Where is Norbulinka? 14:30

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If before I got acquainted with Indian math, now I started learning Indian logic, though I'm still clueless about it. I think alot of it has to do with the language barrier. I still don't know why people say everyone here knows English - most my conversations with locals are conducted with me talking in English and them answering in Hindi, or something in English which is completely irrelevant to what I asked (for example the conversation in the title). Somehow usually we still manage to understand each other, but when we don't it can be quite frustrating.
I guess it also has to do with a different way of looking at life. Dave (a guy from NZ I'm traveling with) and I took a train from Amritsar to Haridwar and for some reason assumed that sleeper car S3 would be located between the cars labeled S2 and S4 (that specific car was unlabeled). We were just getting settled in our seats when someone came and said this was S9, that at Amritsar they switch S3 to be S9. Someone else claimed it was S3, so we waited till they'd settle the argument. After awhile we became convinced this was indeed S9, and asked where S3 was. One person pointed left and said we had to continue to the last car. We asked another person (an official porter, who was supposed to know these things) and he pointed right and said we should count cars until we got to the right one. The train was already supposed to leave and we didn't want it to leave without us, so we started walking inside the train. S8, S7, S6 (in each car we asked people to verify we were in the car we thought we were) and then we got stuck. The next door was locked. Again we asked someone, and another (every person telling us the opposite of what the previous said) and I was beginning to think S3 didn't actually exist. Finally we found someone who sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He again pointed us left, and told us we had to walk outside the train. He even walked with us, to make sure we got there. We started walking, ready to jump on a random car if the train started moving, but then we reached a general car, not a sleeper one. He insisted we should continue, until we found S1 (after which, surprisingly, came S2 and then S3).
That's pretty much a classic Indian story - having the cars switched suddenly on the way, and having them in more or less random order, but for me it was the first time I really encountered Indian logic.

As for where I am... I stayed in Mcleod Ganj a couple of days, but since there were no courses (and it was getting quite cold) I decided to do a couple of day trips (Triund, Norbulinka) and eat Bhagsu cake (which is actually Australian) and then leave. On the way to Norbulinka (an institute where they teach the Tibetans different crafts) I stopped in Dharamshala to check whether they had the rabies vaccine I needed. Since Mcleod is a relatively clean and western place and the guy in the tourist info said it was the best hospital in the area, I was expecting a hospital similar to what they had in Pokhara. Boy was I wrong. The hospital was packed with sick local people and it was dark and dirty and smelled strongly of a toilet (an Indian one). I didn't see any rats, but I'm pretty sure they had some living there. I told myself that if this is what Indian hospitals look like, I should probably skip the last vaccine. Nevertheless, I asked in the reception whether they had the specific vaccine I needed. The only person who spoke English there told me they didn't have vaccines, but I could cross the street to Baba's pharmacy. I decided that getting a vaccine from a pharmacy in a city with daily power-outs, in a country with no drug regulation and then getting it injected in a dirty hospital might not be a good idea. I'd check another hospital in Amritsar and if it were the same I'd just stick with 4 out of the 5 injections I needed.

Two days later I set off to Amritsar with Dave. The Golden Temple was lovely. I wasn't sure at first whether it would be worth it to go all the way over to Amritsar just to see a temple, but it definitely was. It's not just beautiful, there's a special feeling to the place. The Sikhs, especially the ones who work at the temple are very different from the other Indians. They seem to be more generous and less pushy. And there's a holy feeling to the place. True, it smells strongly of wet feet (that specific smell you have at the side of a pool), but the combination of sleeping where all the pilgrims sleep, eating a free meal with them and walking around with bare feet and my head covered made me feel like I was in a holy place. Something about the place just felt compltely calm.
The most special experience was when we entered one of the buildings and saw people sitting on a high wooden stage painting the ceiling. We asked whether we could take a picture of them and they invited us up. We watched up close how they painted the floral design with tiny brushes. Painting one part of ceiling (it was divided into squares) takes 6 people 6 months! Then we sat with them and drank chai out of bowls, trying to ask them about their work (one person has been working there his whole life, and his father works there as well), but not really succeeding because they didn't know enough English and we definitely didn't know enough Hindi.
The city itself also surprised us since we were expecting quite a terrible city and it was quite nice and clean (they have trash cans!). And the best thing about it was the hospital. Dave's guide listed a number of decent hospitals and I called one of them. It took 4 phone calls, but in the end a doctor told me they had the vaccine and that I should come (luckily I called at the right time - they're only open 11-14). This hospital was almost the opposite of the previous one - it was quite empty (it's private), they conduct neurosurgery there, it smelled of fresh paint and there were a number of people who spoke English. The doctor was great, and the shot didn't even hurt (I guess the previous ones hurt as much as they did because the nurses were students, not because rabies shots are really more painful). So I'm finally free! I'm still a little scared of monkeys (I don't dare take pictures of them, though there are so many of them and they're still cute), but at least I'm done with the shots!
We tried to make it to the closing of the border between India and Pakistan, but we got there just at the end. It seems like you can't really see anything anyhow, because when we left they were playing videos of the ceremony and everyone was crowding around to watch. It's definitely a ridiculous ceremony, it's too bad we missed it, but getting the last vaccine was worth missing the ceremony. And that's it - we left for Rishikesh.

Every place I've been so far people have told me that it wasn't like real India (except for the small villages on the way), so maybe I still have a shock ahead of me, but so far it's really surprised me. True, people can be annoying and some areas smell terrible, but people can be very nice and helpful and so far most places haven't been as dirty as I was expecting. And the best thing is that it's so much easier to take pictures here than in South America! People love being photographed, I think it makes them feel like Bolywood stars or something.

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