The show was put together with zest for the Chinese guests. They came, all 125 of them, and sat for a viewing of Buddhism: A Spiritual Journey, produced by the Bihar Tourism Department.

The documentary started, but soon there was loud protest and the angry visitors began to leave the theatre, as the stunned and confused hosts tried to figure out why.

They quickly got to know: the show had started with a short footage of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, exiled in India since 1959.

As they herded out of the movie room, one of the delegates said: “We don’t accept Dalai Lama as our spiritual leader.”

The film show was specially organised for the delegation, which had reached Patna on Thursday after completing a pilgrimage of Buddhist sites in Bihar. Their India visit was jointly organised by China’s Buddhist Association and its Shanghai chapter.

The state tourism team was not short on enthusiasm to host the neighbours, but it certainly lacked discretion — and to make matters worse, there was not one senior state government official at the scene. So Junior-level staffs stood dazed and did not know what to do, or probably what all the fuss was about.

Language problem also came in the way. After much persuasion through an interpreter, the Chinese travellers calmed down, but refused to watch the rest of the movie.

When contacted today, state tourism secretary R S Tiwary told The Indian Express that the incident was “unintentional” and “unfortunate”.

... contd.