of mice and men

---

Well, I didn't manage to catch the 10am bus on Monday morning, I met a bloke from Holland called Ric on Sunday night over a beer and soon it turned into a big group of us from Germany, England, Holland and Ireland. Two guys from Ireland, George and John, were also heading over to Amritsar and were planning on getting the earlier, and quicker, 5am bus on Tuesday morning. I hadn't wanted to get this bus as it meant getting up at 4am and getting a taxi down to Dharamsala to the bus station in the dark, alone. So we arranged to meet at 4.30am on Tuesday morning and go together. I had a nice lazy day on the Monday and happily bumped into Lydia again at dinner time, a quick beer (as you can tell, my no beer rule went out of the window a while ago....) and then early to bed. Just as I was drifting off to sleep I heard a familiar scratching sound filtering through the pillow, at first I thought I was dreaming that I was back in my bed in Morrish road again, but as I opened my eyes a rather large mouse was inches from face making his way across my pillow. I managed to remain fairly calm though and after much scampering about on both our parts I got the poor mite to go out of the door and quickly stuffed a towel along the gap at the bottom. Ahhh, the trusty towel under the door that is no use whatsoever at keeping out the various creatures of the night, but makes me feel better none the less!

take a deep breath, prepare for the worst...

Not much sleep was had from that point on as every rustle of my sheet or blanket put me on edge and the local dogs that sleep outside decided to bark all night long. So I relunctly got up at 4am and got my stuff ready, I nearly decided not to bother going at all, maybe the lads wouldn't turn up? And I dreaded the thought of the walk from the Hostel to the cabs, its only a few minutes but very dark and very few street lamps and lots of dogs, the odd cow and who knows what else.... I had my trusty torch though (thank you Toni!) and with a deep breath set off. The lads were not there, of course, so I waited a few minutes and then woke up a cab driver and set off down the road. When we got to the bus stop I met a really nice bloke from Japan who was relieved to see somebody else up at such a ridiculous time catching the same bus as him. As we settled on the bus I heard a cry of 'Hi Anna!!!', it was George and John, they had had trouble getting up but managed to make it dead on 5am, a close shave, or rather not, as predictably the bus didn't leave until 5.30am, every one was far too relaxed to hurry.

It was a local bus, so no reclining seats this time just very hard benches that made your bum go numb instantly, but it turned out to be a much smoother ride than last time, although by the end I was squashed in the corner with my bags undermy legs and unaccountably, someone else's huge rucksack on my knee, so I couldn't feel my legs or see anything in front of me. 6 hours later we arrived at Amritsar in Punjab and all headed for the Golden Temple - the most Holy of temples for the Sikhs's, many of them come on a pilgrammige here and they are offered a place to stay for the night and there is food prepared all day, they also have a small dormitory for tourists, very basic but a great atmosphere and only a donation is asked for. It is run by Sikh volunteers and houses thounsands of pilgrimms every night. When we arrived there was a procession of children doing marches and routines and various bands playing, all lof this beneath streams of tinsel and ribbons, a great welcome!

We had dinner at the free kitchen, they can feed up to 3000 people at once and normally feed about 10,000 a day, everyone sits in long lines on the floor and they dished out Dahl, rice and chapatti's to you, and I have to say the food was fantastic, the volunteers are sat around outisde chopping up fresh vegeatables and things and it all smelled great. John and I then headed for a wander around the Golden Temple, it sits in the middle of a big square pool of water with a walkway to get to it, and is surrounded by marble buildings and a pathway around the edge (a very bad desciption but you should get the idea from the pictures). It is beautiful, not breathtaking like the Taj Mahal but there is a constant stream of pilgrims who walk clockwise around the outer edge and then up the walkway to the Golden Temple to give their offerings, pray and drink the holy water, we were there from about 1pm and it didn't stop all day, also there were men bathing in the holy water. There was a real energy to the place, seeing all these people paying hommage to their faith, although everything was very relaxing and you could just sit on the marble and watch it all go by. As John said, it's really hard to appreciate it as it's happening as there's just so much for your eyes and ears and mind to take in.

smile please

Later on I was sat watching the sun go down and I soon discovered I couldn't sit for very long without being interuppted, at one point a whole family of about 10 people came to a standstill and just stood and stared at me smiling away, we stayed like that for about 5 minutes, not being able to speak to each other but smiling and nodding and shrugging. It seems tourists are something of a novelty to some of the pilgrims here, I guess a lot of them come from places that don't get many tourists. They also want you to take their picture at any opportunity and are so keen to know where you're from and find out about you.

In the evening at about 9pm we set out to go and see the daily ceremony of taking the Holy book from the Golden Temple and putting it in another building. Myself and two Swiss girls, a guy from Canada and a girl from Israel went along and soon attracted a Punjabi Mother and daughter and Auntie who were keen to chat with us, as they sat on the floor to join us we noticed a crowd of about 20 people gathering around us as well, we really were a point of intigue! Also there was a video camera they kept puuting in our faces as they are showing lots of this week on tv as it's the Guru's birthday on Friday(or something along those lines). The daughter was great and explained all about the ceremony to us and everyone was waiting for the book to come passed on it's gold carriage for the chance to try and touch it, but the ladies who had been patiently waiting were soon pushed out of the way by the men swarming around to touch it, a little unfair I felt, but they were very philosophical about it all. It is still strange to me to see how differently men and women are treated out here and am not sure it's something I could get used to, although I have heard lots of talk of how its changing and Sanjay was saying how more and more opportunities for women are coming and how the new generations are starting to bring up their children differently now, I still felt very strange at times being a women alone out here.

We were invited back to the mother and daughters house - another exapmle of the amazing hospitality you are faced with out here - but we had to decline, it was late and I had to get up at 5am - another early morning - to head back to Delhi on the 9 hour train journey....

I braced myself for another night of little sleep, the beds were a piece of wood with a blanket on, very good for your back but not so good for hip bones, and the noise doesn't tend to die down very much. There are so many rooms here for the pilgrims and then hundreds of others lie out in the courtyard covered in blankets when the rooms get full, it's an amazing place. Also I seem to have turned into the pied piper of Hamlyin, no sooner do I leave the mouse in Mcleodganj behind than we have mice here in Amritsar, but this one was tiny and very cute and had huge Mickey Mouse ears, he can stay.

the view from my window

Up early and on the train, another scary journey in the dark to the station on a bycicle rickshaw, but I had booked a seat on the train this time so was much more confident about a comfier ride after managing to work out which was my carriage, not as easy as you might think as they chalk it on after its stopped, but there are other old chalk marks all over it too so you really have to be on the ball and watch out for where he's going to write it and then get ready to dive on with everybody else. The seats were very hard again and so my poor bum, not having recovered from the 6 hour bus journey the day before, started to hurt as soon as I sat down. Where on earth these fabled trains with upper and lower bearths that you can stretch out on and sleep are I have no idea, I keep asking when I book a train but it seems they remain elusive to me, ah well. There was a lovely young family sat opposite me and they offerend me biscuits and tea and were very interested in my trip. Gradually the train got busier and I was soon pinned in the corner with my head virtually outside the window, but I arrived all in one piece. Delhi train station was an absolute mad house when we arrived, the noise hit us as soon as we pulled into the station and trying to get off and walk along the platform was almost impossible, it was just a mass of people and luggage and noise and nothing seemed to be happening, but I eventually battled my way out. It makes Euston station on a Sunday night look like a relaxing stroll in the park. I managed to find my way to my hostel on foot though and was very proud of myself.

During the train journey we went through some Slum areas, rows and rows of mud huts, madde of make shift brick and litter everywhere, in fact the slums themselves looked they were made of litter with the various materials stuck on to make a roof and the multi-coloured floor of debris. Adults and children standing, sitting, playing and working everywhere. There was a little girl stood on a heap of rubbish dressed in a spotless brown and cream party dress with her hair in plaits and a big grin on her face. Even in these conditions everyones clothes still look they have just been freshly laundered that day. How do they all manage? Looking at it all felt like looking at a different world.

I am going to add some photo's to this blog when I get a chance in the next few days as I haven't time now, I am at Delhi airport after spending my last night at Sanjay and Preeti's in South Delhi again, we had a lovely dinner and then I had a lazy day playing with Neha. It is a shame I can't stay another night as they are having lots of family over for dinner and it would have been great to join them. It was so nice to go back and be able to be more relaxed and enjoy their company properly, they have really loooked after me and we were already talking about the next time I come out here to visit them. I also spoke to Raj, my friend in London from work who organised me staying with his family in Delhi.

a fond farewell

And so ends the first adventure of Minianna Jones (excuse the pun, blame it on Jane Harrington...) I am off to Kuala Lumpa now to stay with Hazel Ball (an old school friend for those of you who don't know) not seen her in many years so it will be great to catch up and also great to talk to someone about home! India has been amazing, I wanted to leave after my first week but I am so very glad I stayed and I am certainly going to come back here and see more of the place. Nearly every tourist I met was out here for about 4 months and travelling around the whole place which made me very envious, but I think next time it would be good to have a pal with me. It is a tricky place on your own and pretty daunting, I'm not sure I stopped gritting my teeth for most of the time out here through fear and frustration, also one girl I met hit the nail on the head when she said it must be hard on your own because you haven't got someone to talk about all the amzing things you're seeing and the experiences you're going through, email is great but it doesn't replace that instant need to discuss everything and wonder at it all as it's happening.

I have met some fanastic people and had a really incredible time and would reccomend every one of you to come out here and see it all for yourselves!!

---

Photos

my, those beds look comfy.....
our domitory at the Golden Temple

my hosts in Delhi
Preeti, Neha, Sanjay and little Aishwarya

Comments

[akki]

mcleodganj
hi...read your article on mclodganj. I am personally planning to visit this place this october. Since this will be my first visit i need some help on the places to check out in mcleodganj. Also would like to hear more on your Mcleodganj experiences.