Why 'Miss Tibet' is moving from Mcleodganj to New York
The event has faced opposition from within the Tibetan community.
For the past 15 years, Mcleodganj in Himachal Pradesh had been hosting a beauty pageant, the Miss Tibet. The modest event continued since 2002, despite struggling to find funds, judges and even contestants. However, this year, facing stiff opposition from within the Tibetan community, especially for its swimsuit round, the pageant has been moved to New York.
The pageant’s website, which opened applications for this year’s event on January 1, also announced: “Happy New Year! I am happy to announce that Miss Tibet Pageant 2018 will be held in New York City. We have partnered with Engage Entertainment, who will be producing and directing the Pageant in June 2018.”
“We are looking forward to a spectacular show as we move from the small Himalayan village in McLeodganj to one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities.”
For four years, the crown was won uncontested by respective winners – in 2003, 2005, 2013 and 2014. Last year, it had nine contestants, a record number for it.
The pageant
The force behind Miss Tibet is Lobsang Wangyal, a photojournalist who “produces several events to showcase Tibetan culture”.
Miss Tibet is organised on the lines of international beauty pageants, and the winners have participated in events on global stages. However, Wangyal has struggled to find sponsors, as the Tibetan community frowns upon celebrating the beauty of the flesh, claiming that Buddhism is more about inner beauty.
Some also fear that the community, scattered across the world as refugees, needs to hold on to its religion and culture ever more fiercely and guard against aping western culture, lest they lose their identity.
China, too, has raised objections to representatives of Tibet participating in international events.
Last year, at the pageant’s finale in June, Wangyal had announced that “he would hand over the production to a new owner”. But failing to find a buyer, he has partnered with an entertainment company, Engage Entertainment, to host the pageant for one more year.
The Times of India quoted Wangyal as saying: “We can mark our presence and raise our voice through the platform of beauty by crowning Miss Tibet. I was struggling alone, but now I entered into a tie-up with an entertainment company with the help of a few Tibetan friends who don't want me to give up.”
The entertainment company is India-based Engage Entertainment, which, according to SunTibet, has “now expanded to New York in partnership with Sonam Wangdue and Lalit Bhatnagar. Sonam Wangdue is a well-known New-York-based Tibetan comedian and entertainer, and his partner Lalit has a background in events management.”
Carrying on despite objections
According to the pageant’s website, its objective is to encourage Tibetan women “to demonstrate the full range of their capabilities and interests”. It says: “It is important for Tibetans to be seen in the light of a full range of experiences in the world. There is a tendency for Tibetans to be only seen as a people that are in struggle against the Chinese, as a culture that is predominantly made up of Buddhist monks and nuns, as nomads who herd yaks. Or as people who are on pilgrimage to sacred sites or who live in caves in the mountains of Tibet.”
The small, humble event does manage to garner international media coverage, and even has a documentary shot about it. Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile premiered at the documentary film festival DOC at New York in 2014.
Beauty pageants are difficult to hold in a culture that frowns upon any kind of emphasis on external beauty. Tenzin Khecheo, an American-Tibet who had participated in the pageant in 2011, has been quoted as saying “Tibetan beauty isn't about outer beauty. It's about what's inside. It's unseemly to discuss outer beauty in Tibetan culture.”
Khecheo also said that though she was used to wearing swimsuits in America, she had suddenly realised it would be disapproved of in Dharamshala, and felt nervous. “At first, I wasn't nervous because [in America] I go to the beach all the time in the summer. No one comes up to me and says, 'You're Tibetan, you can't do that.' But when I got here, it hit me that a lot of Tibetan people were against it. I was afraid they would judge me,” she had said.
However, Wangyal, who has called himself the “Tibetan Donald Trump”, is defiant, insisting that the event instills confiedence among Tibetan women, gives the community new role models, and can make the Tibetan voice be heard at the international level.
The pageant website says: “Miss Tibet would be in an excellent position to speak about the Tibetan situation in international forums, drawing attention to the plight of the Tibetan people as well as the brilliance of the lifestyle and culture…As such, the Miss Tibet beauty pageant will bring Tibetan culture forward in time; it will provide a contemporary forum for Tibetan girls and women.”
While the ambitious goals will take time to be realised, the event, merely by existing, has demonstrated a lot and determination, and New York can be a great stage for this story of spunk.