After 15 years of meeting his father in a strange land, Mr. Nguyen The Minh (35 years old, Hanoi) is filled with indescribable emotions in his heart. Born in Vietnam but raised in Germany, his life has been divided since childhood: his parents no longer live together, his father decided to go to reform and lost contact with his paternal family.
His father is currently hiding in Dharamsala, a small town in the Himalaya Mountains of Himachal Pradesh state, India. Every year, this place attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims, visitors and visitors to Dhat Lai Lat Ma.
Mr. Minh confided: "I have lived in Germany all my life, only knowing how to work and save. I lived like a machine, didn't know who I was, and couldn't feel life. That is why I decided to return to Vietnam to discover my roots, to reconnect with my family.
And that includes finding the father who has been missing for more than 15 years. This is a journey that I myself do not want to rush, although I know that traveling to meet my father is truly a challenging journey."
He booked a plane ticket to India on June 8. According to the original plan, he flew from Hanoi to Delhi, then took a trip to Dharamsala to meet his father. The first flight went smoothly, but the flight from Delhi to Dharamsala was repeatedly delayed.
The next afternoon, the new airline officially announced the cancellation of the flight. Fatigue from waiting at the airport, Mr. Minh has not received any support from the airline.
After that, he decided to book a hotel room near the airport for $50/night to rest and wait for the next flight. However, just turned his back on him, he received an important notice from his father about meeting Duc Dat Lai Lat Ma at 9am the next morning.
"I returned to the hotel room and accepted to lose all the money; then, I walked to the airport in the sunny weather to 50 degrees Celsius, gave up my flight ticket the next day and took a taxi to go 1 hour to the Chinese neighborhood as my father told me. Luckily, I found a small travel agency, bought a bus ticket for me at 8pm to go all night to the mountain," Mr. Minh recalled.
After 11 hours of sitting in a cramped car, that night, perhaps, for Mr. Minh, was long. However, at 7:30 a.m., the car arrived on schedule. He has met his father again.
For 15 years apart, he and his father have only contacted each other through about 3 or 4 emails. Minh's father has been a monk since he was a child, so there is a lack of empathy and understanding between him and his children.
He expressed: "Previously, my father monked at a pagoda in Germany, so during the summer vacation, I still had the opportunity to meet him every year. When I was about 18 or 19 years old, my father decided to go to India. My father devoted all his heart and time to practicing Buddhism while I was too young, busy with studying and working; therefore, the gap between father and daughter gradually grew."
"In my heart, I really wanted to hug him and call him "father", but out of respect for the monastic path he had chosen, I did not do so. For that reason, I don't show my emotions through tears, at least not outwardly," he added.
In the next few days, Mr. Minh will stay in Dharamsala to experience daily life with his father. His father planned to take his son to Tso Pema, also known as Sen Tso Pema or Rewalsar Lake. This is a sacred place for Buddhists, Indian Buddhists and Sikhs - they believe that the reef islands floating in the lake can be moved by prayers or light winds.
