Dalai Lama, Animal Activism...and Richard Gere!

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Welcome to Bihar, the poorest and most troublesome state in India. So it should have been like living in Moss Side for the past few weeks then, not likely! The people here are amongst some of the friendliest I've met. Yes they have their troubles, and the poverty level is on full show, but it's definitely not as bad as people say. Bodhgaya, a small town of 30,000 people becomes a town of 30,000 locals and 30,000 tourists and pilgrims every January. The place is awash with Tibetan refugees, Buddhist monks and foreigners getting a slice of the action. In a way it's more hustle and bustle than Varanasi, and I never expected it to be like it has been. Streets lined with 'beggars' from other villages. Some genuine, many not so genuine. Old ladies sat smoking, refusing donated food when offered and asking for money instead, mothers sat watching their disabled child crawl across the floor to get money. It's like being in some kind of slow motion movie, with the world going by seemingly invisible to the sights around them.

Bodhgaya has been great for me in ways I never expected when I came. Like everybody else I thought I'd be here for some great spiritual teachings, meditation etc etc. But this place has actually given me a new direction, and my next destination in India (Goa). This is all thanks to a 'lovely' Indian chap that thought it would be a good idea to parade his prized possessions around the town and earn some cash for his next England tracksuit top (remember the days of the shell suits?!). His prized possessions happened to be a couple of laugh a minute, 'look at what I can make these animals do' monkeys. Blatantly under the strong 'influence' of their ever so friendly owner, they were made to do dances, pick up plastic guns and shoot people, have pretend fights with each other - all the fun things you expect from a wild, supposedly free animal. So thanks to our dear friend, let's call him scrooge, I ended up spending most of my time since the end of December getting support through a petition. Over 500 signatures have been collected and I'm now in the process of translating, through the magic of the internet, all my letters etc into Hindi to be sent off to the Minister of State in Bihar. It turns out that the possession of monkeys is illegal, however after I called the police on this guy it seems that they don't even know their own laws and so didn't do anything about it and he gets off scot free to go and beat his little friends into performing for him again...nice! But thanks to Mr scrooge I'm now going to Goa to work at a monkey rehabilitation centre next week so maybe I should send him a thank you card?

On a lighter note, the teachings in Bodhgaya have been fantastic. Mr Dalai Lama (definitely NOT scrooge!) has done 5 days of free teachings and it has been fantastic. Granted, some of it went straight over my head, it was like trying to learn Shakespeare before learning how to read or write, but when something he said made sense or was relevant to you as an individual then it well worth sitting outside in either the freezing cold morning or scolding afternoon with nothing but a cup of Tibetan 'dishwasher water with a lump of butter' tea to keep you company. On his last day he did a special 'audience with the westerners' so I got to sit only 20ft from him and listen to some inspiring stuff, and also got to shake hands with him as he came round to do his personal photo with each representing nation - 92 British Bodhgayaians huddled round the cheeky chappy, quality moment! :-)

Feels a bit rushed here, but then I don't want to get cut off and lose my work as so often happens on the wonderful world wide web of India! So here's a bullet point list of some of the stuff that's been going on since Varanasi...

* Had my timberland trainers stolen from inside the temple grounds, have looked out since for an Indian with bright orange trainers but alas, he's probably started his trek to Nepal - good luck to him! :-)
* Met Richard Gere of all people. Apparently he is a practicing Buddhist and came to Bodhgaya for the Dalai Lama's teachings. Met him at a small candlelight vigil to raise awareness of Vegetarianism - was 10ft from him giving a speech!
* Have become the local 'dog dinner distributor' - Take a bucket of left overs from a restaurant around the town each day and feed the stray dogs. After a few days some of them recognize you straight away and roll over for a belly rub, which seems to scare the locals as they see dogs as pests so never go near them. My favourite has to be 'scraps' as i've called him. Tiny little dog with no fur as he's got mange, but so much fun to be around, and always dives into the bucket head first! :-)
* Resided in a Burmese Buddhist 'monastery' for the duration of my stay. Gates shut at 9.30pm, so fun times were had new years eve!
* Rented my very own death trap of a bicycle to get around town. Got to be the oldest, dodgiest bike I've ever had the pleasure of riding, all the suspension is in the seat (which helps on the bumpy roads), but the bell works, which is ESSENTIAL in India - it's your life line! :-)

Sum up my experience of Bodhgaya in five words? - Buddhism, beggars, bustling, bandha (hindi for monkey), and booming (the constant noise is incredible!).

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