A call to the youth

Humourous Side

His Holiness the Dalai Lama spread the message of peace to the City and its youth stressing on the fact that Gen Y should stop and think and not take things for granted. He was speaking at the book launch and the inauguration of a collection of paintings by Puneeta Khatri at ITC Windsor on Monday.

The spiritual leader was youthful and full of humour as he addressed the gathering. “I am a 77-year-old and would like to say that I belong to the 21st century, but it is the youth of today who need to think before they act. They should not take anything for granted whether it is their education or anything else. The education system in India dates back to more than 1,000 years, it is very rich. I feel modern education is materialistic, if you look at the Constitution of India, it is secular in nature. It can be universal,” he said.

He might be a septuagenarian but his sense of humour could beat any young gun. Taking a jibe at a particular word in the novel, he spoke about the language youngsters use and the audience was in splits. He went on to say that humanity lacks a lot of things and oneness is one such thing. 

“Somewhere, we are lacking oneness and that is why all these issues of global warming. If we make a concerted effort, these things can be solved. Our goal should be to create a happy generation, we have an opportunity to create a better and happy century. A lot of our problems are our own doing,” he pointed out.

About the Tibetan freedom struggle, he said that since there has been a change in the rulership, he has become hopeful. “I am hopeful and we are ready to bring things to the table and talk. The new premier is liberal but we still need to give it some time and see how things work out,” he informed.

Emphasising on the need for calm and affection, he said, “All human beings grow from affection and we are all social animals. All of us have a seed of affection in us. Constant fear and mistrust results in loneliness and that brings forth anger.” 

Puneeta Khatri, the author of ‘Santa gets Bangalored’, said that she would consider herself lucky that the Dalai Lama decided to launch her book and inaugurate her paintings. “This is a fun-filled book, which has a collection of 15 short stories for children. The paintings have been inspired by a trip to Ladakh, where I saw the simple life that people there lead,” she said.DHNS