Namaste

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July 15

While riding our small travel bus 9 hours from Amistar to Dharmsala mom and i discovered 556 different poses to squeeze and squish and mash our bodies into our seat (with out kicking the people in front or to the side of us...mostly in any case). Mom made the trip pretty embarrassing by interviewing the guy next to us for 6 of the 9 hours non stop. As always we had an adventure at meal time. These seem to be what the waiters believe are the rules of the game: People order for other people, change their minds so the kitchen shouldn't make some of the orders, surprises are always fun, eating should be an educational opportunity so serve the tourists things they never dreamed of eating, or ordering, hot things should be cold and vice versa, hot has many meanings (spicy, temperature, attractive) and they seem to volley these interpretations around randomly. And of course key to it all is to serve lots of different empty plates in order to get their appetites going so when they do get their food an hour later, they’re simply grateful.

Mom thinks she’s finally arrived.

Women ride side saddle in their beautiful saris holding on to the air as they wiz around hairpin turns on motorcycles on the Himalayan highways. And the smell of curry is everywhere.

Dharmsala means “Pilgrim’s rest-house” and is the home of his Holiness, the Dalai Lama since 1960. McLeod Ganj is still a hippie haven and we are staying in the next generation town, “Bhagsu” - way up the hill!

July 16

Tasha Delay! We’re in mini Tibet! Our first stop was down the hill to his Holiness’ house. We spun the prayer wheel for good karma and chanted. Then we had breakfast, and learned a new card game from two Tibetan girls. They mentioned they were waiting for someone who we assumed was their brother, but turned out to be the Dalai Lama returning home from a 3 week trip. So we, along with all the other Tibetans and Monks in the town crowded together in front of his house and held our breath as we watched his car drive by. It was moving to see how much it meant to them to get a glimpse of the car their hero was in, as he rarely appears in public in Dharmsala and the security surrounding his movements is top secret.

Norbulinka is a school for training students in the traditional Tibetan crafts. It was very beautiful and very much different since mom was there way back when. During lunch we were serenaded by a young boy who sang to the click clacking of two rocks. Lunch segued into shopping and just as I finally though I could drag mom away, she started chatting up two university students from the UK and next thing I knew we were each giving Monks conversation classes in English!
My (Sasha) group comprised of four Tibetan Monks. They had each walked to India via Nepal from Tibet either alone, or with younger siblings when they were only children themselves. Simply the introductions left me feeling partly speechless and extremely humbled to be able to talk to them about their lives.

July 17

At dawn we walked up to a waterfall with the goats guiding us. We made friends with some women who were machete-ing the tall grasses on the side of the mountain to feed to their cattle and were stopped for “snaps” by some Indian boys who ironically thought I was exotic. We made puja (a prayer) at the temple dedicated to Shiva who is the destroyer and creator. He is represented by snakes, Nandi the bull (power and potency) and brings justice through moral order. The Lingam (the phallic) symbolizes Shiva. So, hoping to incur some good karma points, we made an offering, The priest then dabbed our foreheads with a saffron colored paint and gave us some white candies. However, we did not know they were candies, nor have any clue what we were supposed to do with them. So there we stood, ever so respectful, paralyzed with our ignorance of what to do next. After trying to toss it into various bowls that reverberated loudly, distracting a nice man who was trying to pray, he told us that we were just supposed to eat it and leave.

Another 11 hours in the bus and we arrived in Shimla, the summer hill station capital. The whole city seems to be built vertically so it is a long, STEEP climb just to our hotel, and then we get to climb more stairs up to our room.

July 18

This morning we road the “Toy Train” through the mist of the Himalayas. Although not like the Barbie Toy Train that I had ridiculously anticipated, we were entertained by the laughing yogis and other passengers. There is no smoking in public here, at all, subject to fine. During a tour of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, we learned that India’s motto is “Truth Always Wins” - interesting in comparison with ours, “God We Trust.” It was there that the border identifying Pakistan was established with Nehru, Ghandi, and Lord Mountbatten. In the afternoon I trekked up to the Monkey Temple, dedicated to Hanuman: the hero of the Ramayana, known as a symbol of dedicated devotion. The path was steep and mobbed with monkeys! It rumbled with thunder the entire time but the rain never really came.

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Comments

[debby]

contrasts
I just came back from 5 days in Cape Cod. Gorgeous and relaxing, but I envy you the exoticism of your travels. Wonderful, visual writing! Looking forward to more. XO D