Tattoos of Tibetan Refugees: April

April was born in Tibet, but came to India for school when he was only seven, he is alone in India, all of his family are still in Tibet.

On his neck, he has the word ‘Imagine.’ His favorite lyrics from Lennon’s classic song are:
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

He feels that a tattoo can show your personality, even if people are not looking directly at you.

April is not working now, but he was trained in the kitchen of a five star restaurant in the state of Punjab. At that time, his friend tattooed the Mona Lisa on his arm with a homemade tattoo machine, he felt he needed something pretty to look at, life at that time was hard, and as a Tibetan, he was a minority in the kitchen, and the brunt of many jokes.

In 2010, Tamding tattooed the dorjee on his arm to cover up the homemade tattoo. While April says Buddhism is ‘in his blood’ he was not aware of the full meaning of the dorjee (strength), until he asked Tamding about it as a tattoo design.