27th September: After an accidental meeting with His Holiness in the Scottish Parliament in 2004, Reka Gawa, 39, launched the Himalaya Café in Edinburgh. He requested that she remain in Scotland in order to promote their culture. The café’s landlord is selling it, but Reka, who is now renting it, intends to buy it before it closes. The Dalai Lama’s spokesman told BBC Scotland that he was aware of the cafe’s efforts and hoped they might continue.
Reka was born and raised in Mussoorie, India, and came to Denmark at the age of thirteen. She relocated to Edinburgh when she was 22 and got a job at the Scottish Parliament. According to BBC, she said every morning, she served Presiding Officer George Reid coffee; and one day he asked whether she knew the Dalai Lama was coming that day and if she wanted to meet him because George knew she was Tibetan.
She was extremely pleased, happy, and nervous to meet his holiness in person because she had only seen him in images, she told her parents in India about that.
“I was waiting for him in the lobby when I saw him approaching, and my heart was racing, I was crying, and tears were streaming down my cheeks. Then all of a sudden he was there next to me, holding my hands and comforting me because I was sobbing, happy tears,” she said according to BBC.
She was asked where she was from and how long she had been in Scotland by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She said His Holiness said he wanted to give her some advice and that it was critical to promoting Tibetan culture, she promised him she would stay in Scotland as long as she could and that it would be her first priority. It was as though she were in a dream.
Reka has created a solid community at the café over the last 14 years, and there is a meditation room downstairs that anyone can use for free. The café’s building is up for sale because the landlord wants to retire. He had given her first refusal to buy the shop, according to Reka. She has taken out a bank loan and borrowed money from relatives and friends, but she still has to raise additional money before the end of the month. Reka said she’d be disappointed if she couldn’t save the cafe as It’s her life’s job, and she want to honor His Holiness’ commitment.
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