DHARAMSALA AND THE DALAI LAMA

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27-29 March. After a brutal, 6+ hour ride over hilly and twisty roads on a local bus without leg room even for me, we reached Dharamsala, home of thousands of refugees from Tibet and especially the Dalai Lama, who fled the Communist Chinese government in March 1959. India has allowed the Dalai Lama to set up a government in exile here and has supported his efforts to win freedom for Tibet for the past 50 years. You might remember that the freedom of Tibet was an issue as China prepared for the 2008 Olympics and ran the torch through Europe and the US.

Dharamsala is built up steep hills in three sections, the second of which is called McLeod Ganj. We stayed in the top section, Baghsu, and had just reached the hotel when it started to rain again and got COLD. This is just the beginning of “summer” here and the hotels aren’t open in the winter, so they don’t have heat. We were issued heavy (about 10 pounds) quilts - luckily, because the temp in our room at bedtime was in the high 40s, We spent the evening in our trip leader’s room ordering room service, looking at each other’s photos on Tom’s computer, playing cards and discussing politics - from the Indian, US, British, Canadian and Australian points of view. More variety than you’d expect. By morning, our room had warmed up to about 50-55 degrees and we had hot water for baths and (eventually) electricity. Tom’s getting pretty good at shaving and putting his contacts in without light. The power goes out for minutes to hours several times each day, especially in the afternoon and evening. India is not building the infrastructure it needs today, much less what it will need in 20 years with its exploding population.

Next morning, we awoke again to rain, but it stopped so we could walk down into town. We went slowly due to a protest march staged to emphasize to the Indian the government the need to continue its support of the Tibetan cause and to remind India not to trust the intentions of the Chinese government toward India. A high point of Dharamsala was our visit to Nordlingka Institute, where the traditions of Tibetan craft have been preserved by training young Tibetans in the exquisite artwork of Tibet. We watched young people paint, appliqué, and create metal and wood masterpieces. They were creating a huge Buddha (10x10feet) that I would love to put into the woods in front of our house. It would be perfect - except for the cost …

While he was walking through McLeod Ganj, Charlie saw the Dalai Lama’s car heading for Delhi for talks with the Indian government. He will never stop working for Tibetan freedom, but says also that there will be no one to succeed him.

The mountains! Though it’s been rainy, every once in a while the clouds part and show us the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas. They are so beautiful!

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Photos

Killer Road
This road only had two lanes in a few places.

Terrace Farming
The only way to farm is to make your own flat land.

Tibetan Protest
The Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans escaped from the Chinese takeover of Tibet fifty years ago this month.