India, July 11 -- My introduction to Tibet came via two cities, Delhi and Dehradun. I grew up in Allahabad, which didn't have a Tibetan presence. In the summer vacations, I'd come to Dehradun to visit my grandmother. Here, there were two Tibetan settlements - in Clement Town and in Rajpur. Like most mainland Indians, my first acquaintance with the community came via food and clothes. The Tibetan Market, which still exists, running along the city's green lung, the Parade Ground, was a smaller version of Bombay's Fashion Street.

My second brush came when I went to Delhi University in the 1990s. 'Free Tibet' t-shirts were all over Janpath. In those days, if you wanted to be cool, it was necessary to have a Free Tibet and a Jim Morrison t-sh...