“I was just six years old when my family left Tibet. We moved to the Phuntsokling Tibetan settlement in Odisha during the early 1960s,” says Dorjee Tseten, a vendor in the Tibetan Market near Police Barracks. It has been the go-to place in the city to get winter wear and blankets from the last four decades.
“I’ve picked up enough Telugu to do business without any assistance,” says LT Dorjee, one of the stall owners. He embraces his nickname, Apparao, given by the local vendors. Dorjee adds, “Over the last two decades I’ve seen the positive changes in the city. It is shown in the people’s peaceful nature and city’s cleanliness.” Each year about 50 Tibetans from Odisha visit the city to sell winter wear from October to January. Pema Yangdou, who has been coming to the city from the last 12 years, says, “Visakhapatnam is our second home.” She adds, “We have our meals at home and rarely get to explore the city due the hectic schedule.” In the remaining months, most of them head back to Odisha and work as farmers in Phuntsokling. But the business in Visakhapatnam is their main source of income. Tsering Dhondup says, “Since we are here to do business, leisure takes a back seat.” They set-up the shops from 8 am and close by 10 pm. According to Tsering, there are days when sales touch ₹15,000 and then there are days when not even a single sale is done. After a long day, Tsering likes to visit the beach. Once the sales season is over, they make a detour to Buddhist sites around the city like Bojjannakonda and Lingalakonda before getting back to life in Odisha.
The vendors recently celebrated the 29th anniversary of the conferment of Nobel Peace Prize to the 14th Dalai Lama on December 10.
