How I Look in This Tibetan Garb?



Now that I am wearing Tibetan attire, strangely I am more concerned with being intrusive. At least before, people saw me as I was but when they heard me speaking Tibetan and reciting mantras and prayers, they would embrace me in.

But now, I have to worry about a subtler form of intrusion because by wearing as Tibetans, I am purporting to be one of them, and if I am not careful, would I end up insulting them? I don't want to be like some Han Chinese tourists who wear flamboyant costumes for photography's sake, which are more Tibetan than Tibetan so which is not Tibetan.

That is why when my Tibetan teacher told me that the shirt and robe I was wearing was rare among young people, who wore them mostly in festivals, I was terrified. I wanted to be more invisible, not the other way around. I only felt better after I had learned to tie the robe around my waist in a casual way.

The most invisible moment for me is of course dancing every afternoon on the public square. I have known enough basics that I am now indivisible from the group dynamics.

But now that I have wore this attire for a few days, it seems funny that I was so nervous about following costumes, or being invisible. Now I wear my Tibetan outfit when I want it, how I want it. It is perhaps the good sign that I feel truly comfortable in Tibet, enough to make personal choices and play with what used to be exclusively Tibetan.

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