His Holiness meets Yuvraj

Tensang is laidback, sitting with his legs up on the arms of a plastic chair. About 18, he lounges with three of his friends from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) on the porch of one of the many Tibetan restaurants lining the main drag of McLeodganj in Himachal Pradesh, home to thousands of Tibetan refugees, including their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Half a century ago the young Lama managed to escape the Chinese invasion of his homeland. Traversing difficult terrain on foot, he made it to the village of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh (McLeodganj is about five kilometres uphill), which went on to become the home of the Tibetan government in exile. Dharamsala is among the more popular global tourist hot spots, especially for those seeking vacations of the spiritual kind. This week, though, it is in the news for hosting a highly materialistic event - the IPL. Dharamsala is Kings XI Punjab's second home ground and two matches will be played here this season, placing it on the global cricketing map.

A thick, dark cloud hangs above the picturesque Dhauladhar mountains, which are covered by a thin veil of melting snow. I ask Tensang if he thinks it will rain. "No, no," comes the confident reply in a heavy American accent, popular among many young Tibetans.

I ask him who he will support in the first match. He says the Chargers are his favourite team. "I have a friend there," he says. It turns out Mitchell Marsh, the Chargers' young Australian allrounder, met Tensang when the TIPA group toured down under earlier this year as part of a cultural event. "He liked our performance there and last evening we met him over dinner," Tensang says. I ask him if he would watch the match were it not for this connection. "I don't think so," he says.

He isn't alone. On the day of the match, April 16, the HPCA stadium is packed, but the Tibetan presence is miniscule. It is not as if the Tibetans are not keen on sport; just that soccer and basketball rank higher. The ever-smiling monks themselves have little interest in the game.

Cricketers, though, are popular, even if many Tibetans are not sure exactly who's who. As the Chargers' players return after a special audience with the Dalai Lama, a group of Tibetan women start calling loudly, "Harbhajan Singh, Harbhajan Singh," as a blushing Harmeet Singh walks past them.

The IPL seems to have caught the imagination, however. About a thousand Tibetans have been hanging around at the Namgyal Monastery, the main Buddhist temple in McLeodganj, which also houses the Dalai Lama's abode, from the morning of the day of the players' visit. The maroon-robed monks, renowned for their zen-like calm, run around like excited kids, taking pictures of players and coaches from the Chargers and Kings XI Punjab teams. Lalit Modi makes an appearance, which generates a huge roar from the crowd. Many wonder where Preity Zinta is (she was reportedly set to appear in Tibetan garb).

A banner says "Tibetan community welcomes IPL to Dharamsala. 51 years of refuge. Thank you India," with a picture each of Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama.

I ask two groups of monks, male and female, who their favourite player is. The unanimous response is "Yuvi" [Yuvraj Singh].

The admiration seems to be mutual. For long, Yuvraj tells me the next day, he has been wanting to meet the Dalai Lama. "Five years ago I came here but I couldn't get a chance. But this time I was lucky and it was an honour to meet him."

Though Punjab lost to the Chargers in a one-sided contest, Yuvraj and his team-mates, along with Tom Moody, their coach, and the team owners seem a happy lot. Yuvraj asks his mother, who is also present, if she managed to get the Dalai Lama's blessings. She says she even got a good picture.

"It is very warm, gives a lot of calmness to the mind," Yuvraj says of the monastery. He isn't a player you'd accuse of having a spiritual side, but he says he found listening to the Dalai Lama inspiring. How did it help him as an athlete, for whom winning is the most important thing, I ask. He speaks about how wanting to win creates stress, which a constant. "We get so stressed up because every day we want to perform. Now I am thinking of doing the same, but with a calmer mind," he says.

The Dalai Lama, with his resplendent smile, is known for being a magnetic speaker, who makes sure he has his audience listening, participating and laughing along to his words. He seems to possess an incredible lightness of being that is captivating and awe-inspiring.

Yuvraj says he was at ease with the Lama immediately, and asked him a light-hearted question amidst the more routine moral and personal queries that everyone else was tossing up. "Everybody asks him about well-being and how can he get better, so I wanted to ask him what his favourite sport was," Yuvraj says smiling. "He said, nothing in particular, but that he played table tennis and even competed against the Chinese prime minister once."

The mood turns serious after the convoy of IPL celebrities pulls away down the crowded mountain road. The Lama continues his press conference, this time attempting to alert the world's media to the devastating earthquake in Tibet earlier this week. The Chinese claim only a few hundred Tibetans have died, but according to independent news reports from Tibet the figure is upwards of a thousand.

Despite the tragedy, the Dalai Lama will honour his commitment to attend Punjab's match with Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. Meanwhile, Tensang excitedly calls to inform that his group will be performing the traditional Tibetan Yak dance at the event.