Dalai Lama In His Elements

December 19th 2009

Gulbarga, Karnataka, India, 20 December 2009 (Deccan Herald) - The 14th Dalai Lama who has made India his home from the last five decades may have the image of being a serious spiritual and religious leader. But the sense of humour appears to be intrinsic in him. On ocassions, he was in his elements while pouring out the circumstantial sense of humour.

The Dalai Lama had a caution for the audience that they should not take his English language seriously. "Be careful of my English. It is very broken. It may carry some wrong meaning and message,:" the Dalai Lama set up a rider half way through his discourse sending the audience in to peels of laughter. However the audience were kind enough to him. "Those who do not understand my broken English please raise your hands," the international Buddhist celebrity asked the audience. Needless to say no hand was raised.

The discourse bagn with Kannada translation by Mr. Srinivas Murthy. However the translation was not smooth and was causing some irritation. At one point of time the dalai Lama spoke for about four minutes. An the translator dismissed it in just one sentence. The spiritual leader wondered asking 'Is it over?' when the trnaslator nodded affirmatively the Dalai Lama remarked 'Very fine!.'

The translator was sitting at a distance from the Dalai Lama who felt some uneasiness. The dalai Lama asked the trnslator to come to his sidesaying "You are my mouth and should translate effectively sitting by my side." The translation was however done away with half way through on the demand of the audience.

The Dalai Lama appeared to be transparent, He did want his discourses to be one sided. He gave an open invitation to the audience to ask questions. "Even if you want to argue on any point you are welcome," he quipped.

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