It's the night before my departure, and I am spending it in Delhi, with Ajay's family, looking at old photographs. Tomorrow, my friends Sona and Rebecca, and Kailash and his wife Mohini, are coming here to Panscheel Park for lunch. And then, in the evening, off to the airport ... I can't believe my six-month Indian odyssey is over, and that I will be in Canada two days from now ... And I can't believe this is my last travel blog entry! (Oddly, I have written 46 in total, which is my age. One for each year.) I have been thinking [View Full Entry]

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In my last entry, "peace on earth," I wrote about the morning I spent in Raiwala Village -- where Aurovalley Ashram is located. Here are some of the many pictures I took. Everyone wanted to have their picture taken! My visit caused a big stir. I felt like a celebrity. People kept coming by to say hello and ask me "which country?" and "married?" Some also wanted to tell me about or show me something of interest in the village, such as the girl who brought out the tiny kittens or the family that showed me their bull. I just wish [View Full Entry]

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I just returned to Delhi from my last trip on this Indian odyssey. I spent four days at the Aurovalley Ashram near the small village of Raiwala, about halfway between Haridwar and Rishikesh. I took the train to Haridwar, about 200 kilometres north of Delhi, and a taxi to the ashram, so the trip was about 4-5 hours in total. I took the same train -- the Dehradun Shatabdi -- way back in December, at the beginning of my trip. So it was fitting that my last domestic journey virtually retraced the steps of my first. It gave me a good [View Full Entry]

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I have changed my departure date to June 2, and am now into my last two weeks in India. Luckily, the intense heat of early May -- where it was 41-47 C. every day -- has brought some thundershowers, which has cooled things off a bit. It was down to 21 C. the other night -- a miracle! -- though it is still at least 38 C. each day. (Varada is standing beside me as I write, trying to teach me some Hindi. She just taught me: "Mereko Bharat pasant hai!" It means: "I like India!") I am starting to say [View Full Entry]

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The temperature here is now reaching a balmy high each day of 44-45 C. For some strange reason I am enjoying it (some of the time). Maybe it's the lack of humidity. Or maybe just the novelty of it. It's also interesting to see how Indians, and the city of Delhi, cope with it. You will be happy to know they complain about the heat as much as we Canadians complain about the cold. (Though mostly they complain about the daily power outages and water shortages. Last night the power was out fIn South Delhi or six hours ... ) I [View Full Entry]

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I am back in Delhi, and the summer has started! Each day this week has been 40-43 C. I have never before experienced such temperatures, but I have to say it is not as bad as I had anticipated. Delhi is dry and dusty, and the humidity is low, which makes it more tolerable. And also I am happy to have this experience as Delhi is this hot for about half the year -- and how could I say I've lived in Delhi (for I do feel I live here now!) if I had not experienced the famous Delhi heat? (Ajay [View Full Entry]

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April 22 I am just getting ready to leave Mcleod Ganj and travel to Shimla. I had my last day of volunteering and said good bye to everyone. I was very emotional, especially when Ama Adhe put a kathak, a white silk scarf around my neck. It is a traditonal Tibetan gesture, and they give these scarves to help provide protection on your journey. I was so moved because I have SO MUCH admiration for her. She has been through hell -- 27 years in a Chinese prison, the loss of her family, her youth. And yet she is a strong, [View Full Entry]

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Thanks for all the comments, and all the well wishes. I really appreciate it. I am feeling a lot better, though I understand a lot of people have been getting sick here. Amoebic dysentary, apparently. It seems there was some bad water in town.... However, I am on the mend, and though my energy is still low I have been having some wonderful experiences and moments at Art Refuge. A lot of the kids went off to school in Mussoorie, another hill town in this state, and there are few new refugees arriving because of the political situation in Nepal. Tibetans [View Full Entry]

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I have been in Macleod Ganj just over a week now, and it has been a week of highs and lows; ups and downs. And I don't just mean the spectacular scenery -- snow-capped mountains on one side of this tiny city and a golden valley on the other. I started feeling a bit better and began my first shift of volunteering at Art Refuge, on the roof of the reception centre. Immediately, two tiny Tibetan girls, sisters, grabbed me and hung on to me for the entire afternoon session, one lying across my lap as I sat on the floor, [View Full Entry]

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I am writing this from the Dogga Internet Cafe, a non-profit centre to benefit the Tibetan society here. It is down a steep, dark set of stone stairs. Everything here is either up or down. I have been here three days and I am just starting to get to know my way around, though McLeod Ganj is not large. It is perched precariously on the side of a hill, several hundred metres above Dharmasala, and you can continue to go up this mountain to other smaller centres. It is all very windy, chaotic and in generally bad repair. There are Indians, [View Full Entry]

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