A day before US Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives here, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said he was open to talks with Chinese premier Hu Jintao despite the tragic events of the past few days. “It’s still not too late,” he said even as the Tibetan Government-in-exile told the media that the crisis in Tibet had escalated with Chinese forces laying siege to a monastery besides arresting over 600 people.

But with a twinkle in his eye and a laugh on his lips, the Dalai Lama seemed intent upon dealing with the vexed issue of China with his gentle humour. In a free-wheeling interaction with the media for an unprecedented third time in five days, he welcomed British Premier Gordon Brown’s offer to intervene and said he was ready for any dialogue with Hu Jintao, the man behind the crackdown on the Buddhist monks in 1989. Outside his palace, Hu Jintao continued to be the favourite whipping boy of protesters who chanted, “Aloo poori tel mein, Hu Jintao jail mein.”

Conciliatory as ever, the Dalai Lama said it was still not too late to talk to China, although the solution to the Tibet issue lay in bilateral talks and not in mediation. “China always likes a direct interaction,” he said.

“I have no moral authority to ask young Tibetans involved in the peace march to the China border to stop or shut up...But I met them yesterday to warn them about the consequences of their action...Now I am waiting for their decision,” he said.

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