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, McLeoganj is quite a place. The home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government 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 – the Tibetan Plateau being the highest 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 (khata) 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 denounce 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 edition (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 of 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 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, I 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 of 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 tried in India has been rather good, but this meal deserves a special mention.
I attended an open mike night yesterday and, in spite of the fact that I have had a sore throat for three days, drank, smoked 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
