Tawang, Nov. 9: If it was politics that raised the curtain on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh yesterday, he kept completely away from it today. It was his message of peace and harmony all the way with Tawang practically shut until the afternoon.

From the morning, all roads up and down the hills led to a ground at the foot of the Tawang monastery where a packed crowd gathered to listen to the first of his “teachings” of the tour.

Schools, offices, shops and all other establishments were closed for the earlier part of the day as the people, dressed in traditional Tibetan clothes, filed past the colourfully decorated arches to attend the session under a sunny, blue sky.

If the people were a little disappointed yesterday that the Dalai Lama’s motorcade didn’t stop and he didn’t greet those flocking the roads, today, it was time for “puja”, as a young woman put it.

The people came from all over the town but also from other places around it; some had come from far-off places such as Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh.

For a district that has a tiny police force, the reinforcements from other places took care of the security.

At the ground where the Dalai Lama sat on a throne in a gompa, saying the prayers and teaching the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism for three hours, young volunteers of the Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society shepherded the people into enclosures marked for them.

“For the people, he is god and getting a chance to see and hear him is a blessing in itself,” said the former member of Parliament from Tawang, Kiran Rijiju.

Chief minister Dorjee Khandu, however, seemed a trifle anxious to ensure that politics did not take centre stage today. As the Dalai Lama walked out after opening a new hospital, Khandu saw to it that the media did not get too close to him.

Before the teaching session, the Dalai Lama blessed thousands of saplings which were then distributed to the people.

It was much more than a symbolic gesture. The mountains around here are rather bare with generations of people felling trees for firewood. “Since these saplings have been blessed by His Holiness, the people will do everything to grow and protect them,” a government official said.