As Reuters correspondents in Delhi, my wife, Adrienne Farrell, and I met the Dalai Lama in November 1956, when he visited India for the celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the birth of the Buddha.
At a reception we introduced our four-month-old daughter, Paddy, to him, and she gave him a chrysanthemum. He signed a photograph of the meeting for us.
"We were amused then by the sophistication of the Tibetans with the Dalai Lama ... When we referred to the Dalai Lama as 'His Holiness', they replied: 'Oh, you mean the DL'."
In 1980, I visited the Potala, his famous palace overlooking Lhasa. The palace was empty but in a courtyard there were many Tibetans. I showed them the photo and they were overcome. Some bent and kissed it, with tears in their eyes.
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