OPINION
Palden Sonam* is piqued by the phenomenon of candlelight vigils being held when the sun is still up, and therefore in broad daylight, and asks whether this does not dilute the effectiveness of holding the events.
Whoever coined the idiom ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ had clearly never experienced the monsoon in Dharamshala. To liken it to ‘cats and dogs’ is an insult not only to the rain but also to the denizens who endure the hill station’s (in)famous monsoon every year.
Once I heard the Tibetan poet and freedom activist Tenzin Tsundue, during an introduction to his poem ‘When It Rains in Dharamsala’, describing the torrentiality of Dharamsala monsoon rain with a more fitting analogy – to ‘bulls and buffaloes’, and sometimes ‘elephants’. As a piece of local wisdom, he also warned his audience not to rely on cheap Chinese umbrellas but only on those monsoon-ready, made-in-India umbrellas. Reading the aforementioned poem, one well gets the sense that the rain came down hard on him like an angry boxer throwing powerful punches on his tin roof until the deluge was able to squeeze a poem out of him in awe of its ferocity.
Almost a similar downpour had been raging on 2 August, threatening to wreck my plans for the day. It was 4:30 pm and I wanted to attend a candlelight vigil in honour of Tibet’s latest martyr, Lobga Rangzen, who had set himself on fire in front of the UN Headquarters in New York City, calling for Tibetan independence.
The vigil was scheduled at 5:30 pm, organised by the five major Tibetan NGOs of Dharamsala on the 30th day since Lobga’s self-immolation. It usually took me more than 30 minutes to reach Mcleod from my place. The rain showed no signs of relenting. My friend’s patience was running short and she asked me if we could call a taxi. I encouraged her to wait for sometime. Finally, around 5 pm, the rain stopped. We rode as fast as our old scooter could speed on the rain-battered roads, strewn with stones and sands of all shapes and colours. We just about made it on time.
We marched with our candles from Mcleod Ganj to Bhagsu Nag in what was – I couldn’t help but notice – broad daylight. The ‘light’ part of the candlelight vigil was hardly visible. What is the point of a candlelight vigil when the daylight is still too strong for the candlelight to be visible? Light is meant to dispel darkness. Needless to say, we turn on a light not to see through light itself but through darkness. Even this commonsense seems to have been lost somewhere. Trust me, this was not the first time that these organisations had held a candlelight vigil when it was far from dark. It happened several times, except probably during winter when it gets dark early. But in August around these parts, the sun sets around 7:30 pm and here we were lighting candles at 5:30 pm!
The question obviously arises – why so early? I know some people who work with the main organizations. They are not the kind of people who would organize a candlelight vigil just for the sake of it. I also don’t think that they lack the patience to wait for the day to get a little dark. After all, we don’t have vigils every day. They are held only when a situation demands it. The people organising them, the ones that I know at least, have been in the movement for many years and are doing their best. I have no moral authority to question their sincerity.
However, I don’t want this to prevent me from calling out when things go out of step with an activity as simple and common as a candlelight vigil –a form of protest or expression of solidarity in which even a blind or a wheelchair-bound person can join. I think the probable reason, (I don’t know the exact) for them to hold a candlelight vigil at the wrong time is that they have simply not thought about it. Most of us have grown up attending vigils and they are such a regular feature of the exile Tibetan community that sometimes we simply take them for granted. Therefore, I want to explain, after doing some reading too, the power and symbolism of a candlelight vigil. Most importantly, why hold it when it is dark.
In many cultures, including ours, light represents good as opposed to darkness. Hence, during a candlelight vigil, darkness is a necessary condition. As a form of peaceful protest, candlelight vigil symbolizes hope for freedom and justice in the darkness of repression and injustice. With many people coming together with candlelights, it also has the power to create a sense of unity and defiance. A candlelight is not as bright as, say, a smartphone torch, but it has more symbolic as well as spiritual power. It is an activity which, if carried out at the right moment and hour, can result in a moving exhibition of protest and solidarity. But if carried out at the wrong time, even a gathering of thousands will feel empty and scattered.
As a matter of fact, this Dharamsala practice of holding a candlelight vigil during daylight almost feels like sitting on a hunger strike while sipping protein shakes. It diminishes the symbolic value of candlelight vigil as a shining beacon of hope and, therefore, defeats its own purpose. Journalists, who come to cover a daylight candlelight vigil cannot even get a decent photograph or video footage. The visual power of a properly organised candlelight vigil is not confined to a single place and time frame. The poignant images and videoclips shared on different platforms have the power to resonate way beyond its immediate location long after its conclusion.
Therefore, I sincerely request all the prominent Tibetan NGOs and their leadership to hold the candlelight vigil at the appropriate time. I hope you will not dismiss this as an act of being (ཁ་བདེ་པོ།) Khadepo. Do also think from your side as well. You spend time and resources to organise an important event and it must be worth your efforts as well as the efforts of those who attend it. It is also your moral responsibility to ensure that a candlelight vigil is a candlelight vigil not only in your annual reports but also on the squares and the streets, and in the eyes of people. How we lead the movement, how we organise events, all this sets an example for the next generation, too. It is, therefore, imperative that we must keep the standard high in order for our national liberation to live long to a – Free Tibet.
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* Palden Sonam is an India-based independent political analyst researching on issues related to Tibet and Chinese domestic politics. He writes for international and national newspapers like The Diplomat, The Tribune, Taipei Times, Asian Times and others.