San Francisco, July 6-7: Attired in best of their dresses including many in traditional garb (Chuba), and bringing best of the dishes saved for the day, Tibetans and non-Tibetans of all ages thronged the good old festivity spot, the Berkeley Marina, and celebrated the morning part of the glorious 72nd birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama with great pomp and piety.

With sunny morning on a coastal area, only the snow peaked mountains, which adorn the landscape of Tibet, were missing that would have otherwise taken the spirits of Bay Area Tibetans to the highlands of their long departed homeland.

Nevertheless, spirits were high and the mood of celebration prevailed all through the day. People lined up and waited for their turn to offer the ceremonial scarves (Khatas) and prostrate in front of the smiling portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that was placed on a decorated altar throne.

Tibetan monks chanting the long life prayer for His Holiness the Dalai Lama amidst chirping birds of the Bay sent a unique wave of peace into the Pacific Ocean and mellow smell of burning incense drifting in the air seems laden with message of peace and harmony and is ready to be blown away by wind far and wide.

The morning part of the celebration ardently ran late into the afternoon with people still full of energy for the evening program that was held at a place couple of miles away from the picnic spot.

The guests for the evening included Ms Maha Ibrahim, special aide to the US Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Ms Mergerie Farar, special aide to US Congressman Tom Lantos, Berkeley City Council member Mr Kriss Worthington and many other senior former CTA officials, revered monks and general public.

Ms Maha Ibrahim read a letter of felicitation on behalf of Congresswoman Barbara Lee (Representative 9th District- California) in which the Congresswoman was quoted showering commendable tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and wished Him a very happy birthday.

“His Holiness is the living apostle of peace and we wish him good luck in all his endeavours,” said Ms Margerie Farar.

Council Member Kriss Worthington was the usual self, full of praise for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community.

The president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California (TANC), Mr Tenzin Tsephel, after a wholehearted good wish to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a countless returns of the glorious day and leadership, thanked all those present for making the whole day and the evening a great celebratory success. He also honored the Mount Everest campaign heroes from the Bay Area, Shannon Service and Laurel Mac Sutherlin and presented them with recognition awards.

Filled to the brim, the First Congregational Church of Oakland where the evening program was organized, saw the enthralling traditional Tibetan song and dance performance by our own Semshook Punda, the Bay Area based Tibetan performing arts group founded in year 2001.

A very informative piece of digital presentation was made the team from the Tibetan Culture Center of Northern California. The centre led by Mr Kelsang Aukatsang asked the community members to support and contribute more in preserving the rich cultural heritage of Tibet. The team also presented the first Betsy Gordon Foundation Scholarship to 16 deserving Bay Area Tibetan students.

Apart from that, the taste of the scrumptious dinner prepared by the TANC team made the attendees longing for more.

When asked how she felt, a young guest of the evening demanded more than one Trung-Kar a year.

To know more about Tibetan Association of Northern California, visit: www.tanc.org

Based on report by Tsering Gyurmey, General Secretary of TANC,