Since I’ve got a few hours until my flight, I was looking around the airport and saw these Tibetan Buddhists. This one in particular made me smile as he combined traditional dress with Nike trainers and an iPad!
I asked him if I could take his photo. So he put his iPad down to pose. I cheekily asked if he could hold his iPad!
After taking the photo, we proceeded to speak for 15 minutes. He became particularly animated when he learnt I was from London!
Although we spoke, we didn’t really understand each other. However there was a lot of goodwill and we hugged a few times. I did understand that he was on his way to puja with the Dalai Lama and that he was Tibetan/South Indian. He also flicked through the calendar on his iPad, showing me the Dalai Lama’s puja schedule!
As we shook hands whilst parting, he bowed and put his forehead on the back of my hand and, not knowing what this meant, I felt obliged to do the same! Fortunately our heads didn’t clash 😄