India, Aug. 12 -- Majnu Ka Tila, aka MT, is like a shrine to Dalai Lama. Photos bearing the Tibetan leader's face show up on the walls of cafes, bakeries, restaurants, hotel receptions, curio shops, street shacks, street walls, and even on electric poles. One stall is hawking Dalai Lama dolls.

The north Delhi enclave of Tibetan refugees also happens to be a long-time karma bhoomi for one of our fellow Indians. Sanker is MT's masseur-cum-ear cleaner.

This Sunday afternoon, the middle-aged gent is stationed outside MT's gate no. 5. He is sitting silently on a ramshackle bench, beside a local drunkard. "I have yet to receive the day's first customer," says Sanker. Dressed in a striped shirt and black pants, he could be mistaken for an offi...