Pictures from Dharamsala - the pretty ones

Big prayer wheels outside the temple 

Hailstorm for fifteen minutes

Dogs and cows chillin' at the dumpster

Solidarity protest

Solidarity protest

Walking to Bagsu

Walking to Bagsu

Painting outside the library of works and archives

Snow lion outside the temple where the state oracle lives

mountains in the distance

Pictures from Dharamsala - of the political persuasion

In the temple complex, the child's whereabouts are unknown, making him the youngest political prisoner

The national martyrs' monument, which is the first thing seen when entering the temple complex

A picture from the museum of tibetan children in communist uniform

sculpture in the museum 

solidarity march for self-immolations

the parliament in exile, not so grand

salvaged ancient texts are housed here

More of the secretariat in exile 

Ministry of foreign affairs, shares its office with another ministry upstairs

signs put up all over town

Bo sha lan?

Bo sha lan? Bo sha lan? I was walking with the two women I met in Dharamsala to drop one off at the bus station. We were laden with bags and walking a bit past the auto rickshaw stand on Holi. But it was Dharamsala, so as everyone was Buddhist, there wasn't much paint throwing about.

Bo sha lan? Five or so men were asking. My friend who is exceptionally nice tried to figure out what they were saying, to no avail, their accent was too thick. I assumed they were selling something and, a result of seven months in Delhi, said 'no' without looking and kept walking, my gaze strait. Finally as it was repeated over and over I finally got it: One night stand? Pleeease pleeaase one night stand with me? My friend laughed imagining if one of us just said, 'sure, okay.'

My friend who was leaving traveled in India all last year, and has said that it is normal in a lot of areas that there is no sex before marriage, so the men watch porn, and then assume western women to be down for that. I'm not entirely sure how they maintain this assumption when (I'm guessing) no woman ever reciprocates their pleas for one night stands. To me this is kind of like watching sci fi and then expecting cars to be able to fly. And if I were to make assumptions from the bollywood movie I saw on the bus up to Dharamsala, I'd have to imagine all Indian women to be high maintenance gold diggers. I find it very odd. 

The Dalai Lama

Yesterday and today I got to see the Dalai Lama. Yesterday, my friends and I woke up at four forty-five and carried our blankets down the steep stairs near our hotel that lead to the temple complex. We were searched, quite thoroughly (we had to leave our cameras and phones at the hotel), before being admitted into the temple area. The first time I saw him, it was at a prayer for his long life. All the Tibetans were in their traditional finest, which was great to see.

Today, we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit until five fifteen, before making our way to a talk he was giving. We all had little pocket radios with the translation of his talk, and the translator would often laugh at the jokes before translating them or get distracted, one time admitting he had missed it and had to get it from a fellow translator). The talk was a basic introduction to Buddhism, though with the translation and the uncomfortable squished sitting on the cement ground often went over my head. It was still pretty cool.

We made our way downhill to the secretariat of the government in exile, a collection of standard Indian style (questionable maintenance but habitable and nicely painted signs) and to the library where the salvaged ancient texts were stored and studied. I was happy to finally indulge in my aspiration to learn tibetan by picking up textbooks and audio cds.

Walking around in a Tibetan community, specifically so close to the government in exile, truly uncovers the futility of ideas of coercive assimilation. Whatever the situation in Tibet, Tibetans continue to practice their language, culture, and tradition with increased fervor. Walking into the temple complex the first thing to see is a huge monument to Tibetan martyrs. There are solidarity marches and solidarity hunger protests for the victims of Chinese shootings and self-immolators. Patriotism, at least as I view it, is reactionary and powerful, even among youths born in exile, though who interact daily with those who have made the life-risking journey into India.

I have one more day before I return to the heat, the homework, and the short amount of time that await me in Delhi until my mom comes and I finish school. Moods come and go, but right now I'm just getting tired and am ready to go home. The overwhelming longing for a washing machine has worn off. I've bought everything I want to give people, and everything I want for myself. And now its getting close to that time. But I'm sure to find more things to do, more things to see, and experience, before my time is up.

Me and the girls I've been hanging out with

Some patriotic fliers on the street corner

Dharamsala - incredible day

So I don't really know where to start for this day. The plan, filled with typical tourist kind of things (seeing some tibetan medicine, tibetan astrology) went out the window pretty early in the morning. Even the visit to the Tibetan Children's Village in Dharamsala (in which I felt very uncomfortable because first of all, its like going into someone's house and taking pictures, or in this case, a high school that isn't your own, and secondly because I think one girl I live with in the college hostel lives here otherwise), wasn't open for volunteering.

So my friends and I went to go speak with some political refugees who are learning english. I talked with a twenty-something farmer from the province of Kham, who participated in the 2008 uprisings, and as a result was shot in the back (the bullet went into his stomach) and in the arm, which shattered his elbow and he now wears a sling. After the protest, he escaped to Nepal, by way of tractor trailers and hiking in the mountains for one year, one month, and twenty-seven days, before reaching Nepal and paying a bribe to get papers to travel to Dharamsala. He's not able to work, due to his arm, and he only spoke Tibetan before coming to Dharamsala, so he is on a little scholarship program to learn English and Chinese. In 2010 he went to Taiwan to talk about Tibet. He wants to teach people about Tibet and tell his story, and hopes for a day he can go back home.

Before the official class time was finished, one Tibetan student stood up and made an announcement, followed by an english version announced with difficulty and to the general amusement of his classmates (whose english was no better, but who all found it riotously funny). Yesterday, a woman self-immolated in his town, and there was a solidarity march organized by the local nuns, and we were all invited to come. The protest, which was filled with flags and candles and singing, done I believe both for publicity and also social solidarity, was an amazing thing to see. It looped the main center of town twice before heading down to the main temple area and ending at the Tibetan National Martyrs' Memorial (interesting to note thats one of the first things you see when you step into the temple/museum/dalai lama's residence grounds).

I have some videos I will try to put up when the internet is better - here is one picture for now

Would you move to India? Would you move to the US?

I've recently had a few conversations with friends about living in the US and India. Despite having grown up in India all their lives, they still see the ridiculousness of the bureaucracy, silly rules, being so late, and all those other things that make living in India just the slightest bit, or sometimes greatly, more difficult than living in the US. But a lot of my friends don't think they'd ever want to live in the US, which they view as being clean, efficient, regular, and boring.

One friend of mine explained that she doesn't know what would make her life interesting if she didn't have someone cut her off driving to work and yell some hindi expletive at him. Another explained that life isn't uniform, regular, or easy, and that India reflects those aspects of life that living in the US hides.

Maybe I'm just too desirous of peace and quiet, but I don't think I'd like to live in India, which is exciting and filled with wonderful people, but perhaps a bit too much for an entire lifetime. 

Setting off to Dharamsala!

My life feels like a countdown; I got really excited when I realized today that its March. But thats partly because my birthday is in March, which makes it a generally exciting month.

Its also exciting because on Saturday I'm spending all night on a bus going to Dharamsala. Planning on seeing the Dalai Lama speak and poking around the Tibetan Government in Exile if I don't feel too awkward. Oh, and did I mention money spent at Tibetan craft centers goes to the refugees? Thats an incentive to buy tibetan handicrafts if I've heard one.

My friends, realizing I'm leaving so soon, are giving me lists of places to do and visit. Really when I get back from this vacation I have less than two months in India, and I'm really happy I've gotten to go to all the places that I have. There are always more places to see in India, but I'm content with the amount of traveling I've done, food I've eaten, things I've bought. The rest is a few check-offs, treats saved for the end, souvenirs, and extra niceties. While I'm eager to get back home to the dogs and family (I've gotten made fun of for putting it in that order, but who can blame me?) I think I'll mostly miss the people, Indians and ex-pats, and wish I had more time with them.

But anyways, pictures to come from Dharamsala! (and hopefully the Holi celebration too :)