Friendship, mountains and temple

Today made me never want to leave. Rama invited me to her home in Nadi village past Kanyara. I met her and Manju in Kanyara near Punjab National Bank. Ronnie drove us up almost to the village and then we walked to her home. Her family is building a new home and her mother and sister-in-law were hard at work with the builder. They build with stones and wood. Rama and Manju took me into Rama's current home plied me with tea. Her mother and sister-in-law came in with little Ria and Dia 6 and 3 respectively and I saw wedding pictures. Rama fed me lunch that she had cooked especially for me. No one but me, her brother, and Rama ate..... After lunch, as we were walking to the river, Rama asked me why I ate so little at lunch, thinking I didn't enjoy her cooking. The food was delicious and I hope I convinced her that, because I don't work hard, I have a small appetite.
Rama, Manju and I waded in the river, which during monsoon swells to about 50 times its current size, and spashed water into the air and on each other. Ronnie called Rama and suggested we head back to the car where he was waiting. We walked back and Ronnie drove us about 15 minutes up the mountain to Khora where he parked and the girls and I hiked on up to a temple set on the edge of a cliff. The girls believe in their gods with all their hearts and worship daily even if they do not go to temple. Manju starts her day with a prayer to lord Shiva.
They prayed, I payed my respect and we sat looking down into the river, across at the slate mine, and up towards the higher Himalayas where a storm was forming. I truly feel like a dream has come true. I now feel like I have been in the "real" himalayas and even more marvelously have been accepted and befriended by beautiful, intelligent, loving people.

A monk, a lake, and friends

It was grey,rainy and quiet today. The entire other group went to Manali yesterday afternoon and won't be back until tomorrow night. Ahhhhh..... Bonnie, Sharmani, Deerij and I took a taxi to the Tibetan Library where Bonnie and I attended a Budhism class/lecture while Sharmani and Deerij hiked on up to Mcleodganj.

A very old monk talked and an older woman from Britain translated to the 30-40 of us (predominantly westerners of one sort or another) sitting on the floor. He talked of all the harmful, hurtful emotions and actions we have done in our multiple rebirths --- essentially we have done and felt everything that is bad and harmful. The point of the talk was that we need to ask for help from budha and bodivsitas (?) enlightened beings, truly regret what we have done and clense(??) our thoughts and actions and start sending out "waves of virtue" to help redress or balance out the harm we have done. If we do it just for ourselves, for enlightenment it is still a good thing but will only last as long as we are in this body. If, however, we truly regret, change, and send out waves of virtue and positive actions for the good of every living being, then the positive will have repercussions past this individual life. He suggested we consider our thoughts and behavior immediately because lord death doesn't care whether or not we have tasks we still want to do or not. One of the images he used that I truly appreciated was when he was talking about how when lord death visits all our possessions and attachments, everything gets left behind and our mind (spirit) leaves these things as a "hair is pulled from butter" -- nothing adheres to the hair...

We met Dheerij (who is now officially my grandson -- his are "late" and he asked if I would be his grandmother; I happily accepted) and Sharmani in Mcleod, had lunch, and went on to Dall lake. Dall Lake is surrounded by deodor cedars and has three or more small temples. The lake is brown from all the rain and full of fish. I wanted to go on the ferris wheel without a motor. Deerij said they were charging too much so the young man operating it said two of us could get on for the price of 1. We got in the bucket and he tried and tried to get us in the air. Another young man came to help him, then an older man. The three of them couldn't get us more than 3/4ths the way up. They beckoned to Bonnie and Deerij who got in almost opposite us and it still too the three of them to get us all going. One things were in motion, though, they kept us going easily. We were all laughing hilariously. I think the three men were having fun too as they were also laughing.

On the way back Bonnie and I stopped off at Mcleod for some last minute shopping as we are leaving Thursday. I needed a duffle bag as my suitcase fell to pieces on the way here. It rained and we went to a cafe where we met a woman with a three year old (spoiled rotten but cute) daughter. The woman is/was a facilitator for conflict resolution and also does/did? documentaries for BBC. She and her daughter had been living in Goa for six months. She is trying to find a place where she wants to raise her daughter as she doesn't like the values in Britain anymore.

Bonnie and I went different directions, she is staying to hear a band from Dharamsala who take english lessions here, play tonight in Mcleod. I found a duffle bag, bought a Kashmiri rug from "Lucky" in his little shop up the stairs (I wasn't shopping for one....) and saw the same family who live off their daughter walking the tightrope and little son dancing for hours that were in Manali.....

Mukesh made me soup when I got back, Lalu explained some things about Hindu gods to me, and Sharmani and talked long after supper.
Tomorrow I get to go to Naddi village and visit Rama and Manju at their houses. I will very much miss Dharamsal, Mcleodganj, and most of all, the people here!!!

Rain and Fire

We are having pre-monsoon rainy afternoons. It is wonderful to have the air cleared from smoke for a while and for the temperatures to drop. It has been running 36-38 degrees Celsius many of the days this week. The wheat has been harvested and farmers are waiting for monsoon to plant rice and corn. The government forests are very dry and people with permits to graze their goats and sheep in sections of the forest have been burning off the layer of needles on the forest floor to ensure a better crop of grass for their animals. The hill behind us burned yesterday. I could hear the flames crackling from the balcony off our bedroom.

Monday was a 'holiday' and I was invited to a wedding feast. Due to communication problems, I arrived at 11:00 when the feast started at 1:00. I had an interesting time, however, sitting in a dark room (electricity was out in Kanyara as well as Dharamsala) talking with the brides mother, her sister, and the bride's auntie. Well we weren't really talking much but it was a good experience. The bride, Jassi, was married in Amritsar that day and would not return home. The feast was for her relatives. Anju came with me, helped me pick out a nose pin for Jassi, and then helped smooth the way to our leaving after an hour. The hospitality and friendliness I've experienced here is incredible.
Later in the afternoon, a new group of 15 volunteers (mostly about 20 years old) arrived. Things had been so quiet it rather felt like an invasion. We have gotten to know them as people during this past week, and, as one might expect, there are some pretty great young people, and, perhaps a couple who may not have been ready for travel to India. Brittany will be working with the women's group for 6 weeks. She's great. It makes it easier for me to return home.
Thursday David left and in the afternoon, Ronnie came in his taxi and took me up to Mcleodganj to Mr. Gupta's travel agency so that I could get a flight from her to New Delhi on 4, June. Fortunately Ronnie waited so he could take me back down the hill. There was a magnificent storm while I was in Mr. Gupta's office. I watched people close up their stalls and race for shelter, dogs crawl under the closed stalls, and a disconcerted bull march down the street annoyed by the hammering hail. David's flight was cancelled, so he had to take an all night taxi ride to New Delhi.....
Friday night Bonnie and Jerra, needing peace and quiet, rented rooms in a guest house in Mcleodganj. Sharmani and I went up also and we four had dinner, shopped a little, and Sharmani and I came home. That was my first evening out while actually in Dharamsala. Last night Anil, the director, invited us to his home to meet his wife, two daughters, and his father who are visiting for a month from Jaipur. An incredible family, great evening, and lots of fun and good conversation. We (Bonnie, Jerra, Sharmani, and I) had a wonderderful time, and again, the hospitality and genuine kindness couldn't be surpassed. We returned at 11:30 PM...curfew is 9:30 :)
The new group had a picnic today. We stayed and enjoyed a quiet late morning and afternoon!!!! Its storming now. I'm taking the day off. Going to read "Holy Cow."

Manali Pictures

Morning view from the balcony of the Dragon Guest House in Old Manali.

Manali is a major tourism location in Himachal Pradesh. Paragliding, whitewater rafting, honeymooning. It is also known as being rather like Amsterdam.

Women washing clothes at Beas River.

Snake Charmer. Yep. Those are cobras.

Women worshiping

I really grabbed the Yak by his horns.

Manali

We returned from Manali about 7:00 this evening. Rakesh and Mukesh had pizza waiting for us. They, Anil, and the rest of the staff have been madly working all weekend preparing this house and the one next store for the new batch of volunteers coming in tomorrow. Dynamics will be quite different. We have been incredibly lucky so far.

Manali is a 6-7 hour drive of about 170 km. We only saw one bad accident - bus and a little car. We arrived after much had been taken care of I think. Forest fires along the way, but ground fires, not serious ones. Saw a hydroelectric Dam and reservoir in an incredible river valley. People trying to pull down a tree they had chopped a wedge into. The tree had ropes attached to it and we went under the ropes...they stopped pulling for a bit. They would then pull it to the side of the road, cut it up with two man saws and then turn it into lumber. We saw women using a two woman saw making planks out of the trunk of a tree.

There is old and new Manali. We stayed in the Dragon Guest House in old Manali. Great Place. $14 a night with TV, $12 without. Since most rooms had tv's (with no reception) it all was a moot point. Shamani and David went Paragliding. I sat by the river and watched women was clothes and communicated, in sign language, with a little girl who came and sat on the rock behing me.
David and I went to the large temple where a festival and carnival (ferris wheel, viking ship, creepy carrosel with only Santa Clauses) were occuring, a museum, and then we all went shopping in New Manali where the festival continued and the streets were closed to traffic. Saw a little girl tight rope walker, found the Tibetan Temple and a gigantic prayer wheel.
A nice man from Isreal named Isreal made friends with us and talked with us about philosophy and CCS while we ate breakfast. He and his wife were three months in India last year and have been here a month already this time.
I saw snake charmers charm three cobras..... ugh!

Successful Women

I asked the women today to tell us about some women they consider to be successful. The women they talked of are as follows:
Indira Ghandi -- first woman Prim Minister in India. She gave land rights to the poor people and gave women the right to vote. She was Brahmin but married a Moslem. She was broad-minded, brave and fearless. She did politics without "pressure" of men (ie. she wan't just pushed into it by father, uncle, or some other man -- it was her choice.)

Queen Luxmibai: Her husband died and the British East India Company didn't want her baby, adopted son to ascend to the throne. They wanted the kingdom. She was a famous freedom fighter in the uprisings of 1857. She fought the British with her little baby son on her back. A British solder sliced across her right shouder and chest. She switched the sword to her left hand and continued fighting until she died. The kingdom of Jhansi was named for her -- it is now part of Rhagistan.

Kiran (sunlight) Bedi: An Indian Police Service officer who did many good things for prisoners in jail. She thought they were human and had many circumstances surrounding the crimes that took them to prison. The prisoners were treated by the government as animals. She started meditation camps and prayer for the prisoners, let them listen to music, take dance classes and other training. She resigned when a man was put in the highest position in the Service instead of her. She resigned and started an NGO working for women. She also started a series on TV in which she is the actress and solves cases.

Prativha Patel -- the current first woman president of India.

Sonja Ghandi - President of the Congress party.

I asked the women what characteristics successful women have. The qualities are as follows:
Education, independence, self confidence, considers others as equals, is concerned for and acts for the poor and oppressed, selfless, capable of making decisions, thinks for herself rather than having her thoughts based on what family or government says, brave, accepts challenges, and becomes like whomever she is working with (e.g. if she is working with children, becomes like a child; if she is working with poor, becomes as they are.)

I also asked if a woman had to do big things like becoming Prime Minister to be successful. The unanimous answer was no, that their mother's were successful. Their mothers were brave enough to see that their daughters studied English even when others said, what will that girl do with English. Their mothers face hardships because of the time the women take to come to learn English. Their mothers have faced and do face many difficulties and don't want their daughters to have to face the same ones, but want things to be better for their daughters. The women are the heart of the family and hold things together.

I was much moved by the womens' view of success. What wonderful qualities to aspire for and to be developing in themselves!!!!

Mcleodganj and Palimpur Area

CCS staff and Dharamsala volunteers at Palimpur in a totally serious activity. The Palimpur home base is at Green Acres Resort.

Behind the resort some of the wheat has been harvested. Some is yet to be cut and winnowed.

Shiva's temple about 17 km from Palimpur was built in the 8th century. The carvings are amazing.

At a temple that was built later and is nearer Dharamsala, monkeys were hanging out and having a party with temple visitors who came to worship.

The temple has a pool with little paddle boats. I'm not sure of the boats' significance, but they looked like fun.

Mcleodganj near taxi stand.

The main juncture from the restaurant where I had poached eggs and rice. Yum......

A couple of monks coming up Temple Road from the temple. The Dali Lama arrived Saturday and will be around for a week. Jera saw him as he went though Dharamsala.

What really goes on at the Pakistani border

Dancing in the street.

Home, Placement, and Wedding Next Door

Lat night was the second night of wedding festivities at the neighbor's (two houses away). The music was preferable to that which they played till midnight the Wednesday night. Wednesday night they either had a not very good DJ or were playing one minute of one song then switching to another. Yesterday and last night they had a live band with a great clarinet and some drums. Rakesh said that this was the groom's home and that today they would go to the bride's home for the wedding ceremony and then bring her back.

The decorations for the various weddings that are going on are truly colorful and fun to see. People have a great party for 3-5 days. This is the neighbor's house in the daytime.

View from our house in the late afternoon.

Madhu, Arti, and Nela all dressed in blue today. They and the other women that came later role played and practiced conversations one would use if shopping for dupattas or t-shirts. They giggled a lot.

The terraced land behind our house. Often there is a cow or two or a couple of donkeys grazing there. This is the view that I see from the balcony next to my bed every morning. Of course, sometimes it isn't sunny ....

Some firsts -- also a part of life.

1. On the way to the Pakistani Border last weekend we saw an accident between a man on a bicycle and a motorcycle. The man was unconscious and bleeding profusely from a head injury. Two other men were trying to help him up and out of the 'highway'.
2. Yesterday on the way from home as we were to cross a bridge over one of the rivers from the mountains, I looked over near where garbage is often burned. There is a small pavillion lower toward the river. There was a fire there. Ashuni said that they were burning a body. I asked if the ashes would be put into the river there and he said no, they would be taken to the Ganges and given to the river there.
3. I visited the local hospital today because I have caught a cough as have many others, from traveling, different climate, smoke in the air... The hospital is of cement and has cement benches along the wall along the hall for patients who are waiting. Families usually come with someone when they are going to see the Dr. -- very supportive. The Dr. is a lovely woman who may see as many as 250 patients a day. She is very skilled and prescribed cough medicine, pain reliever for my back, and decongestant. Goldy drove Anjul and I there and back. On the way back we stopped at a small open fronted medical store with an incredible array of different medications spilling from a gazillion compartments. The service was imediate -- quite unlike Walgreens. Total cost, about 6 dollars....
4. Rakesh made the equivalent of fry bread to go with lunch. He made a special one for me which I enjoyed tremendously after pouring honey on it.

Homebase

Friends playing minimum. A favorite afternoon cardgame.

The living room is empty as Dale and Maddy went to McCleodganj and others are playing cards, resting, or taking tabla lessons.

Our temporary home.

I am sitting on the back balcony looking up at the snowy peaks of the second fold of the Himalayas peak ove the foothills. Directly up the hill from me are terraced field where a cow or two or donkey occassionally graze. Some men above us are sitting in one of the level fields talking. Ah, it looks like as evening is deepening it might be time for them to head homeward. Yes, there they go. This small field is surrounded on two sides by an upper-middle class neighborhood. CCS is renting our house in this neighborhood. The house belongs to an official working in another city. Meanwhile, it is a great place to house all of us in one space.

Morning

There was a raging storm last night. Door slamming and opening with the wind. Lightening, thunder, rain, and snow on the high peaks. I went on the back balcony and saw Sun walking around the house. I went downstairs and outside where the Momma dog and one of the three puppies showed up. When Sun came in I asked if he stayed up all night. He said yes, that he walks around the house this way and that way making sure everything is well. Sometime he rests for a little. During the day he sleeps at his home. At night he makes sure we are OK. He said the rain was good for the wheat fields but the lightening was not. Everything is so clean now.

Bonnie put a new bottle of water on the water cooler. Rakesh said she was the first volunteer to ever do so. Otherwise, we all just call one of the people working here and say, "Will you put more water on." I asked Rakesh if he thought our taking photos all the time was strange. He didn't really want to answer, but then said yes, because we do it constantly. I asked if he visited American if he thought he would do the same. The response was essentially that no, he would look and experience and keep those things in his head. I think that, know that, taking pictures definitely puts a filter between us and our experience as well as distracts.

Kathy and other bird watchers would be in bird watchers paradise here. There are 556 different species of birds here. The yoga teacher has invited everyone to lunch today so is not teaching yoga this morning. Hence, I can be down in the living room just typing away. We are going to Norbulinka Institute this afternoon to see Tibetan Arts and Crafts. The institute was set up to keep those aspects of Tibetan culture alive.

Trip to Punjab and Pakistani Border

In the morning before we left for Punjab, our women's group took us to their nearby temple. We climbed down the stairs to play in the river.

Top to bottom: Madhu, Arti, Bandana, Rama, me, Inder, Aruna, Jitender, Nela and Pooja. Sometime there are more women, sometimes less.

The Golden Temple in Amistar. A most holy place for those of the Sikh religion. The temple has four doors. At the time it was built the caste system was an integral part of society. The temple has four door one through which each caste might enter. The Sikh belief is, however, that all are brothers and in the interior of the temple all are as one. Seeing the 'healing' waters of the lake, watching the people's devotion and reverence, and walking through the temple is awe inspiring

Wild monkey at Nurpur Fort. One grabbed Bonnie's Shalwar's. Today, Anil told us not to look them straight in the eye as they can be very fierce when they think we are challenging them.

And we often think we have a heavy load?? I saw one woman with a basket like those above completely full of freshly harvest grains of wheat.

When our two "tourist taxis" were stuck in the middle of the road surrounded for at least a mile frontwards and backwards with busses that parked in the road and let off the passengers for the rally, we were quite the amusement for those headed to the rally. We rolled down our windows, said Namaste, and smiled and were treated very nicely. "Fierce" looking people would melt into a smile when we smiled and said hello in Hindi. Well...of course, the smile wasn't in Hindi. Smiles are more universal.

Very mild traffic in Amritsar. Horse, carts, rikshaws, bicycles, motor bikes, tuk tuks, busses, trucks, van's, pedestrians all weave through and past each other. In the U.S. there would be road rage, here, acceptance and problem solving.

more later

I just got back from a trip to the Pakistan/India border out of Amristrar in Punjab. We saw the changing of the guard and lowering of the flag and, essentially an interesting cross between fair, rally, and party. We also visited the Golden Temple in Amristrar -- unbelievable, and got caught in a political rally for India's new Prime Minister on our way home. I am just overwhelmed by the patience, playfullness, and helpfulness of most people we have met here. I think the internet is fixed so maybe I'll be able to upload a couple of examples of driving here, images of the temple, people, and fort we saw on the way home. We were all majorly happy to see the white peaks, trees, and winding roads denoting our return to Himachal Pradesh. Especially happy to arrive at home base where Rakesh had some delicious pizza he made waiting for us.