Opposite to what the name suggests, ‘Majnu ka Tila’ is a Tibetan camp, at a walking distance from the Dilli University and is a unique Tibetan refugee creation. ‘Majnu’ as per an Indian love tale, was a young lover who had to choose a tragic death when, because of the social restrictions back then, was not united with his love interest ‘Laila’. And ‘Tila’ in Hindi means ‘a favorite haunt’. Many unaware young couples actually think that ‘Majnu Ka Tila’ is a place which the MCD has allocated for love birds and they can happily spend some good time chirping there together.
None the less, people visiting the place in doubt too don’t come back disappointed since the place houses a Tibetan monastery, cyber cafes, eating joints, book shops, souvenir shops, etc. One can easily get their hands on some cool clothing from the eastern side of India. And that’s not it the place is a modernized version of heart of the Tibetan world Dharamshala.
It is a favorite place for people coming from Dharamshala or for them who plan to visit Dharamshala to acquire teachings of Lord Buddha and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. There are book stalls and pavement hawkers selling CD’s ranging from Tibetan pop songs to the teachings of Lord Buddha and the Tibetan culture.
Majnu Ka Tila has turned global with presence of crowds not only from the Dilli University but exited groups of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Taiwanese can also be spotted here along with the Americans and Europeans of different shades and sizes.
Majnu Ka Tila is certainly going up-scale. As a mark of its new repute, the place is bestowed with three new names, two officially and one unofficially. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has named the place Samyeling, and the chief minister of Dilli, Shiela Dixit, recently gave the place the name of Aruna Nagar. The MTV generation of Tibetan exiles refers to this place as MT.
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