India: Dharamshala

23.10.2013

• Else and I arrived on our bus from Delhi to our new home in the McLeod Ganj suburb of Dharamshala and grabbed a taxi to Moon Walk Residency. We checked into our private room with a large bed, giant bathroom, and big balcony facing an amazing view of the Himalayas, hillside city, and valley below. We both took long, hot showers and ordered room service, cuddling in bed and looking out our large window on the world. We were a happy couple settled into our new home.
• Else went out to buy a few clothing items up the street while I rested. When she got home we gussied up and took a walk through our neighborhood ducking into stores, yoga studios, and the main temple in the center of town. We wandered past the Men Tsee Khang Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute where we browsed a menu of services and booked appointments for astrological readings. We walked walked up a long road to get lost in the hills and stumbled into the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts which is hosting DIFF, the Dharamshala International Film Festival, this weekend but was currently setting up for an anniversary celebration for a local school as dancers practiced their routines for the festivities. We meandered along paths in the forest and back down to town, passing tea houses and artisans along the hillside road. We searched out the Lha Social Work Organization which a friend had told me about and we scheduled a time to meet with their volunteer coordinator tomorrow morning. There are an amazing number of organizations supporting this community which is something of the epicenter of the Tibetan diaspora in India in part because the Dalai Lama (religious and state leader of Tibet) took up residence here in exile after fleeing his home in the 1950s. 
• All of this before lunch! Despite the heavy clouds and lack of view we opted to eat on the rooftop terrace of a hotel restaurant in the center of town. We chatted with the owner for a while and bundled over our meal and hot tea. It is a welcomed change to be cold after a week in Goa. We finished our food and went home to relax in our spacious new room, tired from the long journey and our busy afternoon. We ordered room service and giggled under the covers watching YouTube videos and planning for the days ahead. Else took a Skype call with her friends with whom we sang songs and laughing loudly. We both got to talk with our boys back home, mine who got a new job today after a very long and sometime disappointing job search! So proud and excited for him! One more hot shower and time for bed. 

24.10.2013

• Started the day early with a meeting at the Lha Social Work Organization where we ended up meeting with the Executive Director. He was excited about our interest in helping in some way but our limited time in the community of course limited the assistance we could offer. We were invited to participate in the conversation groups with students taking English language classes. We talked with him for a short time about the services and human rights work of the organization before we let him back to his work and headed on with our day. 
• We grabbed a quick snack and then went for our Tibetan astrology readings. Arriving at the center we were brought into a consultation room by our reader who proceeded to share insights about our lives based on information we provided her the day before including out date, time, and place of birth. Else and I listed intently, took notes, and asked questions about the life seen in the Tibetan stars for us. Highlights from my reading: I should be working in arts and communication, I have a wonderful friend group, I am prone to respiratory conditions, and I will be blessed with a strong, life-long, supportive and caring relationship. :)
• After the reading we stopped at Tibet Kitchen for a plate of Tibetan momos (filled dumplings native to Nepal, popular in Tibet, Northern India, and Bhutan) and egg soup. After lunch we commenced walking about town. We stopped at another organization where we learned more about self-immolation, the act of setting one's own body on fire, which has been taken as a form of protest by Tibetans (often monks and nuns) against the occupation of Tibet by China. 
• We walked further and ended up on a path along the back side of the Dalai Lama Temple with stupas and prayer wheels along the hillside overlooking the peaceful valley below. - peaceful. Around the front side of the temple on the main road I grabbed a snack of pani puri (known by other names as well), a hollow crisp with a tasty filling though today's variety was simply a tangy mint water with chickpeas - a refreshing drink/snack that is somewhat challenging to eat without making a mess. As I ordered Else made friends with Natalia, a kind-eyed woman from Brasil who was happy to talk about home and food with a recent Brasil traveler. The three of us chatted as we entered the Dalai Lama temple where the holy leader lives and teaches when he is not traveling the world to espouse spiritual wisdom and call for improved human rights. We toured the temples and then I stopped into the Tibet Museum located within the temple complex to watch a video about the occupation of Tibet. It was informative and touching and outraging to hear about atrocities of the Chinese takeover of the country. Casual bumper stickers and handbags in the United States reading "Free Tibet" began to take on more sociopolitical meaning. 
• After the film I waited for Else at a cafe (she had gone off to shop for a few more items) and we followed backroads and forest trails on our way home, complete with monkeys and taking us through a monastery near our hotel. Still hungry from our wandering we found a Punjabi restaurant with a delicious Punjabi curry, a dal dish, and bisan ka halwa for dessert which I will be adding to the short list of recipes I make as soon as I get home. After dinner we walked home, stopping at a shop to chat for a while with Shafi, a businessman and purveyor of goods that Else befriended yesterday who invited us to join him at the shop for tea any time he was around. We met a brother/sister duo from Brooklyn at the shop who will be in Varanasi the same time as us. After leaving the shop we also ran into Natalia again, this time with her beau, Frankie. Funny how small a town can start to feel after just one day. Then again, it is a small town and it is filled with tourists seeking to volunteer in organizations, learn about Tibetan culture, live in solidarity with Tibetan exiles, or seek spiritual enlightenment through meditation, yoga, hiking, etc.  
• Back home Else and I sat in a few yoga poses, read from a book of collective passages from Gandhi, blogged, drank our evening tea, shared songs on the internet, and sang and laughed. I am so blessed to be sharing this experience with such a wonderful, excitable, giving new friend. Bed time. 

25.10.2013

• Else was nice enough to go shopping this morning so I could have a chat date with Kevin - at some point one wants at least a little privacy. Else stayed out to make friends and I worked on booking the next legs of our trip. Hard to believe I am half way through my time in India.
• We made it out to breakfast at Tibetan vegetarian restaurant with a delicious egg scramble and a tasty Tibetan brown bread with honey. We stopped into a bookstore and bought books by the Dalai Lama, mine called Global Community and need for Universal Responsibility. Feeling lazy we went home to rest and read and write. 
• In the afternoon we went back to Lha for their conversational English session where Nathalia was also joining in. We were given a brief orientation and some conversation starter slips and then we joined the students for in the adjoining room. We sat on the floor in groups, I with a a monk from southern India who came here to deepen his spiritual practice and study English, and a humanist poet from northern India who came to Dharamshala to live in solidarity with the Tibetan people. It was a casual but illuminating chat sharing details of our families and community life in this small town. After the session ended, Else and I talked with the other volunteers and then went for hot chocolate across the street to watch sunset. 
• We took a stroll down to a row of street vending stalls where Else had made a friend, Fra, in her shopping outing. He and his cousin invited us to dinner sometime this week and we lingered to chat with his friends who stopped in to say hello.
• We took a quick walk up the hill to find one of the sites for the film festival that is on this weekend. There was a panel discussion about to start on the subject of "Art, Politics, and Social Activism," with the program description reading: "The documentary as a force for social and political change is a well-established and prominent part of the genre. But how do documentary filmmakers maintain a sense of personal creativity and their own vision while tackling subjects that are often powerful, overwhelming and urgent in their own right? Is the subject more important than the filmmaking vision? Or is a filmmaker’s first responsibility to their own creative impulse?" I couldn't resist the desire to stay and sent Else on to hold our table for dinner while I listened to the speakers, four Indian directors: Amit Virmani, Anand Patwardhan, Nishtha Jain, and Avijit Mukul Kishore. They spoke eloquently about their work and their struggles to produce, distribute, and create change with their work. It was stimulating and insightful and inspiring and I feel more drawn to explore the intersections of social justice and the arts in my work back home. 
• I left the conversation a bit early (after asking a provocative question or two) and walked down to Asukra, a cozy Indian food restaurant, to meet Else, Nathalia, and Frankie. We had such lively and easy conversation - it felt like a double date for two couples who have been dining together for years. We enjoyed our time so much that we inadvertently overstayed our welcome, long after closing time. We walked home on the dark, winding road down the hill, stopping at a street-side bakery for last minute desserts. The stars shone brightly overhead and twinkled with each smile passed between new friends as we said our goodnights and made plans for our next meeting. Onward to bed. 

26.10.2013

• A quick breakfast at home and then off to pick up Nathalia and Frankie to catch a film at DIFF. Today we saw the movie The Rocket from Australia about a young boy in Laos and his family who are displaced from their community with the building of a dam and hope to secure funds for a new home in a new city by winning a rocket festival competition. It was an endearing film with two remarkable child actors and a quirky James Brown obsessed uncle and spitfire grandmother that shared the humor and heartache of a variety of social issues in Laos and the dynamics of a loving though challenged family. The producer was in attendance to speak about the film that she and her husband created in collaboration with members of the Laos community who requested a film with a Laotian voice after seeing the couple's earlier documentary on the removal of war era explosives in the Laos by Australian companies.
• After the film I got to talk to a few of the directors from the panel discussion the night before and exchange contact details. The our group bought a few snacks and wandered down the hill toward town. Along the way we stopped to buy art and gifts. Nathalia and Frankie worked on booking tickets for the next leg of their journey after making some last minute alterations and then we popped into Lhamo's Croissant bakery/restaurant. We ordered food and enjoyed the rooftop views adorned with bathing birds before settling into the den room for tsampa porridge made with toasted barley. We met Jason, originally from Indiana but has been living in India for years, now translating Tibetan manuscripts into English after living in a monastery as a monk for years of his Buddhist practice. 
• We left to visit Fra at his shop where his cousin taught us about pashmina wool and cashmere scarves. We drank chai in the store and I petted the pretty items that I won't let myself afford. We confirmed dinner plans for tomorrow and said our goodbyes in time to meet Nathalia and Frankie again for dinner at The Green Hotel. Along the way Else bought a guitar - a purchase she has been thinking on and toying with for a week now. I bought myself a hat for hiking in Nepal next month that looks like a happy penguin atop my head - a reminder of my sweetheart back home. We cozied up into seats at the restaurant and ordered momos and thenthuk noodles. We were joined by friend from the conversational English class at Lha, a Tibetan man who lived in China before moving to Dharamshala where he wrote for the Tibetan Express, often reporting on the human rights atrocities in his home country. He we very open about his experiences and his feelings about Tibet and China and, while he loves his new home, regrets not being able to return to his home country. 
• We lingered over ginger-lemon tea with honey and then wish all well as we parted ways for the evening. Else strummed and we sang - we practiced an English song by a German band, Milky Chance, that reminds her of her lover. We chatted online with family and went to bed warm and happy with our now nightly tradition of room-service tea in bed. 

27.10.2013

• Alarm clock!!! It has been a while since I had woken up to one but that is what one does on a schedule. Too bad I only got three hours of sleep. We picked up Nathalia and Frankie and found out they had changed their travel plans and we would now have the whole day with them! We found a buzzing breakfast restaurant where I got more tsampa and my first order of Tibetan butter tea made with yak butter and which is not my cup of tea. Maybe it will grow on me.
• We debated options for the days activities and decided we would take a 4km cab ride up the mountain to Galu Devi Temple where mystic Hindi men live. The original plan was to enjoy the view and walk back to town but we were somehow convinced that the better option would be to hike up the mountain for a few hours. So, we asked our cab driver to come back for us later and headed out onto the hills just in front of a family of travelers with wee ones in toe. Swoon. 
• It was a cool and cloudy day for a hike but with spectacular views of the hillsides and the occasional glimpse of the valley below. We were interrupted on occasion by herds of goats which overtook the trail as we tried to stay out of their way without getting pushed of the mountain. We passed trekkers and their guides and the horses and mules used to carry their gear. We stopped at a tea house on the hillside for a cup of chai and chatted with a family from Seattle (Jen, Isabel, and Cale) who have been living in this area for the past five years. Cale shared cookies with me and we talked for a long time about school and friends and his recipe for lemonade (water, sugar, lemons). We passed small villages and women harvesting plants from the sides of the trails accompanied by energetic dogs. We made it to another tea house before deciding to turn around (the trail can continue for days of hiking). We got a wee bit lost on the way back taking a side trail down through a small enclave of hut homes where we  met an overly friendly cow looking for a handout. Else made quick friends and moo-ed with out hungry pal. A woman carrying a heap of hay four times the size of her body guided us to the trail and sent us down toward another small village where children played and an older gentleman insisted we take a photo with him. Finally on track again we made it back to the temple to meet our cab driver, just a few minutes past our expected arrival time. We rode back to town with beaming faces huddled together. Back in town we tried to go back to Dalai Lama temple but found the office we were looking for closed so went back to our vegetarian restaurant where we all ordered too much food and then proceeded to eat it all. Oh the joys of calorie replacement! 
• Else and I said our goodbyes to Nathalia and Frankie and walked down to meet Fra at his shop. We did a bit of shopping on the strip before Fra was ready to shut down for the night. I made friends with a tiny, tiny puppy in one store who almost got me in trouble trying to play tug-o-war with the merchandise. 
• Fra finally closed up shop and led us back to his home, a studio apartment tucked down the hill behind the shops that he shares with two of his other cousins who joined us for dinner. They prepared a delicious meal of turmeric and red chili potatoes and a spiced vegetable mix with rice on the side. We ate from the same large pots on the floor with our hands and talked about our preference for non-utensil dining. We exchanged massage and did yoga poses and talked about energy healing. We played cards for which I could have taken home a good deal of money had I any interest in cashing in. We watched Dance India Dance which highlighted traditional and modern Indian dance in a show which is very similar to So You Think You Can Dance in the United States which Molly and I watch all the time. They talked about their home and families back in Kashmir and the tensions between Muslims and Hindus in India. They talked about tension between India and Pakistan and geopolitical identity of Kashmiris who are close to the Pakistan border and share many cultural ties. We talked about our hopes for the world and what we were willing to do to see our wishes come true. We talked about world peace and inner peace and the fight for liberty in both spaces. Else and I felt like such honoured guests by the time we said our goodbyes and made our way home, Fra opting to walk us into town center where we stuffed ourselves on pastries from a late-night, street-side bakery. 
• Back home Else and I agreed that our lives are sometimes blessed beyond comprehension and called out our gratitude for people who are so open and ready to form new relationships with wandering travelers. 

28.10.2013

• Out last day in Dharamshala and neither Else or I want to leave. We pack up our things and hold them at the desk with the two men Else has been sharing guitar lessons. We walked into town and grabbed two orders of masala dosa and sat singing in the window seat overlooking the center of McLeod Ganj. 
• We walked around town for a bit and stopped to say goodbye to Fra at his shop. We ran into Frankie and Nathalia who loaned me their computer to work at the one coffee shop in town with a generator and wifi access during the all city blackout. Else and I walked to make a donation at Dalai Lama temple and collect a few items to send home and then met Frankie and Nathalia for goodbye lunch at a Japanese restaurant. A man who teaches Jiu Jitsu lent Else and Nathalia two wooden swords so that they could reenact scenes from The Matrix. We were joined for lunch by a Brasilian man who has lived here part-time for 7 years, bouncing back to his homes in London and Sao Paulo. 
• Eventually the time came to walk our new pals to the bus and say a final goodbye. It has been such a pleasure getting to know these two wonderful folks and I am excited that they will be living back in the United States by the time I get home for Nathalia to finish a degree, probably near Frankie's home town in Ohio! Till next time, friends!
• Else and I walked home to get our things and then bought some last minute items and snacks before finding our own bus back to Delhi. Else bought us sweets to celebrate the departure which actually didn't sit well with my stomach but tasted amazing. So, we were off into the sunset and another city and another set of unknowns to discover and explore. Dharamshala will remain in my heart until I can return again (and I shall) as one of the most beautiful and intriguing places I have visited with the energy of an international community and movement for peace congregated in one small mountain town which takes the blending of cultures and traditions with grace.