Min tibetanska barndom i Zorgay - Life and Culture on the Tibetan ...

een my favorite.
"Son, we don't know why they criticize King Gesar. It
doesn't matter to us, right?" said Father, turning on our
television to watch his favorite TV series, 'Journey to the West'.
The way the actors <strong>and</strong> the actresses dressed made me
question my warm Tibetan boots. I, too, now thought they
looked strange <strong>and</strong> was embarrassed to wear them. Every time
Father told me to put them on, I thought of any possible excuse
to refuse. I was no longer afraid of cold <strong>and</strong> did not mind
stamping my feet to warm them. Wearing Tibetan boots was
now shameful. From that time onwards, I said goodbye to my
special Tibetan boots, which were seldom seen, except during
marriages when the bridegroom customarily wore them.
Changes were happening every second, <strong>and</strong> I was not the boy I
had been before.
Television strongly influenced me. When I sat with
Gr<strong>and</strong>mother in the sunshine, I told her about a film rather than
having her tell me stories as before. "Kondro, why watch films
all the time? From films you can't get food or clothes. The only
thing you can see is people killing <strong>and</strong> hurting one another,"
Gr<strong>and</strong>mother said, murmuring mani. She prayed under her
breath, "Three Jewels! May all sentient beings have a wonderful
life, may all be reborn <strong>and</strong> have a happy next life."
I then had no choice but to force myself to listen to
another 'boring' story from Gr<strong>and</strong>mother instead of going to
watch an interesting TV show.
We children no longer played house <strong>and</strong> family games
in the forest. We acted out what we saw in movies. We
pretended to know martial arts. Nosebleeds <strong>and</strong> external injuries
were hard to avoid when playing such games. Intimacy between
villagers decreased, for they watched TV whenever they had
free time rather than coming out of their homes to chat with
others as they used to.
Especially during the Tibetan New Year, nobody left
their homes to chat with others. We all stayed at home <strong>and</strong>
watched TV. We children used to come out to play together, but
the year that television <strong>and</strong> VCD players prevailed, no children
played outside. Poor families borrowed money from rich ones
to buy televisions, because their children pleaded for one.
Almost every family had a television, bringing powerful
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