Jyotsna George, Campaigns Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India (SFT)
Hi, my name is Jyotsna George. I’m 25 and I work at Students for a Free Tibet-India as the Campaigns Director.
HANNAH: Can you tell us about your early days, your upbringing and school?
JYOTSNA: I was born in North Delhi. I have a younger brother and we both went to boarding school Rishi Valley School (KFI) in South India, based on the philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti. School became my second home. It was a very small community, 400 students in 350 acres of land, we had a vegetable garden and used to go milk the cows, who were named after students!
The school is in a semi-arid region so there were always water shortages and we had competitions to see who could save the most water. Growing up in that environment made us constantly question what was happening around us, not just in our bubble of a boarding school but on the land, what people were facing. I think what really helped me as an individual was knowing early on that there are problems happening around me and that I am a part of that and I need to be doing something about it.
HANNAH: How did you first get involved with the Tibetan cause?
JYOTSNA: At university, studying Philosophy, I realised that Indian philosophies have a much larger component on practise and on actually trying to live it as your way of life than Western philosophies where it is more an idea or an abstraction. I immediately clicked with that eastern kind of philosophy and so I took an opportunity to come to Dharamshala for a month through a cultural programme organised by the Foundation for Universal Responsibility. It was a huge eye opener for me. I came to hear stories of Tibetans in exile for the first time and I was also volunteering at Students for a Free Tibet-India. This experience changed my life.
I went back to Delhi three weeks before school was due to reopen and spent every day doing research – everything I could lay my hands on. I went to one of the elite colleges of Delhi University and after the Dharamshala experience I came back and couldn’t sit in class because I just felt like it was pointless; what is the point of studying ideas and concepts when there is so much happening all around you? Tibet is one problem which I feel connected to but there are people all over the world who feel connected to so many other problems. And all social struggles are essentially about equality and justice, right?
HANNAH: What drew you to Students for a Free Tibet?
JYOTSNA: It was a combination of where I was in my life, at college, of feeling that this was a way I could channel my energy and be able to contribute something. I will be here as long as I need to be, as long as I feel I am being useful and contributing something meaningful.
I went to do my Masters in International Development in Paris and was involved with SFT France. I focused on China and Human Rights and wrote a short dissertation on Tibetan refugees in Paris. Once I finished my masters I decided to come back to Dharamshala and study the Tibetan language at the College for Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarah. I can now understand almost everything people say and even though I’m not confident speaking I can follow conversations. It has helped a lot because when I meet Tibetans a kind of wall breaks down and there is an instant kind of trust that builds up.
HANNAH: Why were you particularly drawn to the Tibetan cause?
JYOTSNA: With the Tibetans I meet and work with, the thing that is most striking for me is their hope. Of course there are other feelings of identity crisis, anxiety, desperation or just resignation. But what everyone has in common is hope, and an attitude that “this is not how I am going to be forever, I am not going to end like this. My situation and my people are not going to end in this way, something better is going to come”.
Jyotsna George, Campaigns Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India (SFT)
I am the only Indian in the office of a full time staff of eight, the rest are Tibetans. Because I speak Tibetan, sometimes I don’t feel that I am Indian or different, so it doesn’t really strike me that often. We would like to see more Indians working for SFT-India.
For a long time I had a guilt complex because Tibetans had been living in India for more than 50 years and I felt in a way that we as Indians had let them down. That was one of things that pushed me to learn the language and understand Tibetan culture a little more deeply. They have a very rich history and literature.
HANNAH: What’s your family’s reaction to your unconventional career path?
JYOTSNA: My family is extremely supportive. As parents they are concerned about my future, how I’ll make money, be secure and stable, take care of finances etc, as with any parent anywhere. And they are valid concerns as well. But you need time to figure things out and I think I have time on my side. They understand that and know that this is something really close to me that I am passionate about and they help me.
HANNAH: What inspires you personally?
JYOTSNA: Music is a huge inspiration, because I am drawn to positive energy in life. Genuine positive energy, and people who genuinely care about what they are doing no matter what it is. The easiest way to switch off from work is through music. I have been trying to learn guitar, but haven’t got very far!
HANNAH: What about “you” time? How do you relax?
JYOTSNA: For myself, my personal goal for the immediate future is to start doing yoga, and to find more time for myself. There is a stereotype of what an activist is: on the move, constantly involved and focused, doesn’t need sleep or exercise and who is not bound to any space and always on the move. But I believe self-care is really important. All of us here in the office are 100% here for Tibet, it always comes first, and it gets a bit difficult to say no.
Print
Email
