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Published: February 7th 2006
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lady Jain monk
The lady Jain monk, Nisha and Mitalie In Jodhpur I stayed at the Heaven guesthouse run by a lovely Jain lady, Nisha, and her family. She welcomes visitors with a smile and makes sure their travels run smoothly. She is enterprising and has built up her guesthouse over the last few years and now is planning to convert the ground floor into a German coffee shop. I was invited to go with the family to meet Nisha's inpiration, a lady Jain monk who lives in Beawar and has developed a charitable hospital for people in the area. The Jains respect the life of all living things and their monks wear masks so that they do not even breathe in small insect life. I found the lady monk to radiate a peace and kindness. She is 85 and has been living in austerity for most of her life whilest raising money to help others.
However the journey to meet her did not radiate peace - it was the most frightening drive I have done in India. The driver overtook everything, the horn on the car did not work (in India that is a calamity), we drove back even faster in the dark, and at one point Nisha's two
BlueCity
Jodhpur, the blue city year old nephew was driving the car! I also visited an ashram with Nisha where new born babies are taken in when abandoned by their mothers. They are then either raised by the orphanage or adopted by suitable families, again all this is supported by charitable donations.
I then took a night sleeper train to Delhi, dreading having to face the capital. However I found a mid-priced hotel to stay in (Hotel Presidency) where everything is new and clean and the owner helpful. I also found I could enjoy being in Delhi - so maybe I have adjusted at last to Indian life. I visited the Red Fort - another surprise as it is beautiful and peaceful inside. The red sandstone outer walls enclose gardens and marble Moghul palaces as well as the now disused army quarters. I next visited the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. I had to ask an English couple that I met if I could accompany them up to the top of the minaret as women are not allowed up alone! The views from the top were fabulous.
I have been travelling in India now for six weeks and I new my
red fort
Palaces inside the Red Fort, Delhi luck couldn't hold - I finally got a mild dose of Delhi belly - in Delhi! I postponed for a day travelling to Dharamsala, my next destination, as this involved an overnight bus trip. The bus journey when I made it was OK but this time the bus was only a semi-sleeper - reclining seats that only let you sleep half the time!
I arrived in Macload Ganj, Dharamsala in the early morning and admired the snow-dusted mountains above the town. I have wanted to come here and soak up the calming Tibetan Buddhist atmosphere for many years and possibly see the Dalai Lama, who I admire for his peace work, but I only acheived this by a swift fleeting glimpse as he drove away one morning. The mountains surrounding the town, the Tibetans and the temple are lovely, however, the streets are lined with the ubiquitous clothes and trinket shops. At least the shop keepers here are less pushy than in Rajasthan. It is also low season so there are only a few tourists about but I gather that it is no longer the peaceful haven it used to be. It is very cold at night but the
mosque
Jama Masjid mosque at sunset, Delhi days are warm and sunny like a warm spring.
Finding people to talk to is easy here. The Tibetans are keen to talk and I have had several requests to teach English but I do not want to stay that long. I also got chatting to a slightly crazy NRI (Non-resident Indian) who lives in New York but is here to write a semi-biographical book, however he also bought his golf clubs to Macload Ganj, where there is not a flat bit of ground within miles! I also joined a group of Italian and Spanish travellers one evening and we learned to cook the Tibetan delicacy of momos, a type of stuffed steamed dumpling.
I spent a happy day at Norbalinka, a Tibetan craft workshop, where I talked to the Tibetans creating traditional Thankha paintings. It was also a little oasis of calm and much more relaxing than Macload Ganj. For the first time on my trip I started to feel a bit aimless and trapped by all the tourist trappings that fill the streets near holy places. However I organised a guide to take me on a day trekking in the mountains. The hike was a gentle
thangka
Novice monk practising drawing for thangka painting 14km trip to a meadow overlooking the Himalayan foothills. There were only a few other people walking that day but each of us seemed to be accompanied by a friendly dog from the town below. When I got to the top it was cool and calm and quiet and refreshed my spirit to continue travelling.
I am now planning to move on. I would like to go into Kashmir, which the locals say is safe but the FCO recommend definitely not to visit because of frequent terrorist attacks. So maybe I will go south to the valleys near Simla. However the roads into these valleys are apparently hair-raising. More in the next blog....
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