Forty-seven years ago around this time, Tawang was a ghost town. The Chinese had occupied Tawang, forcing its residents to flee. But on Saturday, the town was abuzz with life as it got ready to receive the 14th Dalai Lama. Everywhere the Indian tricolour fluttered along with the Tibet flag.

“The Indian flag is all over the town because this is India. And the Tibetan flag because His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the highest Tibetan spiritual leader, is coming,” says Guru Tulku Rinpoche, head of the Gaden Namgyal Lhatse, popularly known as the Tawang Monastery. The nearly 400-year-old monastery that overlooks the Tawang-Chu Valley in Arunachal Pradesh was where the Dalai Lama headed after he escaped from Tibet in the winter of 1959.

“He stayed here for a few days when he fled from Tibet 50 years ago. He was here three more times, the last being in 2003. But this time is special, in view of China’s unwarranted objections,” says Phupten Tenzin, a local Monpa tribal, who runs a souvenir shop.

In the town, the smell of paint follows you everywhere. Almost every house has got a fresh coat of paint while almost everyone has helped sweep the town. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu is personally supervising the preparations for the Dalai Lama’s four-day visit that begins on Sunday.

On Saturday, Khandu spent over an hour supervising work at the monastery where the Dalai Lama will be staying. “His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang has been pending for over a year now,” says Khandu. “He is coming here to bless the people. He was to be here last October but that visit had to be cancelled at the last moment,” he adds.

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