Hi From McLeodganj!
UNITED KINGDOM | Friday, 25 January 2008 | Views [189] | Comments [5]
Well hello all,
I hope all is well back home
Well I have been in India for two weeks now and am more
or less acclimatized. I’m delighted and surprised to report that as yet I have
not succumbed to Delhi Belly, and have not seen any large spiders – although I
have a horrible feeling I will come spring. When I first arrived in McLeodganj
on Jan 13, the weather was really very pleasant, but now more typical winter
temperatures have kicked in and coping with the cold is perhaps the biggest
challenge. Whilst temperatures are really not much lower than they generally
are at home at this time of year, the lack of central heating can make things
uncomfortable. With a heater, heavy duty sleeping bag, thick duvet and thermals
I am just about coping, but you only need a power cut, which occur far more
frequently in this part of the world, and it gets very chilly indeed.
Buried in beautiful, snow covered mountains, McLeogang is quite a place. The home of the Dalai
Lama and the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, it really feels like a country within
a country. The town has a predominantly Tibetan flavour, and most Indians you
find here tend to be Kashmiris trying to sell you stuff. Buddhist monks make up
a very considerable percentage of the population and are always to be seen – often
gabbling away into their mobile phones! The overwhelming majority
of Tibetans are refugees who have undergone a perilous walk of a month or more through
the high Himalayas, fleeing the oppression of their homeland via Nepal to the safety and sanctuary of India.
These are hardened mountain people – Tibet being the highest plateau on earth, and
many of those I have spoken to come from a Nomadic background, but none the
less, some have told me they thought they might die on the journey, and many succumb
to frostbite. All who arrive in McLeodganj are guaranteed an audience with the
Dalai Lama (whom I saw glide by in his golden Beemer three days ago as he
returned to his temple complex from a visit to Gujarat
– got really close.) Two days ago I happened to be sitting drinking tea in
front of the temple complex, which is very close to where I work, when the latest
batch came pouring out of the temple gates, each clutching a yellow envelope,
containing Buddhist teachings I THINK, and a white scarf bestowed upon them by
their spiritual leader. I have always found it quite hard to get my head around
what all these people have been through, but seeing this group, some
looking exulted, some very weary, so fresh from their journey was really quite
sobering.
The
oppression that these poor people are fleeing,
currently at a rate of about 2,500 a year, is quite beyond belief.
Tibet, described by its people as ‘the land of
snow’ is over 10 times the size of Britain, with a tenth our
population. Many of its traditions date back thousands of years, and
the people
have been devout Buddhists since I think around the seventh or eighth
centuries.
But in 1949 Mao Zedong's Communist China invaded Tibet, and in the
years that
followed, during a period described by the Chinese as ‘the cultural
revolution’
laid waste its temples, destroyed 6000 monasteries, desecrated its holy
Buddhist scriptures, some of which were sold and have thankfully been
preserved, but many were just destroyed by the invaders, some of whom
expressed
their contempt by using them as insoles in their shoes. Tibetans who
were
brave enough to resist the brutality were killed, imprisoned and
tortured, and an estimated 1.2 million of Tibet’s 6 million inhabitants
were
killed in the years that followed the invasion. Sadly things are not
looking up
for the Tibetans. The Chinese claim to have
made great investments in Tibet,
building schools and hospitals. However the cost of attending these
facilities
is far beyond the reach of most Tibetans and those who are able to
attend
school must adhere to a strict Chinese curriculum which suppresses
Tibetan
history, culture and language. Anyone found to be in possession of an
image of
the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese government acknowledges to be a
dangerous
political separatist in the guise of a spiritual leader, faces arrest,
as does
anyone who refuses to renounce him.
Whilst I help out each evening at a conversation
class, helping Tibetans who have come to India to receive an education, to
practice the English they learn during the day, my main work here is for Tibet
Today – an English Language magazine, set up a year ago. The latest addition
(which doesn’t contain any of my work as I’m just getting started) came out two
days ago and I was delighted to see how much the Tibetans love it and look
forward to it coming out. A couple of people brought it to the conversation
class and were avidly reading it, and when I told them I was going to be
writing for it they were really quite humbling.
The one thing that frustrates me big time is the
intense lack or organisation here. As most of you well know, I am far from anal
about time keeping, but here it is pretty much an unknown concept. If you
arrange to meet someone at 2.00pm you are lucky if they have arrived by 3,
and the most usual scenario seems to be that it doesn’t happen at all. Today
for example, I planned my day around the fact that the co-coordinator of
Volunteer Tibet, through which I arranged my post, had asked me to go to his office
to help him with some English emails at 2pm. When I arrived however, it turned
out that he no longer requires my help today (‘perhaps over the weekend or on
Monday') and as there is just one computer for editorial staff at Tibet Today,
can only get onto it now and then which is very frustrating as there is so much
I want and need to do if I am to make my time here worthwhile. Oh well, at
least it gives me the opportunity to sit in an internet café and email you fine
people
Am also having lots of fun as there is a great
group on international volunteers – almost all of whom are sadly leaving
within the next week, but here’s hoping they will be replaced with some equally
nice internationals! Am living next door to a lovely Dutch girl called Marjon,
and whilst like most Dutch people, she makes me feel somewhat vertically inadequate,
she is great company and last weekend we took off to Chamba – another town in
Himachal Pradesh which looks very close on the map but is actually an eight
hour bone shaking bus ride through the Himalayan foothills. It is home to some
fascinating 10th Century Hindu temples, as well as other more recent
ones built on the top of a mountain overlooking the town, which have a very spiritual
feel. I must also mention that it was in Chamba that I experienced the
best curry I have ever had! The hotel we stayed in was actually a bit ropey and
our food on the first night was really rather crap – my friend actually found
shards of glass in her curry, but on the second night we dined in a superior
hotel where I had vegetable Jalfrezi with garlic and ginger fried rice. The
ingredients had without a doubt come from the colourful fresh fruit and veg
stalls which abound in Chamba, and had it been any hotter it would probably
have been a bit much for me, but as it was it was nothing short of perfection.
Most food I have had in India
has been rather good, but this meal deserves a special mention.
Attended an open mike night yesterday and, in
spite of the fact that I have had a sore throat for three days, drank, smoke
and sang loudly. Have been suffering the consequences today but it was so much
fun I don’t care.
Oh
well, if you’ve reached this far I congratulate you on your staying
power, but had better sign off. Keep the emails coming, it’s always
great to hear from you all – or at the very least give me a poke (on
Facebook
obviously…)
Take care,
Love Soph XXX
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