Dharamsala in depth
Yesterday, a tragedy hit McLeod Ganj, as there was a fire that consumed 10 businesses, several residences, and a hotel (Kailash). Really unfortunate. Luckily everyone's ok, and only a few injuries. People here seem to be really resilient. They try not to dwell in the past, and are looking to rebuild. I guess you have to be resilient when you've already lost your home country. (talked to some Tibetans about their personal experiences being in exile in India, more on this in a bit). I talked to someone at the Tibetan welfare office (after asking several folks where I should go) and made a small donation for the families that are homeless from this. This kind of event really gets to me, losing everything you've worked for, no insurance or anything like that. I think the source was electric circuiting, and McLeod Ganj just takes too long to get to. If you've ever been in the area, you know that it takes a long time to get anywhere. So the fire truck didn't get there in time. Still, people aren't up in arms about it the way they would be in the US. There isn't a sense of victimization or helplessness, why or how it happened isn't as important as where to go from here. Big cultural difference there, and one we can learn from.
BUt that's only the most recent event in Dharamsala. (Didn't mean to start off so somber). I've been aching to write about my in-depth experience here, but the internet is so slow, and the cost of hours online really adds up. In-depth is also relative, of course. For me, it means 2 1/2 weeks of being very open. Time has such a different quality here, it's more like a rubber band. A task can take me perhaps 3 days, but on the other hand, I've had so many more rich experiences than I do on a daily basis back home.
Dharamsala is very unique and scholarly, yes, Deepak, much like Berkeley, with all these bookshops & cafes, the political elements, etc. IN the off season, though, there isn't as much of the new-agey element as say, Rishikesh, with all the yoga and aryuvedic medicine freaks. For the last week or so I've been dropping in on a dharma class at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. And this is one thing I love about India -- the "as is" quality about it. There isn't as much of a mystery, isolation or abstraction about doing things. Dare I say things are less institutionalized (dunno -- perhaps I haven't had much experience with the Indian bureacracy yet, but it sees this way). The registration for the class basically meant that I showed up, even in the middle of the series, and then paid afterwards. And it's a wonderful beginning class on Buddhist philosophy. Taught by a lama and translated into English, each session starting and ending with recitations.
It was down by the library, too, that I one day met two nuns from Vietnam, which was a nice surprise. There aren't very many Vietnamese tourists here (met just two so far, from Australia), but in the Buddhist hotspots, there are a few monks and nuns about. We were thrilled to have met each other, it was like family right away, and I found myself for a few days making lunch with them. It was nice to have some homecooked Vietnamese food (as Vietnamese as you can get, at least). I've been loving the north Indian food here, and in Dharamsala you can also get good Tibetan food as well as western concoctions like veggie burgers, fries, and pancakes, but not so much of the steamed veggies and soups like you get in Vietnamese cuisine. Plus, having meals with Co Hieu and Co Tuyen was nice for the conversations, nice practice for me, and a good laugh for them, though I find that nuns are very understanding and have such a humorous outlook on life that I felt I could say a lot to them about myself, my home, family & community, American culture without stigma.
I find my brain's a little confused with all the languages here -- Hindi, Tibetan, Kashmiri and other Indian dialects, English spoken in a multitude of accents, a few afternoons of Vietnamese. Plus some of the Tibetans I've met here have tried to teach me some mandarin (haha!).
The arts here are also wonderful. When David was in town, he was working with a Tibetan filmmaker from New York on a documentary project on Tibetan musicians. He's got his own stories through his beautiful photographs, which will be posted at www.poeticdream.com when he has a chance to post the, what, several thousand (?) images he took here. And indeed, in addition to TIPA, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, I've visited Norbulingka, the Tibetan Art Institute, which has a gorgeous temple (I could sit there and sketch the motifs on the temple walls and various structures all day) and amazing art, both traditional and modern. I didn't get a chance to see the Thongka painting, but I met some of the artists in the modern art section. Really talented. They work 6 days a week, I believe, for 8 hours a day on their drawings. One artist showed me some of the plates (printmaking) they were etching for a costume series. Extremely intricate and detailed. It's amazing, too, how they manage to make the people in the images come to life from very little and poor reference material.
Great hikes as well. I LOVE the peacefulness here, and the small-town atmosphere. I'll miss it so much. Haven't taken all the hikes I'd like, but even getting from place to place around here involves some hiking and plenty of gorgeous scenery. But as the weather's getting colder, some hikes are not really an option for me. There is a beauty in the cold weather here, something I haven't experienced for a while. The clouds just kind of pass over the higher peaks, enshroud them, and leaving behind snow. Beautiful, but the nights are pretty unbearable, with just me and my candle and sometimes no hot water. So tomorrow I leave for Delhi and head south. Eventual destination, Bangalore, the IT capital of India!
BUt that's only the most recent event in Dharamsala. (Didn't mean to start off so somber). I've been aching to write about my in-depth experience here, but the internet is so slow, and the cost of hours online really adds up. In-depth is also relative, of course. For me, it means 2 1/2 weeks of being very open. Time has such a different quality here, it's more like a rubber band. A task can take me perhaps 3 days, but on the other hand, I've had so many more rich experiences than I do on a daily basis back home.
Dharamsala is very unique and scholarly, yes, Deepak, much like Berkeley, with all these bookshops & cafes, the political elements, etc. IN the off season, though, there isn't as much of the new-agey element as say, Rishikesh, with all the yoga and aryuvedic medicine freaks. For the last week or so I've been dropping in on a dharma class at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. And this is one thing I love about India -- the "as is" quality about it. There isn't as much of a mystery, isolation or abstraction about doing things. Dare I say things are less institutionalized (dunno -- perhaps I haven't had much experience with the Indian bureacracy yet, but it sees this way). The registration for the class basically meant that I showed up, even in the middle of the series, and then paid afterwards. And it's a wonderful beginning class on Buddhist philosophy. Taught by a lama and translated into English, each session starting and ending with recitations.
It was down by the library, too, that I one day met two nuns from Vietnam, which was a nice surprise. There aren't very many Vietnamese tourists here (met just two so far, from Australia), but in the Buddhist hotspots, there are a few monks and nuns about. We were thrilled to have met each other, it was like family right away, and I found myself for a few days making lunch with them. It was nice to have some homecooked Vietnamese food (as Vietnamese as you can get, at least). I've been loving the north Indian food here, and in Dharamsala you can also get good Tibetan food as well as western concoctions like veggie burgers, fries, and pancakes, but not so much of the steamed veggies and soups like you get in Vietnamese cuisine. Plus, having meals with Co Hieu and Co Tuyen was nice for the conversations, nice practice for me, and a good laugh for them, though I find that nuns are very understanding and have such a humorous outlook on life that I felt I could say a lot to them about myself, my home, family & community, American culture without stigma.
I find my brain's a little confused with all the languages here -- Hindi, Tibetan, Kashmiri and other Indian dialects, English spoken in a multitude of accents, a few afternoons of Vietnamese. Plus some of the Tibetans I've met here have tried to teach me some mandarin (haha!).
The arts here are also wonderful. When David was in town, he was working with a Tibetan filmmaker from New York on a documentary project on Tibetan musicians. He's got his own stories through his beautiful photographs, which will be posted at www.poeticdream.com when he has a chance to post the, what, several thousand (?) images he took here. And indeed, in addition to TIPA, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, I've visited Norbulingka, the Tibetan Art Institute, which has a gorgeous temple (I could sit there and sketch the motifs on the temple walls and various structures all day) and amazing art, both traditional and modern. I didn't get a chance to see the Thongka painting, but I met some of the artists in the modern art section. Really talented. They work 6 days a week, I believe, for 8 hours a day on their drawings. One artist showed me some of the plates (printmaking) they were etching for a costume series. Extremely intricate and detailed. It's amazing, too, how they manage to make the people in the images come to life from very little and poor reference material.
Great hikes as well. I LOVE the peacefulness here, and the small-town atmosphere. I'll miss it so much. Haven't taken all the hikes I'd like, but even getting from place to place around here involves some hiking and plenty of gorgeous scenery. But as the weather's getting colder, some hikes are not really an option for me. There is a beauty in the cold weather here, something I haven't experienced for a while. The clouds just kind of pass over the higher peaks, enshroud them, and leaving behind snow. Beautiful, but the nights are pretty unbearable, with just me and my candle and sometimes no hot water. So tomorrow I leave for Delhi and head south. Eventual destination, Bangalore, the IT capital of India!
posted by sylviashines at 2:10 AM
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