India Is "PHAK-PAI-YUL" For Tibetans

It has been just few days that I have got a Tibetan colleague. This handsome, smart and intelligent man in his 20s - whom I will like to refer to as X - fled Tibet 17 years back (when he was a little boy), and since then has been settled in India. Some of his relatives also stay here, though his parents are still in Lhasa.

Apart from being a good colleague, X has also been a nice "discussion partner" for me. During lunch break or coffee breaks we discuss various interesting issues, like China's occupation of Tibet, Dalai Lama, China's hypocrisy about Communism, Indo-China relationship, sporadic freedom movements by some Tibetan groups in Tibet, Tibetan advocacy and campaign groups in India, etc.

Anyways, just yesterday (21st November, 2009) X told me an interesting thing, which I want to share with my readers.

I had just casually asked him how the Tibetans perceive India.

And what did he say?

He said that since ancient times Tibetans refer to India as - PHAK-PAI-YUL.

So what does that mean?

It means - The Country of Everything That Is Noble.