1964 Patan, Nepal

Ngawang Chodon

1940

Patan, Nepal

Interviewed on Feb 6th, 2022

By Tenzin Kunsel

(Translated from Tibetan)

I vaguely remember the first movie that I saw. I think it was called Sangam. It was a newly released Bollywood movie at that time. A lot of people were talking about how good it was. There were these two pretty girls who lived in the house across from us. They were the daughters of the Laures and had been talking about how great the movie was. At that time, my sister was married and I had come to visit her. I only had one older sister. After hearing about the popularity of the movie, my sister insisted that we go watch it. We were in our twenties. The movie hall was called Ashok hall and it was in Patan [modern day Lalitpur]. 

It was a summer day. The movie hall wasn’t far away from my sister’s house. It was just about a 15 minute walk down the road. That day we had worn our Chupas [traditional Tibetan clothing], eaten lunch and had started walking at around noon. I had decided not to wear my nun clothing. The hall was so big and pretty. I don’t remember it quite well but the hall might have been three storeys tall. It was newly built and yellow in color. There was a ticket counter outside where people were queued in a very long line. We had to get our tickets before going in, so my sister decided to stay in line to get them. There were also vendors outside selling roasted peanuts. We decided to buy peanuts from one of the men who were selling them so that we could eat them while watching the movie. 

(Ashok Hall in Patan)

After getting our tickets, we walked into the hall. The tickets were made of paper and were about the size of my hand. There were ushers in the hall to assist us and show us our seats. We didn’t have seat numbers so we could sit anywhere. My sister and I decided to sit in the balcony of the hall. We walked up the stairs and settled down in the front around the middle section of the balcony. There were a lot of people watching the movie in front of us. I don’t remember if there were any people in the back. The people who watched the movie with us were the local Newars. I saw no Brahmins or Chhetris in the seats. My sister and I were the only Tibetans in the hall. Most of the people watching were young like us. The women were wearing kurtas and saris and the men were wearing pants and coats.

I don’t remember much of the movie plot other than a hero and a heroine falling in love. The heroine was fair-skinned and really pretty. I remember the song called Jindagi. That scene had the hero playing an instrument and dancing. You know, one of those instruments that you hit on the sides. The instrument was large and he held it in his hand. Honestly, I don’t remember much of the movie. You watch a movie, get emotional and then forget about it. I didn’t understand much of the movie because it was in Hindi. I only understood a little Hindi back then. I remember that the roasted peanuts were really delicious. The hall was quiet and immersed in watching the movie. We went back home after the movie ended.

Later, I would go back to my monastery in Kalimpong, India, where I would watch Tibetan documentaries that I could understand. My sister’s husband would occasionally come to pick me up so that I could meet her in Nepal. That was when we had gone to watch the movies together. We had gotten separated when escaping from Tibet after the Chinese Occupation. Back then, women who were married to foreign nationals could leave Tibet and get foreign citizenship. So, my sister had settled in Nepal after marrying a Nepali man and I decided to escape to India and become a nun.