“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left.

As a boy, I hardly thought about them. I was in a new country, part of a community-in-exile the Dalai Lama had created in India. I lived in a school with hundreds of other Tibetan refugee children. But as I grew older I began to long for them. Today, we occasionally talk on the phone, and that has helped keep us together despite the distance. But long silences often fill our conversations. Over the years, our relationship has only grown more complex, more limited.

It is a relationship so many Tibetan refugees understand. These photos, all of Tibetans who have not seen their parents since coming to India, are my attempt to understand the ideas of family, home, belonging and nostalgia. Some of us cling to family artifacts, some cling to old photos. We learn not to cry as our mothers weep on the telephone, fearing we will make them feel even worse.

Across the years, and with so much distance, everything changes. Time heals many wounds, but also works in strange ways. Tsering Choephel, a Tibetan who left home 23 years ago, said he sometimes dreams of seeing his family again. Often, he mourns the fact that he barely misses them. “The great tragedy of my life is not being separated from my family, but being separated from the sensibility of missing them, after living without them for decades”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press

In this Saturday, September 27, 2014 photo, Tibetan monk Dorjee, 38, displays a photograph of his father, left, and himself, center, taken in Tibet, in Dharamsala, India. Dorjee said he held back his tears when he spoke with his parents on the phone after a separation period of 27 years. He exchanged a few words with his father but said his mother fainted on hearing his voice. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, October 29, 2014 photo, Tibetan exile Tsering Topgyal sits for a self-portrait in New Delhi, India. When he was 8 years old, Topgyal's parents paid a smuggler to take him across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. But 18 years later, he still does not know why they did it. He has not seen them since. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Sunday, September 28, 2014 photo, a young Tibetan exile Pema Lhamo, 8, fits herself into a box to enact her escape scene, in Dharmsala, India. Lhamo fled to India when she was 3 years old in a box and now lives with her grandmother. She is presently studying in a Tibetan Children's Village School. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Sunday, September 14, 2014 photo, a 27-year-old Tibetan boy, who did not want to disclose his identity, sits in his room in New Delhi, India. He escaped into India in 1992 and says the 22 years away from his family has made him strong and emotionless. His mother has grown old and conveys her yearning to meet him but he doubts whether he will get a visa. The Tibetan says he misses his parents when he watches family based dramas and movies. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Thursday, September 25, 2014 photo, exile Tibetan Tsering Choephel, 26, rests on concrete stairs in Dharmsala, India. Choephel left his home in Tibet 23 years ago. Sometimes, he dreams of seeing his family again. Often, he mourns the fact that he barely misses them. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, September 30, 2014 photo, Kalsang, 19, poses for a photo at a Tibetan college library near Dharmsala, India. She escaped from Tibet into India in 2004 and says she misses her parents more as she grows older. Kalsang is currently studying Buddhism and says it helps her understand the world and to be in control of her emotions. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, September 23, 2014 photo, Choenyi Dolkar, 29, wears beads that were given to her by her father when she escaped to India at the age of 8, in New Delhi, India. Dolkar says she could never dream of sending her child away to a distant place. She says the sight of mountains and mustard flowers in the countryside fills her with a strange nostalgia and longing for home. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Thursday, September 25, 2014 photo, Sonam Dolma, 75, poses for a photo near a prayer wheel in Dharamsala, India. Dolma escaped from Tibet in 1959 and made Dharmsala her home. She says she wishes to visit Tibet someday. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, September 30, 2014 photo, Tashi Dorjee 27, sits in a coffee shop in Dharmsala, India. He fled with his brother as a four-year-old in 1991. Dorjee says he missed his parents most when he was in school, especially when everyone went home for winter vacation as he had no home to go to. He says because of time and distance there is no attachment with family and parents. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, October 15, 2014 photo, coral and turquoise stones that belonged to Tsetan Kalsang's mother are held strung together in New Delhi, India. Kalsang escaped into India in 2004 with the help of her brother, who returned to Tibet after safely transporting her across the border into Nepal. Her mother died a few months later in Tibet and she received the stones as keepsake. Kalsang said she feels alone when she has to make crucial decisions and misses the support of family. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Saturday, September 27, 2014 photo, an Exile Tibetan nun Namdak Choeying, 44, prays in her room that she shares with two other nuns in Dharmsala, India. Back home in Tibet she aspired to be a fully ordained nun and escaped to India in 2006. Her five siblings and aged parents live in Tibet and she dreams about being reunited with them. Choeying said she immerses herself in prayers to keep her mind occupied. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Monday, June 30, 2014 photo, a car moves on a serpentine road past snow-capped peaks near Zoji La in Indian-Kashmir, India. Many Tibetans say that being in the mountains make them miss their homeland. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

This Tuesday, September 30, 2014 photo shows an envelope with Mandarin prints that profile a photography company in Lhasa, preserved by Tibetan exile Dolma Kyi, 21, after she received a letter from her family in it in New Delhi, India. Kyi escaped from Tibet in 2001 when she was around 8 years old. She says she missed her parents most while still in school and other students would have their parents visiting them. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Monday, August 18, 2014 photo, Gyalsten, 26, and his sister Kyipa pose in the dining hall of the Tibetan Youth Hostel in New Delhi, India. The duo escaped into India in 2006. Gyaltsen was given the responsibility of taking care of his younger sister. This, he says, has made him a better person. They are afraid that they may never see their parents again. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, October 15, 2014 photo, Kalsang Wangdue, 85, sits on a bed in his room in New Delhi, India. Wangdue says his father was a tax collector back in Tibet and he lived a good life. He escaped into India in 1959 leaving behind his wife and son. He revisited Tibet in 1993 where his wife and son pleaded he stay back but he returned to India. He says he feels lonely especially when he falls ill and sometimes wishes he remarried. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, October 28, 2014 photo, a portrait of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama hangs on a wall in a restaurant in New Delhi, India. Since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, tens and thousands of Tibetans have taken refuge in India, taking a weekslong walk to cross over the Himalayas from Tibet to India. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Friday, June 6, 2014 photo, Exile Tibetan Dorjee Tashi adjust the beret he calls “Che Guevera cap” as he poses for a photograph in front of a flag of Tibet in his room in New Delhi, India. Tashi had just returned from a protest rally when he received news of his father's death in a voice message stored on his phone. His one wish was to meet his father again and considers this unfulfilled wish as part of his karma. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Sunday, September 28, 2014 photo, Tibetan exile Thupten Kalsang lies on a couch at a tattoo studio in New Delhi, India. Being separated from his family for 23 years, Kalsang rarely thinks about his parents. He says his friends are his family as he has spent his entire life with them. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, July 30, 2014 photo, Tibetan exile Kalsang Tsering, 20, sits in his room in New Delhi, India. Tsering said he missed his family when he was ill and in hospital with nobody to care for him. He now rents a room from a woman who treats him like a son and says the feeling of being cared for is wonderful. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

This Saturday, October 11, 2014 photo shows a letter for Tibetan exile Tashi Norbu, 34, written by his brother in Tibet, in New Delhi, India. It reads “My dear brother Tashi, we hope you have been keeping well even in the times we have been apart. We were so happy when we spoke with you and your brother last time. We all are fine, including your father. You need not worry. Please respect and treat your aunt like your own mother. That is your father's greatest wish and mine as well”. Norbu escaped to India when he was 6. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, September 30, 2014 photo, an amulet containing a Buddha statue stands near scriptures in the home of Tibetan exile Sonam Gyaltsen, 44, near Dharamsala, India. Gyaltsen, who is now a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, carried the amulet with him as a family keepsake when he escaped into India in 1993. “There is technology that connects me to my family back home in Tibet now but I worry about their health”, he said. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

This Wednesday, October 15, 2014 photo shows a miniature statue of a white Tara that belongs to Tibetan exile Norzin Kyi, 24, in New Delhi, India. Kyi escaped into India in 2005 without the knowledge of her parents. A year later she met a monk from her hometown who gave her a phone number to contact them. Her parents cried when they heard her voice. Later That night, she cried herself to sleep. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, October 15, 2014 photo, Tibetan exile Tsering, only one name given, sits with his pet dog in his room in New Delhi, India. Tsering escaped to India in 1997 when he was around 6 years old. Tsering says his mother cries when they speak on the phone and it makes his heart feels empty for several days. She still tells him not to go swimming or go trekking alone. “For my mother I am still that six year old boy she sent away”, he said. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

In this Thursday, September 25, 2014 photo, Tibetan exile monk Lobsang Tenzin, 76, sits near prayer flags in Dharmsala, India. Tenzin lives in a home for the aged supported by the Tibetan government-in-exile. He fled Tibet in 2006 leaving his entire family behind. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)