10/30/98

Namaste from India and Dharamsala:

Have found my way to the cyber-cafe here in the Himalayas. Very spectacular mountains, beautiful people and they have put me to work already! For the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, I am writing articles for the first issue of a new publication. I am reading up on their various activities and researching today and have already begun writing a background on the organization and its mission. So far, the theme of the trip is "you never know".

Spent my first 24 hours in Delhi in a whirl: The taxi ride in the dark, dusty, crowded, noisy - get the idea? all in an ancient "ambassador car" something vaguely old and euro-styled. This was Melissa's first trip to Delhi (the BIG city) since her arrival several months ago, so she was up for adventure. She has already spoiled me by being such a great guide and mixing Indian and western treats. We hired a driver to take us to Old Dehli for the day. This was of course an amazing thing: hot, Saturday morning, festival day (Divali, important like our X-mas) and starting at the largest mosque in India. I have learned the contrast between the street life and the private lives: the people are very neat and well-groomed and I hear their homes are well-kept, but the streets are the public toilets, literally and with all that entails. We hide our garbage, they just accept it. Just different. Walking through the streets of Old Delhi was not far off from the years of parking lot scenes at Dead shows. A few more animals (goats, cows, donkeys, chickens) and huge vats of Dahl (lentils). The mosque is quite spectacular - red sandstone and white marble, and can hold up to 25,000 for prayer, but not well-cared for. Other sites of the day included the Red Fort, also spectacular in its day and in very run-down condition now. We definitely stood out as westerners and I was still unprepared for the stares we received. Young men stop and gawk and some grab and harass.

Mr Singh was our faithful driver for the day and he toured us to other sites and was most gracious. Even in the most crowded scenes, we felt very safe. I have already come to respect the Sikhs. New Delhi has very wide boulevards and allows for some breathing room and it was good to see this after Old Dehli because it was more relaxing.

Our trip to the Golden Palace at Amritsar was amazing. This is in the Punjab region, we came by executive train which was clean and spacious. The scenery is of a great agricultural plateau with small communities and temples dotting occasionally. They are easily spotted because they are tall and shiny, whereas the homes are small, low and rather scraggly. Even in the fields, the Hindi women wear their colorful saris and the Punjab women wear their salwar kameez (pants and tunic with large scarf). The temple is the largest pilgrimage spot for the Sikhs. We took a 5:30am bicycley rickshaw to the temple to catch it at sunrise. It is a huge white marble fortress-style structure. The Sikhs combine elements of both Moslem and Hindi architecture, so you see a blend of minarets and archways and gem inlay designs. As you enter (barefoot and covered from head to toe) you can feel the cool calmness of the marble and then down the steps to an amazing vision: a brilliantly glowing golden temple floating in the middle of a huge pool. Even at this early hour, many people walking and praying and a few men bathing. The palace floats in the pool which is surrounded by a wide marble walkway, and parallel arches all the way around the square and then living quarters beyond. The chanting of the prayers (reciting their sacred book) begins at 4am and goes until 9 or 10 in the evening. Once again, in contrast to the filth, noise and crowded activity outside, the peace inside is palpable. Later, I could still feel the vibration and harmonics that emanate from this place.

Well, then off to Dharamsala by car. We are staying in a small guest house: I have the green room under the CHOCOLATE LOG CONFECTIONERY. Could that be any better? Weather is warm in the day, very cold at nite (no heat). We circle His Holiness's temple every morning for our walk. It is a bit strenuous, and I see these ancient Tibetan men and women at the same time every day. I am getting in better shape already. A couple of weeks here, then off to Delhi, Agra (Taj Mahal) then several weeks in Rajasthan.

Love Lynne

Namaste:

Back in Dharamsala after 5 days in Delhi. Whew, glad to be back in the mountains. Delhi is the 4th most polluted city on earth and I do not want to know what went into my lungs. They just switched to unleaded fuel as a test on 1 September. "IF" it shows improvement, they will implement in other big cities. I continue to be amazed at the bureaucracy: multiple receipt copies for muffins at the bakery, the very fine color directory of the National Museum, but very little open, the meters on the taxis that don't work and the roads continually under repair. Campaigning is going on so that is interesting to keep up with in the press. Also, the spin on world politics from this side is good. They think Americans are too full of themselves. Was glad to have Gore step up in Malasia; hope US can work on China in earnest.

Made it to all the key retail shopping areas in Delhi: all open air markets, from individual buildings in a beautiful courtyard setting to the step-among-the-dung-piles up to the counter and several in between. Am hunting for wine wherever I can find it. It usually comes in two colors. Red and white. That's it. I hear the embassies import their own. There are many luxury items here and many, many wealthy Indians to buy them. Only a few of the more sophisticated understand the "art" of selling and fewer still the concept of service. Most of it is quite the haggling or just amazingly aggressive. Have learned a lot about the rug, marble inlay and jewelry business with some very informed families. The marble inlay trade is controlled out of Agra (Taj Mahal) and the best artisians are decendents of those who worked on the Taj from the 16th century. The secret is in the glue, passed down only from father to son. Same in the kebab business; a guy thing. Equal rights for women exists in some sectors. Some of the best sights are the construction workers from southern India: In Delhi, the signs read "Men Working", but it is the women in their sarees that are hauling gravel and sand and using the pick axes. Watching them load baskets and burlap bags on their heads is quite the sight. Also, watching a woman roll dung balls along the side of the road while dressed in a colorful saree is also quite the contradiction.

The bus ride to Delhi was hilarious: 12 hours plus plus. Starts with burning incense, the Shiva shrine (about the size of a toaster) inside the cab, lit from within and behind the driver, a photo of HH the Dalai Lama smiling...all bases covered here. Left on Friday 13th which was an auspicious day, spent the morning attending puja (prayer ceremony of about 2 hours) with the nuns, last day of work and a beautiful sunset to start - what could be better?? The road down from Dharamsala for the first 2 hours is worse than many of the fire roads in the Sierras, so slow going. One way traffic means when any oncoming traffic occurs there is a stand-off to see who will move. At one stop, I opened my eyes to see one of the driver's aids half way out the window pushing on the passing truck and as that didn't work, hopping out and punching the other driver. Anytime one of the drivers or aids needed to pee, well we just make an impromptu pit stop. And then there was the pick-up/drop-off of locals catching a 10 to 20 minute ride. No wonder it takes so many hours. And you don't really get tired sitting since you really spend half the time out of your seat, bouncing and holding on. Maybe it was good exercise.

A day trip to Agra was fully arranged through the travel agent we found in Delhi. Good thing. Any spot where westerners are known to frequent brings out all the professionals and it is a nasty sight. I tried to take it in fun, but the young men are too aggressive and the beggers beyond description. Add of course the roaming cows and dogs and the pollution...The government recently closed all the brick factories in Agra because the pollution was affecting the Taj and possibly the fort. Don't know what all those people do now. There are some truly fine craftspeople here, but difficult to find. Some of the tourists are over the top too: one blond bombshell-type in capri pants, white sunglasses sitting in a side area viewing the Taj smoking...tsk, tsk, tsk (it is a mosque, so cigarettes, food, knives or electronics are not allowed). Gives all western tourists a bad name. Have also seen a few too many bike shorts, leggings and hot pants with tank tops. These repressed young men just don't know what to do. Now that Melissa's husband Jamie is here, his job is to make sure they keep their hands to themselves.

Next week off to Rajasthan. Will let you know what's new in the active social scene here. HH will have an audience in the next day or so and will let you know. Weather still beautiful fall and looking forward to getting back into my morning hiking routine in the clean air. Am brushing up on my Tibetan and Hindi. They speak Rajasthani in Rajasthan, so will need a few words there as well.

Love Lynne

Namaste:

Amazing hours into amazing days and on into weeks now, here in what has been a wonderful collection of adventures. Tomorrow we take off for the over-the-top trip to Rajasthan. Just received the final itinerary, completed via committee of many contacts and friends. So more as we go on. I hope to access e-mail from a few locations. We'll seeee...

Yesterday was spent travelling to the nunnery to say good bye, then to Norbulinka Institute where Tibetans learn and practice traditional arts such as thanka painting and woodworking all in a beautiful park setting with buildings structured like the buddha, with the monastery as the head and the arms as curved buildings and then into the park. Oh well, hard to describe, but the gold buddha inside is fantastic and the view from the top includes the mountains and the terraced fields. Very serene and dramatic. Then, off on a long ride on roads that we call creekbeds to get to Sherab Ling where a new monastery is under construction. It started in '92 and will be completed in '99 or 2000. We received a private sunset tour of the entire place including the biggest buddha outside of Tibet - covered in makeshift looking bamboo scaffolding, the artwork is exquisite, the best I have seen so far. Then up to some of the dieties rooms, the tiger room has interesting tiger patterns over all the walls and a beautiful carved tiger at the mantle. Then off to the scary room - skeletons in every possible activity, with all of the protector gods. The Tibetan Buddhists approach death straight on and skeletons, daemons and protectors are all part of the story. The craftsmanship is exquisite in every detail. The Rimpoche of the monastery (head lama) is also the designer and his family entertained us while he was away. Always there is milktea and cookies and then a meal with vegetables and rice and we are treated a such honored guests. Our taxi driver happened to be Tibetan, only one of three here in this province/state called Himachel Pradesh. He picked us up at 10am and got the best of workouts on the drive to each of our locations, then served as translator at the monastery and all around great sport. What a sense of humor and we kept him out until 10 that nite getting home. The roads are truly awful and scary and we just maintained our pact not to hit any sentient beings, however, the goats, cows and old men were a challenge all day.

Power outages are common, and today is not a good day for electronics - all our friends computers are crashing and well, since I'm on vacation, it doesn't really matter, I can just chum-chum around with everyone. Tibetans don't have schedules like we do, to stop by has no particular time association, low stress, at least in the realm of time. Stopped by Mel's place tonite for a poor gin, (have to have something when there is no wine). She is the journalist here from New Zealand who has been a marvelous friend and introduced us to all the great locals in town. We chatted with one of the many young men who has made the one-month walk over the Himalayas to reach either Nepal or India. The trek is perilous and many don't make it or survive with physical hardships. That stress doesn't show either. As I said, just a different perspective on many things.

The only thing I would want to have here is a trash incinerator. There really is no trash pickup and the plastic bottles, bags and potato chip wrappers are everywhere. Partly, I think this is the Indian way, and perhaps because the Tibetans are only refugees here, so they think this is only temporary. So far, temporary for 39 years. That time difference again.

Took some construction photos today on my morning walk. As I have said, whether it's under construction, occupied or abandoned is hard to tell. Nothing is ever finished here, just in one of those states, that all seem to look alike to me. The bamboo, the unreinforced brick, the mixing of cement like flour and water for pasta - in a mound on the street - and then the manual labor of moving dirt, rubble, bricks and rocks. The rebar gets transported on everything including bicycles (the most I've seen are 7 rods on one bike) and it all gets laid out in a lattice and connected by hand by little south Indian ladies in sarees. They say there are building codes, but I think you can just pay a fee to get anything approved.

Saying goodbye today is sad here in McLoed Ganj/upper Dharamsala. Oh yeah, hit the post-office today to send the books and fabric that may arrive in 3 to 6 months. I have faith it will arrive. The handicraft shop wraps the bundles and makes a muslin covering. Then off to the surly postmaster who makes you go through about three stages of moving it about 'till he finally accepts your money and then Bhudda only knows where the packages go or how they get to the seamail.

Found the breadman who bakes these beautiful large flat bisquits on a griddle and he is open early and I get them hot after the morning hike. With Nutella or apple jam we are styling with that grand coffee from Spinelli's. It traveled beautifully, as did the chocolate, and generated lots of smiles and yums.

We'll be up all nite and taking the day train and have a private compartment. Am here late tonight with Wangdue who owns the cybercafe. He is quite the gem, with a sense of humor with all varieties of international travelers - the bliss ninnies looking for salvation, the junior hippies looking for a happening, the students, the journalists and those just hiding out like me. It's the best.

Will see you all in December, hope to reach you from the desert, everything I read and hear makes it sound like another world from another time.

Love Lynne