters passport or not before getting everyone else’s visas. So she’s asking for a traditional divine guidance.

00:12:50 – Tenzin Khecheo: Um, her uncle he’s like a monk, and they can do like this, I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s called a “Mo.” They can do like, if you have like a decision to make and its hard and you want to know what the right decision is to do, they can do like a little praying thing and it tells you like what you should do and what you shouldn’t do.

00:13:09 – Tenzin Khecheo: Prayer bead right here.

00:13:12 – Chime Yangzom: I don’t know, they pray like this (laughs.)

00:13:17 – Tenzin Khecheo: So like they do a continuous – Like this – Until they came to a conclusion.

00:13:21 – Chime Yangzom: Some they do like this, some they have ah, book, a Tibetan book.

00:13:27 – Tenzin Khecheo: Like a prayer book.

00:13:28 – Chime Yangzom: A book like this, they have, and they have, look, everything in there.

00:13:41 – Tenzin Khecheo: She has to wait for whatever.

00:13:45 – Tenzin Khecheo: She, well she’s gonna do whatever the outcome is. She has to wait then she’ll wait.

00:13:58 – Tenzin Khecheo: Lobsang emailed me back.

00:14:00 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m happy to know that you are all set to leave. Hope the visa will be processed on time. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

00:14:10 – Tenzin Khecheo: What did they put when they applied for this? Nationality at birth. But, this is nationality at birth. I wasn’t Indian when I was born in India. But then there is no place to put Tibet.

00:14:25 – Tenzin Khecheo: If it says location of birth then we could put India, but it says nationality of birth. We were born in India but we’re not Tibetan, uh how complicated can my life be?

00:14:35 – Tenzin Khecheo: We don’t have Indian passport or Indian citizenship, we were just born there. But we were refugees. I mean, India’s the only choice because we can’t put Tibet on here.

00:14:46 – Tenzin Khecheo: Put India then.

00:14:47 - Chime Yangzom: Yeah.

00:14:47 - Tenzin Khecheo: Cause there’s no other choice.

00:14:48 - Chime Yangzom: India.

00:14:52 – Tenzin Khecheo: But I don’t consider myself Indian origin.

00:14:58 – Norah Shapiro: Who’s your mom calling?

00:15:01 – Tenzin Khecheo: (Laughs) My uncle. To see what the results is. Oh God.

00:15:06 – Tenzin Khecheo: My uncle he just came back talking to my grandpa, the praying thingy, and he said it’s um – Don’t wait - That we should, don’t wait for her passport, to do it, right now.

00:15:15 - Tenzin Khecheo: Now you feel relived? She feels relived. Because she believes in it and she trusts the outcome.

00:15:33 – Tenzin Khecheo: I feel like I’m going to boot camp.

00:15:35 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m so rushed!

00:15:41 – Tenzin Khecheo: Bam.

00:15:47 – Tenzin Khecheo: Did you tell him at eleven? This is an example of Tibetan time.

00:15:52 – Sister: Eat!

00:15:54 – Tenzin Khecheo: I ate already!

00:15:54 – Sister: Did you?

00:15:59 – Tenzin Khecheo: About time!

00:16:34 – Tenzin Khecheo: Dharamsala is such a special place to the Tibetan people.

00:16:38 – Tenzin Khecheo: Ever since his holiness, the Dalai Lama fled here it has really become a new home for the Tibetan people since we cant be in our own country.

00:17:05 – Tenzin Khecheo: There are six girls here from all over the world who came to compete in Miss Tibet.

00:17:11 – Tenzin Khecheo: And I’m really looking forward to getting to know everyone.

00:17:15 – Tenzin Khecheo: Hi!

00:17:21 – Lobsang Wangyal: I’m the Director and the Producer of the Pageant.

00:17:24 – Lobsang Wangyal:  What’s the name of the pageant?

00:17:25 - Contestants: Miss Tibet

00:17:27 - Lobsang Wangyal: That’s it.

00:17:29 – Lobsang Wangyal:  Passang is our chaperone.

00:17:31 – Lobsang Wangyal: Passang has been with us for last ten years.

00:27:35 - Lobsang Wangyal: It’s the 10^th anniversary so it’s a very special event this year, ok?

00:17:39 - Lobsang Wangyal: There are six girls in this pageant,

 00:17:42 - Lobsang Wangyal: To represent one million each of the six million Tibetans.

00:17:45 - Lobsang Wangyal: For twelve days we will live like a very harmonious, cordial, you know, family.

00:17:51 - Lobsang Wangyal: Good family.

00:17:52 - Lobsang Wangyal: Thousands and thousands and thousands of people will come to look at six of you, not me.

00:17:58 - Lobsang Wangyal:  Just beautiful face, you know

00:17:59 - Lobsang Wangyal:  Doesn’t make a good Miss Tibet.

00:18:02 - Lobsang Wangyal: Not just the, you know, physique,

00:18:05 - Lobsang Wangyal: Not just the morality.

00:18:07 - Lobsang Wangyal: It’s a combination of so many things together.

00:18:09 -Lobsang Wangyal: Even your good smile, how you deal with people…

00:18:14 - Lobsang Wangyal: Everything counts.

00:18:16 - Lobsang Wangyal: In order to be a meaningful Tibetan…

00:18:19 - Lobsang Wangyal: …what do you have to do? You have to learn all these things.

00:18:21 -Lobsang Wangyal: So we’ll give you the training. And you’ll get a lot of ideas.

00:18:25 - Lobsang Wangyal: And then, you know, what we try to do is

00:18:28 - Lobsang Wangyal: Inspire you. How’s that. Make you realize…

00:18:32 - Lobsang Wangyal: …oh, I still have a lot to do. So to make you realize all of that.

00:18:39 – Lobsang Wangyal: You will be like you know, meeting all kinds of Tibetan people,

00:18:43 – Lobsang Wangyal: Meaning, Tibetan experts, such as human rights, such as you know like, health,

00:14:48 – Lobsang Wangyal: Such as music, this, that, Buddhist philosophy, everything, all kinds of people.

00:18:53 – Lobsang Wangyal: Then you know, I feel that mission is accomplished.

00:18:57 -Lobsang Wangyal: Because I want you to, like, learn everything about Tibet.

00:19:00 - Lobsang Wangyal: Who you are and all this.

00:19:01 - Lobsang Wangyal: Tibetans have…you know…how do you say…

00:19:05 - Lobsang Wangyal: Are known for morality.

00:19:06 -Lobsang Wangyal: Good ethics and morality and all this.

00:19:08 - Lobsang Wangyal: I personally don’t have good morality… at all.

00:19:10 -Lobsang Wangyal: But, I pretend.

00:19:23 - Lobsang Wangyal: So I call myself a small-town impresario.

00:19:26 - Lobsang Wangyal: I love this word.

00:19:30 - Lobsang Wangyal: There is a total lack of opportunities, for young Tibetan women.

00:19:35 - Lobsang Wangyal: To come forward and speak their mind.

00:19:37 -Lobsang Wangyal: And show their talents, and be themselves.

00:19:41 - Lobsang Wangyal: I don’t see apart from Miss Tibet Pageant,

00:19:43 -Lobsang Wangyal: If there is any platform where Tibetan woman can do something.

00:19:48 - Lobsang Wangyal: I don’t think it exists.

00:19:51 - Lobsang Wangyal: So Miss Tibet, this is a very, very important platform for young Tibetan women.

00:19:56 - Lobsang Wangyal: And if they have the talent, if they have the intelligence,

00:19:59 - Lobsang Wangyal: It is the platform for them to come and participate,

00:20:03 - Lobsang Wangyal: Take the opportunity, and contribute towards the Tibetan cause.

00:20:07 -Lobsang Wangyal: Not only for women’s issues, not only for like, young Tibetan people,

00:20:11 - Lobsang Wangyal: But also the bigger picture of Tibet.

00:20:15 - Lobsang Wangyal: My path is bringing Tibet

00:20:18 - Lobsang Wangyal: On the modernization path

00:20:20 – Lobsang Wangyal: Not Westernization path.

00:20:21 – Lobsang Wangyal: This modernization may have elements of West,

00:20:24 – Lobsang Wangyal: Which is ok. 

00:20:25 –Lobsang Wangyal: Why is it ok for Westerners to, you know,

00:20:28 – Lobsang Wangyal: To convent even into Buddhism or Hinduism, or whatever,

00:20:31 – Lobsang Wangyal: They can do yoga and all this,

00:20:33 – Lobsang Wangyal: I mean, whereas we cannot do fashion shows and all this?

00:20:40 –Lobsang Wangyal: I don’t want to waste my time like that, and just sitting and sipping chai

0020:42 – Lobsang Wangyal: Thinking, you know, Whats the point? Do something…

00:20:45 –Lobsang Wangyal: Something you like.

00:20:46 – Lobsang Wangyal: Something which is glamorous, you know.

00:20:48 – Lobsang Wangyal: I like glamour a lot.

00:20:50 – Lobsang Wangyal: When Tibet will be free, then I’ll be a big man you know.

00:20:53 – Lobsang Wangyal: Already some people are calling me the Tibetan Donald Trump.

00:21:11 – Chemi Lhazom: I’m Chemi Lhazom. I’m from Dharamsala.

00:21:14 – Chemi Lhazom: And right now I’m pursuing my MBA from Sikkim Manipal University.

00:21:20 – Carole McGranhan: Tibetans have been refugees for such a long period of time that we’re now in a third generation actually in exile.

00:21:26 – Dolma Tsering: Hello everyone, I’m Dolma Tsering from Mysore, basically.

00:21:30 – Dolma Tsering: And I finished my graduation in 2010 as a B.S. in Computer Science.

00:21:37 – Carole McGranhan: Right now the Tibetan exile community is really a true diaspora. Living scattered around the world. Multiple continents.

00:21:48 – Ngodup Dolma: I’m Ngodup Dolma from Australia.

00:21:51 – Ngodup Dolma: And I’ve just graduated from nursing.

00:21:53 – Ngodup Dolma: And so I’m working as a nurse in Australia.

00:22:04 – Tenzin Sangmo: My name is Tenzin Sangmo. I’m from Dharamsala.

00:22:07: Tenzin Sangmo: I took my graduation from Bangalore University in the year 2007.

00:22:11 – Tenzin Sangmo: And right now I’m working as an accountant in private enterprises.

00:22:17 – Tenzin Yangkyi: Hi, my name is Tenzin Yangkyi.

00:22:19 – Tenzin Yangkyi: I’m from Switzerland. I’m 17 years old.

00:22:22 – Tenzin Yangkyi: I am since 7 years in the Tibetan culture dance group.

00:22:30 – Tenzin Khecheo: Hi everyone, I’m Tenzin Khechoe. I’m 19 and I’m from Minnesota of the United States. Growing up in a foreign country, I don’t really have time to sit down and like focus on my Tibetan identity. So I think that it’s a good thing that I’m here and um, I hope all the other Tibet girls, by watching us six girls feel more confidence in themselves in order to present themselves into society. Thank you.

00:23:02 – Photographer: Beautiful. Beautiful. That’s better.

00:23:24 – Tenzin Khecheo: It was my decision to take part in this pageant.

00:23:33- Lobsang Wangyal: I’m very happy and honored to announce the tenth anniversary of the Miss Tibet Pageant. And as you can see dor all of you there are six beautiful and brave contestants hailing from India, Australia, Switzerland and the United States.

00:23:55 – Tenzin Khecheo: I think this pageant is really good because it gives us a voice that we never had before.

00:24:08 – Lobsang Wangyal: The costs of the pageant have come mostly from the pocket of the director… that is me. He has been loosing money every year.

00:24:24 – Tenzin Khecheo: When Lobsang started the pageant in 2002, thirty girls signed up to compete.

00:24:32 – Tenzin Khecheo: But then the Prime Minister spoke out against the pageant saying it was Un-Tibetan.

00:24:38 – Samdhong Rinpoche: This kind of competition.

00:24:42 – Samdhong Rinpoche: Will not enhance any goodness among the Tibetan people.

00:24:48 – Samdhong Rinpoche: Competition in any form, is the root cause of all kind of conflict.

00:24:56 – Tenzin Khecheo: And so twenty-five of the thirty contestants dropped out.

00:25:00 – Tenzin Khecheo: Then in the second year, only one girl signed up to compete, and so, she was crowned Miss Tibet by default.

00:25:06 – Tenzin Khecheo: Over the next couple of years though, Tibetan people, especially the young people who tend to be more influenced by things from western culture, started taking more interest in the pageant.

00:25:17 – Tenzin Khecheo: The crowds began to grow, and people began to realize that maybe this could actually be a platform for girls to help promote awareness about Tibet.

00:25:26 – Andree-Marie Dussault: I was editing a feminist magazine for five years, so I am very much against this type of pageant.

00:25:32 – Andree-Marie Dussault: I think this one is interesting because it is controversial.

00:25:35 – Andree-Marie Dussault: And it’s also a political platform. It’s a way of talking about Free Tibet around the world.

00:25:39 – Andree-Marie Dussault: That attracts much more attention than any other political activity or event.

00:25:45 – Andree-Marie Dussault: So it’s interesting.

00:25:47 – News Anchor: Heavy is the head that wears the tiara as the saying goes…

00:25:52 – Tenzin Khecheo: The big turn around really happened in 2007 though when Miss Tibet 2006 was supposed to compete in Miss Tourism World, and the Chinese government tried to say that she had to wear a sash that said Miss Tibet-China, or else withdraw from the contest.

00:26:05 – Tsering Chungtak: Competing as Miss Tibet-China is unacceptable to me. Until, unless the Tibetan problem is resolved I cannot accept it as Miss Tibet-China. Because it is very clear, it is very obvious that there’s no human rights in Tibet. There’s no freedom in Tibet.

00:26:23 – Lobsang Wangyal: We feel that such high handedness by China, interfering even in an event like this. Not only reflects its attempt to wipe out any trace of the Tibetan people, and their unique culture, but also violates basic human rights and aspirations of young Tibetan women.

00:26:43 – Tenzin Khecheo: I think it was at this point that people really started to see that becoming Miss Tibet could actually be something that a young woman could do to help the Tibetan peoples cause.

00:26:52 – Tsering Chungtak: Free Tibet and Hail India!

00:26:54 – Tsering Chungtak: Thank you so much! Thank you!

00:27:11 – Tenzin Khechoe: What makes this pageant special is all the little events that lead up to it, you know, we just don’t get right into the pageanting business. We actually get time to learn about Tibetan culture.

00:27:24 – Tenzin Khecheo: I think it really gives us a good foundation before the pageant.

00:27:29 – Lobsang Wangyal: First, there’s the education department.

00:27:50 – Chitue Youdon Aukastsang: Beauty pageants, the ones that are happening in general are not really, not to my taste you know. But in this case I support it from the beginning because I thought it was trying to send a message. Giving a platform where there was none. Of you know, young girls talking about their own community, their identity, their culture, their religion.

00:28:10 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: We are living in 21^st century, you know.

00:28:13 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: Dalai Lama always says, you know,

00:28:15 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: We must really learn about the modern world, you know,

00:28:19 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: Without losing our own identity,

00:28:23 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: And our own traditional culture.

00:28:26 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: And then we have to accept, you know, adapt,

00:28:29 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: Different nice things,

00:28:31 – Chitue Thubten Wangchen: Because Miss Tibet doesn’t harm anyone, you know.

00:28:34 – Chitue Sharling Tenzin Dadon: I would say Lobsang Wangyal was creative enough to bring a very fresh perspective to this whole struggle, in a very creative way you know, by using the concept of beauty, women, intelligence, empowerment, and kind of you know, drawing global attention onto our struggle, and in that aspect I really really respect and I have a lot of admiration for this pageant.

00:29:05 – Carole McGranhan: While the idea of a beauty pageant is new, you know, women have always preformed in some ways certain sorts of roles in Tibetan communities. There are tones of proverbs about the beauty of women. There are you know, songs, there are poems. So its not as if the idea of beauty and specifically of womens beauty didn’t exist in Tibet before.

00:29:45 – Heidi Swank: The planning that goes into the Miss Tibet Pageant is kind of the prep for the young women, its actually quite different then my experience in pageants.

00:29:56 – Heidi Swank: In pageants you learn dance numbers, and you learn how to walk, and those things go into the Miss Tibet Pageant.

00:30:05 – Heidi Swank: But they also go through a serious education. They bring in experts in various areas.

 00:30:12 – Tenzin Khecheo: We’re making dumplings, Tibetan momos.

00:30:15 – Heidi Swank: So they’ll bring someone in to talk about historic Tibet. And to talk about Tibet and Chinese relations. They’ll have someone to talk about Tibetan women in, in exile and in Tibet and their role in Tibetan freedom movement. They’ll have someone come in and talk about Tibetan language.

00:30:43 – Heidi Swank: They very intentionally teach these young women about certain aspects of Tibetan society and Tibetan history in order to make sure that their educated about their culture because they might have some general ideas about these things from high school classes and elementary school, and so in that way it kind of gives them that background.

00:31:01 – Tsering Choedup: So, basically today what I’m going to talk about is the global Tibetan movement.

00:31:08 – Tsering Choedup: How, you know, Tibet organizations throughout the world they work together.

00:31:16 – Tsering Choedup: What we do is… ‘Uprising Day, long live Dalai Lama, Free Tibet!’ Okay, that’s what we say.

00:31:25 – Tsering Choedup:  Is it really strategic? It’s not. This is what we have been telling for the last 50 years.

00:31:31 – Tsering Choedup: And media people, ‘okay this is all crap.’ “Free Tibet, Dalai Lama, long life”

00:31:38 –Tsering Choedup: You know, they don’t want to listen to all these you know…

00:31:40 -Tsering Choedup: …whatever we do, we do it in solidarity of Tibetans inside Tibet.

00:31:45 – Tsering Choedup: What are their demands? What are their feelings? Right?

00:31:48 – Tsering Choedup: And we support that. Right?

00:31:50 – Tsering Choedup: And then we try to become voices for those voiceless Tibetans inside Tibet.

00:32:07 – Tenzin Khecheo: So my first time writing Tibetan in twelve years.

00:32:11 – Tenzin Khecheo: I don’t get to write, how do you write…

00:32:15 – Tenzin Khecheo: I don’t even know what I wrote.

00:32:18 – Tenzin Khecheo: No, don’t laugh at me.

00:32:22 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m learning a lot already. It’s just like the third or fourth day.

00:32:27 – Tenzin Khecheo: I wrote my name.

00:32:28 – Tenzin Khecheo: From here to here it says Tenzin,

00:32:32 – Tenzin Khecheo: And from here to here is says Khecheo.

00:32:36 – Tenzin Khecheo: What we learned about like Tibetan language, and how other people see language, and how we as Tibetan people see language. That, that never came to my mind, I thought we just looked at it the same way, you know, but like I guess us Tibetans we have like this different sense of looking at like, not only language, like how we perceive other people.

00:33:08 – Tenzin Khecheo: The Tibetan community in America, we’re kinds like separated, you know? Every family lives in different cities.

00:33:17 – Tenzin Khecheo: But like here, everyone’s together, its like a while new family, and they’re keeping their Tibetan identity alive, you know. And they’re like we’re Tibetan and we’re gonna stay together as one no matter what.

00:34:41 – Ngodup Dolma: Thank you so much for everything.

00:34:47 – Tenzin Khecheo: My grandparents are huge believers of Buddhism and they wake up early in the morning to do all the prayers and stuff.

00:34:55 – Tenzin Khecheo: Ever since I came to the United States you know, life just got hectic. We had to adjust to America and you know. Learning their culture.

00:35:04 – Tenzin Khecheo: My parents were always at work so you know, we never had the time to just you know, get up early in the morning and pray and… they don’t practice Buddhism as you know, my grandparents did.

00:35:16 – Tenzin Khecheo: My mom worries about it all the time like you know, oh, you guys speak more English than Tibetan when you’re at home. Don’t do that, like you know, what are you gonna teach your kids, and stuff like that. So I’m just still holding onto it because I know that it’s not a thing I can let go.

00:35:47 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m so happy that we’ve not been able to like let the competition get in the way you know? Cause you know how like American reality shows you know how they are. Just like all up on each other and like sabotaging each other. We haven’t had any of that, so, I’m really happy that we’ve been able to maintain this friendship like this, and I hope we do throughout the whole competition and, you know, for years to come maybe I’ll come back and we’ll get reunited and all that stuff.

00:36:13 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m the makeup and hair artist here (laughs.)

00:36:17 – Tenzin Khecheo: One night we stayed up night curling each others hair.

00:36:20 – Tenzin Khecheo: It’s like, there’s no, like between me and my roommate we’re like, oh I can’t let her see this, it’s for my competition.

00:36:29 –Tenzin Sangmo: We are like friends, came out for our holidays, getting a lesson.

00:36:40 – Tenzin Khecheo: Lobsang told us yesterday that in the morning we’re going to listen to His Holiness teaching.

00:36:47 – Tenzin Yangkyi: You think it’s Swiss?

00:36:52 –Tenzin Yangkyi:  Don’t put too much on. Yesterday you put too much.

00:36:55 – Tenzin Khecheo: It’s gonna be an exciting day.

00:36:58 – Tenzin Khecheo: You can’t even see it.

00:36:59 – Tenzin Yangkyi: Yes, I can. When I look in the mirror there is so much.

00:37:02 – Tenzin Khecheo: think it’s a blessing to begin the competition, the first round by listening to His Holiness teaching. I think it will give us more confidence.

00:37:12 – Chemi Lhazom: It will give more insporations and ideas if we get blesses by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

00:37:18 – Chemi Lhazom: Then our day will be going to be good and prosperous.

00:38:24 – Lobsang Wangyal: This year we went to meet Ama Adhe.

00:38:26 – Lobsang Wangyal: She is like the mother of all Tibetans.

00:38:28 – Lobsang Wangyal: Meeting her gives a feeling how Tibetans inside are feeling.

00:38:32 – Lobsang Wangyal:  That we are born in exile, we haven’t seen our own country.

00:38:35 – Lobsang Wangyal:  She reflects that. And what actually Free Tibet means.

00:38:39 – Tenzin Khecheo: Greetings, my name is Tenzin Khecheo. I’m from Minnesota.

00:38:43 – Ama Adhe: When I was 27, I was put in prison.

00:38:46 – Ama Adhe: The Chinese charged me with various crimes and I spent 27 years in prison.

00:38:55 – Ama Adhe: And I am here still alive.

00:38:59 – Ama Adhe: Isn’t it amazing.

00:39:02 – Ama Adhe: My life is coming closer to the end.

00:39:05 – Ama Adhe: Most of my companions have passed away.

00:39:11 – Ama Adhe: There were 300 women companions with me.

00:39:15 - Ama Adhe:  There were Lamas, Rinpoches, Geshi,

00:39:18 – Ama Adhe: Involved in political activities. Over 12,000 Tibetans were killed.

00:39:23 – Ama Adhe: Of the 300 women, only 4 survived. The rest all died of starvation.

00:39:36 – Ama Adhe: I tell you that seeing my women companions die,

00:39:41 – Ama Adhe: I, with all my faith in His Holiness recited Tara mantras.

00:39:46 – Ama Adhe:  I prayed to God for all those starving in the world,

00:39:50 – Ama Adhe: That my end had come to happen.

00:39:58 – Ama Adhe: And I survived with God’s kindness.

00:40:05 – Ama Adhe: His Holiness was moved by such suffering,

00:40:09 – Ama Adhe: And prayed for their rebirth in Tibet.

00:40:16 – Ama Adhe: I ate whatever was left over by the pigs. Only four of us survived.

00:40:21 – Tenzin Khecheo: Living in America you don’t really hear about this. Now that I’m here in India and its all Tibetan people, sometimes I’m just questioning if I’m really Tibetan or not because like there are all these other people who have done so much for their country. I don’t know, I just don’t feel like I’m doing enough.

00:41:11 – Worker: Well we’re at this beautiful location where the Swimsuit Round is going to start in a couple of hours.

00:41:18 – Worker: They just brought the wrong banner.

00:41:20 – Worker: They brought the banner for Talk and Talent Round.

00:41:22 – Worker: And I think they should have brought the banner for the Swimsuit Round, I think.

00:41:32 – Lobsang Wangyal: Swimsuit is judged mostly on her um, posture, skin, that is very important, skin, and uh, her confidence. These are the three main things.

00:41:42 – Lobsang Wangyal: These are the judges, of course. They judge. It’s not me.

00:41:49 – Lobsang Wangyal: Now you look at this boy, how much you give out of ten? You know? The looks, you know, the posture like this. Not many, you don’t have to think big. No, no, you look at me, oh, Lobsang has nice,  I will give him like you know, uh…

00:42:03 – Judge: Turn around (laughing.)

00:42:05 – Lobsang Wangyal: From behind I’ll get…

00:42:06 – Judge: We’re ready to give you a score for now.

00:42:07 – Lobsang Wangyal: From, from behind…

00:42:08 – Judge: Turn around.

00:42:09 – Lobsang Wangyal: From behind I’ll get ten out of ten. (Laughing.)

00:42:13 – Judge: Nine.

00:42:15 – Lobsang Wangyal: Nine point nine nine.

00:42:25 – Lobsang Wangyal: What I’m hoping is, people look at this uh, this swimsuit round you know, in a positive way. It’s more about women’s physical beauty, and the guts of the woman.

00:42:44 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m scared. I’m nervous.

00:42:49 – Tenzin Khecheo: Swimsuit Tibetan girl.

00:42:53 – Tenzin Khecheo: Hundreds of people watching. Controversy.

00:43:00 – Tenzin Khecheo: I have to pretend its just American people watching me and I’m just going to the beach or something.

00:43:08 – Tenzin Khecheo: I have to like, glow and be confident, you know.

00:43:19 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: Welcome to Miss Tibet Pageant 2011.

00:43:24 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: That’s more like it… I can’t hear anybody…

00:43:38 – Lobsang Sangay: Lobsang Wangyal actually asked me to,

00:43:41 – Lobsang Sangay:  Have some role. Advisory or some role.

00:43:45 – Lobsang Sangay: I told him I’m happy to play any role, except I have one reservation.

00:43:52 –Lobsang Sangay: That is the, what do you call, swimsuit contest.

00:44:00 – Lobsang Sangay:  If it is a mandatory requirement,

00:44:03 – Lobsang Sangay: Then perhaps, maybe, you can judge the requirement in a private setting and make it a private event.

00:44:12 –Lobsang Sangay: Especially you can see, even in the videotape, there is hesitation on their part.

00:44:25 – Tenzin Khecheo: You just have to take the best from the rest and try to make it your own.

00:44:51 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m happy that it’s, first one is over. I was really nervous but I think I did good.

00:45:00 – Tenzin Khecheo: That’s when like the Tibetan girl inside me hit, like oh my God, what about my Tibetan values? This is not right. Blah, blah, blah.

00:45:05 – Tenzin Khecheo: It was easy for me before I left to say, I don’t think that’s gonna worry me, but to actually be in that situation with all the Tibetan crowds watching you.

00:45:14 – Tenzin Khecheo: Some people say that its not the right way for a Tibetan woman to act and all that Buddhism related stuff. But, I mean, it is a beauty pageant too, so I think it adds a little spice to it.

00:45:29 – Lobsang Wangyal: I just have to laugh you know, do they actually know beauty, you know? Yeah. So if a woman comes in a, a how do you say, a swimwear, and if I go with my own lustful mind, who is at wrong? The girl or me?

00:45:46 – Lobsang Wangyal: I am going with my own negative lustful mind and I’m trying to criticize her? No.

00:45:57 – Tenzin Khecheo: Now that the swim round is over there’s just three more rounds to go.

00:46:02 – Tenzin Khecheo: We just found out that we’re doing the same song for our talent.

00:46:11 – Tenzin Khecheo: And its like the Bollywood hit item song of the year.

00:46:15 – Tenzin Khecheo: So, I understand why everyone wants to do it.

00:46:18 – Tenzin Khecheo: Now there is like a, oh now we are in a competition, now I need this crown.

00:46:46 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: Are you guys ready for the talent round?

00:47:31 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: Miss Tenzin Khecheo!

00:47:40 – Tenzin Khechoe: I talked to my mom about it and she said try to change it if I have time.

00:47:47 – Tenzin Khechoe: My mom says don’t make it too, you know, racy.

00:47:54 - Tenzin Khecheo: I might do Bollywood and then an American song.

00:47:58 – Tenzin Khecheo: It’s gonna make me stand out more.

00:48:24 – Tenzin Khecheo: The biggest obstacle standing in my way, the Talk Round…

00:48:38 – Tenzin Khecheo: This is part of the pageant that the crowd really shows up for.

00:48:49 - Doctor Tinzin Namdol:Good evening ladies and gentleman, special guests and honorable, blah. Good evening ladies and gentleman, special guests, honorable judges, and the wonderful people of Dharamsala.

00:49:06 – Chime Yangzom: Breathe…

00:48:08 –Chime Yangzom: Relax…

00:49:11 – Tenzin Khecheo: Okay.

00:49:26 – Dolma Tsering: I’m looking at the crowd again and again so that I’ll get used to it, you know.

00:49:33 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: Good evening everybody. This pageant was created as a way of empowering Tibetan women. Opening doors, and helping Tibetan women to have new experiences and excel in life.

00:49:49 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to bring on stage, the man behind the show. Mr. Lobsang Wangyal!

00:50:28 – Lobsang Wangyal: Good evening!

00:50:34 – Lobsang Wangyal:  Free Tibet!

00:50:37 – Lobsang Wangyal: FREE TIBET!

00:50 40 – Lobsang Wangyal: FREE TIBET!

00:50:52 – Tenzin Khecheo: Before when I thought about it, I just joined it because you know, I love being on stage.

00:50:58 – Tenzin Khecheo: I like all that attention and you know, the camera flashing at you and, before I though of Miss Tibet as like a pageant and then my uncle started explaining like, all the things you can do with it, and all the like, you know, support you can get from the media and how you can help the Tibetan people. Then my mind just started thinking, oh, this is not just a regular pageant, you know, I can actually do something for my country and, I’ve said before this is not a competition, but like, of course everyone wants the crown, you know.

00:51:24 – Tenzin Khecheo: I want it, a lot more.

00:51:41 – Lobsang Wangyal: Lots of choices you have, yah?

00:51:43 – Lobsang Wangyal: Here are the questions for the six girls.

00:51:46 – Lobsang Wangyal: And we are one hour away from the Talk Round.

00:51:51 – Lobsang Wangyal: So they get one hour to prepare.

00:51:53 – Lobsang Wangyal: Pick your topics.

00:52:02 – Tenzin Khecheo: His Holiness the Dalai Lama has relinquished his political following to the Tibetan –

00:52:06 - Tenzin Khecheo: …Tibetan polity. Tell us something about his life’s contribution to the Tibetan people, and the world in general.

00:52:27 – Tenzin Khecheo: I think up until now I’ve been okay because everything we’ve done has sort of been in my comfort zone.

00:52:35 – Tenzin Khecheo: But the talk round really scares me.

00:52:38 – Lobsang Wangyal: We are starting in five minutes! Thank you.

00:52:45 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m so afraid that everyone will just think that I’m some dumb American girl who doesn’t know anything about Tibet.

00:52:52 – Tenzin Khecheo: I just really want them all to see that I am really Tibetan and I really do care.

00:53:06 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: So in this Round, the Judges will give points on content, articulation, and confidence.

00:53:14 - Doctor Tinzin Namdol: These girls have just gotten the topic an hour before, and they have really been digging up their ideas and views.

00:53:22 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: So it’s not an easy task for them.

00:53:24 –Doctor Tinzin Namdol: We welcome the first contestant, of the Miss Pageant…2011

00:53:30 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: Miss Chemi Lhazom!

00:53:33 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: Ladies and gentlemen, please give a welcome!

00:53:37 – Chemi Lhazom: Entrusted in the Dharma promise of Buddha, calling on the Buddha name,

00:53:42 – Chemi Lhazom: I shall pass through the journey of life with strength and joy.

00:53:45 – Tenzin Sangmo: I think Tibetan intellectuals, writers, and singers,

00:43:49 – Tenzin Sangmo: They have become very important for our country, but looking at our current country’s situation.

00:53:54 – Tenzin Yangkyi: H.I.V. Aids is a global issue,

00:53:57 – Tenzin Yangkyi: But in our Tibetan community,

00:53:59 – Tenzin Yangkyi: I believe that it is something that each one of us should address with great urgency.

00:54:04 – Dolma Tsering: The Tibetan education is normally like, inside education,

00:54:09 – Dolma Tsering:  How we have a selfless love towards the other.

00:54:13 – Ngodup Dolma: The Tibetans are suffering under the Chinese rule.

00:54:15 – Ngodup Dolma: So my wish is, please, stand up together, and fight for freedom of Tibet. Thank you.

00:54:24 – Ngodup Dolma: Thank you, thank you.

00:54:27 – Doctor Tinzin Namdol: Miss Tenzin Khecheo

00:54:33 – Tenzin Khecheo: Good evening ladies and gentleman.

00:54:35 – Tenzin Khecheo: His Holiness the Dalai Lama he is the heart and sole. But to the outside world, he is a symbol of Tibet and our Nation, and the Tibetan people. His Holiness has devoted his life for the struggles of Tibetan people. He has spread the message the human rights and human value is very important no matter what race or culture you are from. And the world recognizes the struggle by awarding him with the noble peace prize award. And even though he is stepping down from his political powers, we as Tibetan people know that he will always be in the hearts no matter what happens. Thanks you.

00:55:16 – Tenzin Khecheo:  Now I’m not nervous at all. I’m cool.

00:55:20 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m cool like ice.

00:56:06 – Tenzin Khecheo: I guess the stereotype of women is just not for like Tibetan women, I think its for all women and, you know, Miss Tibet is something to break that, you know, just to stand up on that stage and say, you know I am a Tibetan woman and no, I don’t belong in the kitchen. You know, I belong on this platform where I can showcase my abilities and you know, do something for the Tibetan cause and, not to wear an apron and you know, be in the kitchen and bake cookies. That’s not me.

00:57:36 – Lobsang Wangyal: Ladies and gentleman, the most exciting moment is now coming.

00:57:42 – Lobsang Wangyal: The judges have done the difficult task of choosing the one, because there has to be one.

00:57:52 – Lobsang Wangyal: The second runner up of the Miss Tibet Pageant 2011, is, Miss Dolma Tsering!

00:58:21 – Lobsang Wangyal: And now, the first runner up is, ladies and gentleman, Miss Ngodup Dolma!

00:58:54 – Lobsang Wangyal: I would like to announce the winner of the Miss Tibet Pageant is!

00:59:06 – Lobsang Wangyal: And the winner is, Miss Tenzin Yangkyi!

01:00:07 – Tenzin Khecheo: All these thoughts that if I win like, I want to do this and that, just in that second it was just all gone.

01:00:14 – Tenzin Khecheo: Yeah, what’s done is done. I can’t go back and change it, so.

01:00:18 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m happy for Yangki for winning. Phew..

01:00:22 – Norah Shapiro: Are you disappointed?

01:00:24 – Tenzin Khecheo: Just a little. I thought I did good, but I guess it wasn’t enough.

01:00:44 – Tenzin Khecheo: This is the right path for Yangki, and I’m happy for her. So now I just have to find the right path for me and be happy with it.

01:00:53 – Tenzin Khecheo: Congrats!

01:01:25 – Chime Yangzom: I’m not upset for that she lost…

01:01:33 – Tenzin Khecheo: She um, she’s partly upset because I didn’t win but, also partly upset because she didn’t think it was fair how um, I don’t know. I don’t think it was fair either.

01:01:46 – Tenzin Khecheo: Like, you know how after they called the winner I was happy, I was clapping because I knew there was only gonna be one winner. At that time I thought it was fair.

01:01:53 – Tenzin Khecheo: Everyone at the house is not satisfied, and um, I’m hearing all the people in the crowd wasn’t happy either and, even the judges were shocked.

01:02:03 – Tenzin Khecheo: Okay, why were they shocked? They were the one that gave all the points. They should have known who the winner was before they even announced it.

01:02:09 – Tenzin Khecheo: So, I don’t know.

01:02:11 – Sister: She didn’t win, she’s still Miss Tibet to us.

01:02:15 – Chime Yangzom: I am proud… of… for her. She stand on the stage.

01:02:20 – Chime Yangzom: That’s enough for me.

01:02:51 – Dolma Tsering: Everyone was expecting Ngodup, me, and Khecheo to be the winner.

01:02:58 – Dolma Tsering: I don’t know Yngki how she came in first.

01:03:02 – Dolma Tsering: I don’t understand how she got it.

01:03:04 – Ngodup Dolma: What I hear from the audience is saying that someone checked the marks, and saying that she was not on the first, she was on the fourth.

01:03:12 – Dolma Tsering: Fourth list.

01:03:14 – Ngodup Dolma: From 4^th to 1^st, how it jumped, I don’t know.

01:03:34 – Ngodup Dolma: Can you show us now?

01:03:35 – Ngodup Dolma: We want to see the judging sheet, please.

01:03:38 – Ngodup Dolma: It would be nice. – Right now I don’t have anything to show.

01:03:40 – Ngodup Dolma: You had the right to give us the mark,

01:03:43 – Ngodup Dolma: And we have the right to know our marks, please.

01:03:43 – Lobsang Wangyal: Please somebody wanted to know.

01:03:46 – Lobsang Wangyal: Listen, I don’t have the judging sheet with me. That’s all.

01:03:52 – Ngodup Dolma: He said the judging sheet’s been lost. Someone stole it.

01:03:55 – Lobsang Wangyal: Someone stole it. Finished.

01:04:00 - Ngodup Dolma: Okay, all we want is, can you explain to us the assessment, in detail, please?

01:04:06 – Lobsang Wangyal: Judging sheet has the maximum.

01:04:09  – Lobsang Wangyal: Then the Photogenic. Okay.

01:04:11 – Lobsang Wangyal: Then also Grace Mark.

01:04:12 – Lobsang Wangyal: All of these together make, of course, Miss Tibet.

01:04:15 – Lobsang Wangyal: So I’m telling you, and because of that Yangki was the best.

01:04:18 – Lobsang Wangyal: And that is all.

01:04:20 – Lobsang Wangyal: Please, don’t forget your bags.

 01:04:21 – Ngodup Dolma: You are a fraud.

01:04:22 – Lobsang Wangyal: Yeah, yeah, I am.

01:04:38 – Lobsang Wangyal: The Photogenic is 25. The Judging Sheet, 50. Grace Mark, 25.

01:04:44 – Interviewer: So the Grace Mark, that’s the one that the staff sort of votes on?

01:04:48 – Lobsang Wangyal: Yeah, yeah.

01:04:49 – Interviewer: Did the girls know before hand about the Grace Mark?

01:04:50 – Lobsang Wangyal: No, no. No, no, no.

01:04:52 – Lobsang Wangyal: The judges only see one round.

01:04:54 – Lobsang Wangyal: And the chaperones see their personality, you know like, their real personality, like,

01:05:00 – Lobsang Wangyal: How they listen or how egotistical they are or whether they have it or not.

01:05:05 – Lobsang Wangyal: Or how they control it.

01:05:06 – Lobsang Wangyal: Like, there’s so many things. So these all come together and make the point.

01:05:11 – Lobsang Wangyal: No, we don’t tell how it is being done… the Grace Mark.

01:05:15 – Lobsang Wangyal: This has been doing all the time, all the time. We don’t tell the girls.

01:05:19 – Lobsang Wangyal: Because we want to see the original. Not the pretend… fake up… you know.

01:05:23 – Lobsang Wangyal: Yeah, we don’t, we don’t…

01:05:24 – Lobsang Wangyal: Now it’s becoming public so, I mean, from next time they will know, you know.

01:05:29 – Lobsang Wangyal: We got busted… by media people.

01:05:43 – Tenzin Khecheo: At first I was just like shocked, I was like, are you serious? Is this really true?

01:05:49 – Tenzin Khecheo: Its not a good feeling um, to find out you were betrayed.

01:05:56 – Tenzin Khecheo: What’s the point of being Miss Tibet if everything is set up?

01:06:02 – Tenzin Khecheo: I thought that Miss Tibet would be a great experience for me. I thought it would make me stronger. I thought, you know, all this, things just come to my head. Like, I kept replaying everything I did, on stage, and you know all the rounds and stuff.

01:06:25 – Tenzin Khecheo: Everything that I did…

01:06:35 – Tenzin Khecheo: And for us girls it meant everything because it gave us an opportunity to do something for our country.

01:06:44 – Tenzin Khecheo: I did a lot of thinking about it and I just knew that it, you know all this thinking it wasn’t gonna make everything better. Um, so, Even though I’m heart broken about the whole thing you know, not being fair um, I’m just glad that I went through that opportunity.

01:07:02 – Tenzin Khecheo: You know, to go to India and to go to Dharamsala. Um, to listen to His Holiness’s teachings about Buddhism. For meeting Ama Adhe. For making wonderful friends.

01:07:13 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m proud of how I did and I don’t care If the whole thing was fake or whatever, it’s just, you just, it’s just how you walk away and how you take away from the experience, so.

01:07:27 – Tenzin Khecheo: I’m just thinking about what I can do now, what I can do next for the future of Tibet.  And how I can help the Tibetan cause.

01:07:36 – Tenzin Khecheo: That’s gonna be my challenge for the next… or maybe the rest of my life. Yeah.