Contact is taking a holiday!

Many Tibetans in McLeod Ganj chose not to celebrate Losar this year as a sign of  solidarity with the 26 protesters who have self-immolated since 2009.
The Kalon Tripa (Tibetan prime minister) Lobsang Sangay, who along with fellow parliamentarians observed a fast on the first day of  Losar on February 22, issued a statement asking exiled Tibetans not to celebrate the festival.
However, many Tibetans had already decided to shun Losar after the largest pro-independence Tibetan NGO, the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) made an announcement asking them not to celebrate the New Year, last November.
Of the eight Tibetan people I spoke to in McLeod Ganj prior to Losar, only one planned to celebrate the New Year festival, traditionally the biggest in the Tibetan calendar, and even his celebrations were to be  low key.
Serkong Tulku, 28, said: ‘We will celebrate it, but we will not enjoy it like we usually do.
‘There will be no songs or dancing. We will say prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and gather our families in our homes. The TYC has also asked Tibetan people to donate the money they usually set aside for Losar celebrations to their local TYC branch to fund ‘future Free Tibet initiatives.’The TYC’s president, Tsewang Rigzin, said prior to Losar: ‘We have all seen what’s happening inside Tibet in the news, and there are reports that Tibetans inside Tibet will not be celebrating Losar.
‘We strongly believe that the precious sacrifices being made inside Tibet deserve this kind of recognition from us.
‘Losar is an annual activity, but we have to look at the greater picture, and remind ourselves why we are living in India as Tibetans.’
Tenzin Phuntsok Atisha, secretary for the Tibetan Central Administration’s (Tibetan government’s) Information and International Relations department, had also urged exiled Tibetans to observe Losar in ‘a very low key way.’
‘My opinion is that we do not encourage a big celebration,’ he said.
‘So many people are dying and so many people are self-immolating. It’s not according to our religion to encourage.