Each year, like a religious tradition, the winter season is welcomed by the arrival of tourists to Udaipur. Apart from these tourists, who are a part and parcel of Udaipur, another group of people of a specific community and nationality arrive under the same tradition and set up shop in the form of a large woolen clothes market at Samor Bagh, a historical venue between Gulab Bagh and the royal palace, ‘Ravala’.

The start to this seasonal trade commences the winter shopping at Udaipur and a very large number of people from all classes purchase woolen clothing and woolen accessories from this market. This group of people is the Tibetans and their market is popularly known as the ‘Tibetan Market’.

This cycle repeats every year as they come, settle as nomads, set up shop, sell their products and go back. But how many of us really know where they come from, what they do rest of the year and how they operate?

Tibetans comes to Udaipur every year for 120 days and return back to their home when the winter gets over. They have been coming to Udaipur way back from 1961, when they used to set up their shop anywhere on the roadside of the city as they found suitable.

These Tibetans, who indulge in this business, primarily are refugees, who live in Indian Territories, mainly in the hill stations located in the state of Himachal Pradesh and a few of them reside in Delhi and nearby areas.

Apart from winters, when they indulge in selling woolen clothing, the rest of the year they occupy themselves as handicraft manufacturers and carpet weavers. Till 1979 in Udaipur, these Tibetans used to place their shops outside the Ashoka and Picture Palace talkies subsequent to which they re-located to Chetak Circle and Town Hall link road in the year 1980. The administration allowed them specific areas within the Town Hall boundaries in 1990 and then they were shifted to Samor Bagh, where they have been comfortably operating for the last 17 years, the longest in any one place.

Over time, to promote more control and professionalism in their operations these refugees formed a group in 2006 known as the ‘Tibetan Refugee Trader’s Association’ which is headquartered in Delhi.

The Association manages various small sub-groups of merchants who not only come to Udaipur, but many smaller cities of India as well, to sell woolen clothes in winter and do other trades.

Karten Tsering (43) has been coming to Udaipur from the last 24 years; he is the leader of this sub-group which consists of 55 Tibetan families.

While talking to UT, Karten said “We don’t only come with the responsibility of 55 families but many hundreds of others who accompany us as helpers. These helpers are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and belong to very poor families.”

When asked from where they purchase goods, Karten said, “We give orders to small cottage industries located in Chandigarh and Ludhiana; we buy these goods from them after giving them half the price and the rest we pay them after returning back.”

Karten, a graduate from Punjab University told us in his fluent Hindi, “we are being frequently helped by Indian Government to run our businesses and we also pay all necessary taxes to the Government of India.”

Another trader, Rinthen (86) is one of the oldest in the group; he is accompanying the Udaipur group from the last 35 years. “Many traders of my age have either passed away or become too weak to travel such a distance. I am one of the most senior in our group” he said, smilingly.

These soft spoken and friendly Tibetans mix up easily with people and places, wherever they go. Many years have passed and through generations, Tibetans are now taken as a part of the mainstream society of Udaipur. Though they are not going to stay here for long but every year we all wait for their arrival.

Happy Winters!

Reporting by Sayeed Ahmed