Dalai Lama at 90: Amid memories of a thump, a question — what next?

The end draws near for a presence that has been China's most constant headache for nearly seven decades.

- Ravi Velloor

It was 2008, and Beijing was all set to showcase its hosting of the Olympic Games, China's coming-out party as it were. With global attention focused on the country, Tibetan protesters resisting Chinese control of their region used the moment to raise awareness of their cause. By April, some 100 of them had died, many setting themselves on fire. Beijing was livid. The Dalai Lama, whose base has been the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala since shortly after fleeing Tibet in 1959 to escape the Chinese occupation of the region, was blamed for instigating the unrest. Then Premier Wen Jiabao denounced him as a "splittist".

To rebut the charges, His Holiness, who has generally been mindful of staying away from politics in deference to host nation India's diplomatic sensitivities, had called in the world media for a rare press conference.

In the press conference hall, I occupied a seat in the left corner of the front row, strategically next to the door through which I knew he would enter. Behind me, a British television journalist had set up her camera, the lens just above my right shoulder. She had warned me not to rise, lest I block her filming.

But how to not rise when such a presence approaches? As I watched His Holiness shuffle slowly down the corridor, I began to rise instinctively.

The woman behind put a restraining hand on my shoulder and I sat back. But six feet away from his presence, I couldn't control myself. I pushed myself upwards. This time, the woman behind me was rougher, thrusting me down even as I tried to resist.

His Holiness noticed this from a corner of his eye and paused. Then he turned and, face painted with a broad grin at my discomfiture, gave me a resounding thwack on the shoulder as a gesture of blessing, before walking to his seat.

For days after that, I walked around in a trance-like state; I've never before felt good at being physically struck.