From Gangtok to Siliguri to NJP Station to Delhi to Dharamsala and finally to Mcleod Ganj

I think it was about five minutes into the drive when I considered that I was paying for one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. I was saving about 30 dollars, at most 35. But by the time I reached Siliguri I had decided to spend that money on a hotel room with air-conditioning anyway. I sat with my heavy computer bag on my lap for four hours with nine other people in a faux Land Rover. This time the road between Gangtok and Siliguri was not blocked and there was hardly any rain. But when there's no rain in India, it means there's heat instead, hours of muggy sweaty heat. When I got to the train station I was covered in sweat, so much so that it felt like it was raining on me, but it was my own water seeping from my skin that dripped and dripped.

The train station experience was filled with small children heckling me to give them money. I gave out some and even some food, but they just kept coming so I took refuge in a cafe. I had been told to go early, which was a mistake. I had to wait for almost two hours and the train station is not a happy place.

Whenever people complain of the conditions in Tibet I now think of the poor in India instead. The situation, compounded by intense corruption and the oppressive caste system really has no comparison in China. Sure, there's corruption and there's racism, but I never saw members of a higher class laugh as a street sweeper on his hands and knees licked yogurt of the floor of a train. Nor did I see people chase beggars away by beating them. While I might not want to say the Tibetans should count themselves lucky, the truth is that their lives are far from the destitution of millions of Indians.

Right before I got this picture there were people down on the train tracks picking up bottles and drinkig whatever was left in them. One man found a small plastic bag with a little rice in it. The railway officials paid them no mind.

By the time I reached Delhi after a day on a train I was glad to have had an air-conditioned cabin. It was ridiculously hot, but I escaped quickly as I was able to get a flight to Dharamsala immediately without any reservation. My hunch had been right, the plane was only half full and due to regular traffic the planes seem to be in tip top shape, even better than the Nepali flights.

Arriving in Dharamsala, sweet ride huh?
It was easy to get a fixed rate cab up to Dharamsala and the cabbie even offered to wait while I checked a tourist office for information on hotels. For a few dollars I was taken from the airport to Dharamsala (a truly wonderful ride into the mountains full of views of the famous tea gardens) and then on to what is sometimes called Upper Dharamsala, but properly Mcleod Ganj - right to the door of a good hotel. I had a hunch that Mcleod Ganj was the place to be and it turned out to be correct. Dharamsala itself is like many little cities in India and doesn't seem to be a nice place to hang out at all, but just up the hill fifteen minutes is the small but beautiful home of the Tibetan Government in Exile. The roads in India are famous. Famous for being barely worthy of the term road. And there is no exception here in the Dharamsala area. It is always an amazing adventure to take a taxi up or down the steep curvey one lane road that is filled with people, motorbikes, cows, dogs, and cars of all shapes and sizes. In McLeod Ganj there is an abrupt change from an Indian world to what can only be described as Dalai Lama Land. The whole place is really only a couple of small streets but reminds me a lot of Kathmandu, although they call it "Little Lhasa". Before the Dalai Lama came here in early the 1960s there was almost nothing. An old hill station for the British to escape Delhi's heat, when they left the area was inhabited by a few local peoples but was in no way a foreigner's destination. Since the Tibetans have come the whole area is experiencing a kind of economic boom and all my taxi drivers have wanted to point this out to me. Although they are all Hindu they thank the Dalai Lama heartily for coming to their home.

The Kangra Valley from McLeod Ganj:

Here's a view of part of the town:

The view from HH DL's Namgyal Monastery

There are cyber cafes with Skype every few hundred yards and all manner of restaurants and shops catering to the traveling westerner. The streets are literally filled with young Europeans and Americans at the end of their summer vacation.

Here's the main drag:

The Free Tibet Campaigners are everywhere present with their flags and banners. I was walking down the street as the Tibetan Olympic Torch ran through and at first I didn't recognize what was happening.

By the end of the first day I was already a little fed up with the propaganda. This is the heart of the exile rhetoric, the heart of the propaganda machine whose tactics are almost just as absurd as the Chinese. The question for me is how not to become a complete cynic when people here seem to know little of the actual situation in Tibet and care only for some dream that they have created, a dream of a Tibet that never was and never will be.
One of the nights I spent in McLeod Ganj I attended a very interesting presentation called "New Realities in China and Tibet: After Protest." Given by Robbie Barnett of Columbia University, August 5th, 2008 at the Surya Hotel. It was an excellent talk where I met some really great folks. Barnett was well spoken and full of information. I also met the peeps from www.thetibetconnection.org and the Dutch woman I saw on the street in a traditional Chuba speaking fluent Tibetan.
Awards for best quote of the evening go to:
Bronze Medal:
"Where's my wife?"
"I think we've lost our dinner group."
"Oh well, I can always remarry." -Ronnie Novick
Silver Medal:
"Some people have said that if the Dalai Lama had been involved in planning the protests, everyone in Tibet would have protested. I think there is no question that this is a true statement." - Barnett
Gold Medal:
"Resettlement of 100,000 nomads because you want to protect the grass? You'd think someone would have expected social unrest." - Barnett

At the end of the presentation someone asked how many of the monks in the video Robbie showed of the protests were really Chinese military dressed up to incite unrest. Robbie stifled a smirk just in time and rather admirably responded with a long delicate explanation of the actual situation of Tibetan monks and Tibetan people. People here in Dharamsala are often completely clueless. Tibetan monks have never been anything like the Bhurmese or Vietnamese monks who defy authority with total conviction in non-violence. The simple fact is, Tibet people are a fiery bunch. Even many people who have studied their history seem to think that the battles between monasteries are ancient history unconnected to the current situation inside and outside of Tibet. Even after Barnett gave his explanation someone still said, but monks aren't supposed to do any violent acts. Although it has been a longstanding policy of the Tibetan government in exile to create a rosy picture of Tibetans it now seems to be backfiring because people don't really understand the needs and wants of the people they say they are fighting for. The people who circulated the photos claiming that military officers dressed up as monks and rioted are doing more to hurt the Tibetan cause then anyone. It is amazing to me that people call for truth and dignity and then try to use crude lies and insubstantial evidence to "convince" others to join their movement. But then, this is the suffering and ignorance of Samsara, and Samsara is known to be endless.
Amit on my first night in McLeod Ganj
Amit, the Tibetan speaking Hindu: "Marcus, I really feel that this society we live in, this world of consumerism and corporate living is going nowhere. This whole world culture is doomed...it's hopeless."
I was about to sign for the last available room in Pema Thang Hotel when a young Indian man walked in and asked if there were any rooms left. He spoke in perfect English and looked like an American college student, so as he turned away after hearing I had taken the last room I made an impulsive decision. The only place left was a beautiful room with two beds and a balcony overlooking the Kangra valley, and it was a little expensive. I had no idea who this guy was but he somehow struck me as a good person so I stopped him at the door and told him to take a look at the room. "If you want we can share it," I said. He hesitated at first and wanted to know if the owner was OK with that. He stepped back inside the office, turned to the Tibetan man behind the desk and started speaking fluent Tibetan. It was hilarious and I knew then that I had made a good choice. It turns out we were born in the winter of the same year and he lived in a small hill station village filled with Tibetans. He had even attended a Tibetan school until 9th grade and didn't have any non-Tibetan friends until high school. Amit now works in a call center in Delhi (currently for Orange, the European cell service giant). Amit is soft spoken and polite; he eventually explained to me that he had become so fed up with corporate life in Delhi that after work on Friday afternoon he just got on a bus and ended up in Dharamsala. He had no plans except to relax and take a bus on Sunday evening so that he could arrive an hour late for work on Monday morning. This was the first time he had ever traveled anywhere by himself. We wandered the streets together running into Ayoko from Tibet University and Brian from Where There Be Dragons. We ate Thukpa (Tibetan noodle soup) and sat on our balcony drinking glasses of wine. He was such a sincere person, clearly distressed about the world, and I was so glad to meet him.
If you are ever in McLeod Ganj for any reason, stay at Pema Thang or Hotel Green as a second choice. Nowhere else even comes close, Pema Thang is the best by far. It is run by Tibetans and the views from its rooms are excellent. The only downside is the lack of internet access (Really, I mean, expecting internet in a hotel room in India, who do I think I am?). Hotel Green does have internet, even in some of the rooms! But those go fast so book in advance.

Meeting with Dragons:
I met up with three leaders of a tour group from a company called "Where There Be Dragons" at the famous restaurant and bar, Mcllo's. Famous apparently because 007 (Pierce B.) had dinner there years ago and his picture is still up everywhere.

One of the most interesting discussions I had was with the Tibetan guide from Nepal who lives in Boulder, Colorado. He agreed with me about how most Westerners don't perceive the diversity of the Tibetan people (let alone understand it) and the fact that most Tibetans would not want to leave China even if somehow given a free pass. He told me of many people he met who had come to India for a better life and found business to be not so great so they returned home. It also seems that many people sneak back and forth to India or Nepal. I don't know for sure, but there must be some kind of "Underground Railroad." This man also said that Tibetans educated outside of China in India or Nepal face difficulties when returning to Tibet in terms of getting jobs when their Chinese is not fluent. In fact, he noted that people he knew who were the children of government officials and/or party members were far better off than those who "didn't follow the Chinese rules." It was interesting because as I made certain statements about what Westerners don't understand he was hitting the table and smiling in agreement and then gave an example of how different Diaspora Tibetans are from Chinese Tibetans: There was a man from Kham who "escaped" to Nepal and at the Tibetan welcoming office there he said he was going to meet with "the one whom you take refuge in" (he had meant his root lama). The people there took him all the way to Dharamsala to meet the Dalai Lama, assuming that this is who he meant. In fact, he was not of the dGe lugs pa lineage at all and was not looking for the Dalai Lama. Even Tibetans get confused sometimes because they forget that the Dalai Lama is not really considered to be the one true leader of all Tibetan peoples. This is just a part of the rhetoric used in Diaspora - dGe lugs controlled communities - and certainly because of the "Star Power" that the big DL has cultivated in the West.
The night before I met two men from Amdo who had escaped from China about eight years ago. I asked them if they liked it here in India and they made sour faces and said it wasn't so good here. They didn't like the food or the people very much and wanted to go back home.

Visiting His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa at Gyuto Tantric University
The main steps (above) looking up at the shrine hall and (below) looking down at the monks' quarters.
I woke up earlier than I needed and had breakfast at Pema Thang (Lotus Field). Surprisingly there was quite a bit of sun and a nip to the air. I was able to be comfortable in my blazer until around 10am when I found myself waiting in a large square room underneath the main building at Gyuto Tantric University. I waited with fifteen people from Hong Kong, one woman from Taiwan, and one Chinese-American from San Francisco. Lama Phuntsok and his mustache arrived around 10:30 and although we had only met once before it was like seeing an old friend. He was very kind and even his mustached smile was somehow calming. By this time I was getting antsy and excited in a rather nervous way. I had been practicing some things I would say to the Karmapa in Tibetan and was trying to think about how to phrase my question. I kept repeating phrases in Tibetan in my head, hello my name is... I am from... I have studied in.... I have a question but sorry I will have to speak in English to ask it...and so forth.
My passport was taken and the Indian guards wrote some information down in their books and searched me thoroughly. This was the first time I have been thoroughly searched since entering Asia. They didn't just pat me up and down and not ask what was in my pockets. They reached into every pocket and looked at each item suspiciously. By the way they stared at it, for a moment I thought they might not let me carry a packet of gum in my pocket. Eventually everyone was made to stand in a line in the hallway. I was alone and everyone else was in one group so I was made to stand in front. I dutifully followed our Western-dressed guide up several flights of stairs, stopping to take off my shoes and then halting part way up the final stair case. We waited, and waited, and just as my mind began to wander and I realized I really needed to go pee Karmapa walked quickly by the doorway at the top of the stairs looking down at us with his customary glare. Soon I was up on what seemed to be a rooftop balcony. I waited with Lama Phuntsog while the large group entered together. At first I thought I would wait quietly in suspense, but instead I struck up a conversation with Lama Phuntsog and soon other Lamas were standing there asking about Anna-Brown and chatting about learning Tibetan. They all remembered how hard she had worked for the Karmapa's visit to America and were curious to see who I was. All of a sudden the large group was leaving and in the door I went. I don't think Karmapa wanted me to go through the prostration business, but I did anyway. Then I received his blessing and a small manila envelope everyone gets when they visit. I sat on the floor near his couch and spoke a few sentences of Tibetan and then launched into my question.
The Karmapa seemed to be all business and I didn't want to waist his time. He listened patiently and thought about what I was asking him, but as soon as the answer was clear the interview was over and off I went.
I followed Lama Phuntsok down several flights of stairs again and into a back room that had a large map of the United States on the wall with all the dharma centers connected to the Karmapa's office clearly marked with green, blue, and red stars (red for Nalanda Bodhi). This same room had a small cordoned off area with two beds facing each other and another connected area with a kitchen. I sat on one of the beds as I was asked and assumed I was simply waiting for a moment while Lama Phuntsok checked on accommodations. Instead, I was given a 'latte' and then several other people came into the room and lunch was served. Soon there were three people sitting on each bed and Lama Phuntsok was sitting on a stool near the doorway. The conversation became lively almost immediately as someone's brother began arguing about something to do with a hunger strike that was happening in Delhi. Apparently six monks are refusing to eat as some sort of protest against the Chinese; this was day seven. I was trying to listen to all that was said but could only get a few ideas here and there. I felt very welcome there and although all of these people held somewhat important positions at the monastery, everyone was lounging around as if they were in a dorm room. In fact, the room was the size of a small dorm room and there were books all over the place.
Several people were talking loudly when Lama Phuntsok suddenly stood up looking like a frightened teenager. All of us tried to stand as quickly as possible as Karmapa swept into the small room. He gave a rather severe look to the group and I thought he was about to growl, but perhaps he saw me in the crowd and decided against it. He simply said "sit" (in Tibetan) and nodded at one of the men who followed quickly behind him as he swept out of the room as fast as he had arrived. To me he seemed every inch the monarchs I had read about in novels growing up. I could imagine the palace intrigues he endured and the political and religious decisions he was making every day. He did not seem to me to be a passive member of a religious organization; this was clearly his castle and he was clearly in charge. However, as I spend more time here at Gyuto I find myself wondering if this young man who holds the name Karmapa might not have any friends. Of course he has hundreds of thousands of "friends" (followers) and the lamas around him are certainly more than friendly with him, but does he have buddies he can just hang with? Does he have the time to 'just hang'? I hope that the Tibetan tradition has recognized the sacred right of all young men to just hang out sometimes. Perhaps not. He seems to be surrounded by people that are either teachers or advisors and he is himself a kind of political entity, never anywhere without his entourage. When I was in Tibet I saw the places he used to play and the large number of Lego sets he had, I bet he would have liked to have taken some of those when he escaped to India.

The main shrine hall at Gyuto, which is a Geluk tantric college built as the second Ramoche monastery (a place down the street from me when I was living in Lhasa).
The next time I saw Karmapa was in a line with a bunch of Tibetans and a few other Injees. Every so often all high lamas have to give public audiences and teachings. This week there would be no large public teaching but there would be a short public audience. In Tibet there would have been a few thousand people pushing and shoving each other to get closer and a hundred monks would have been enlisted to keep them in line and filing past Karmapa in some sort of order. Here there were maybe fifty or sixty people and still the old Tibetan grandmothers pushed and needed to be kept in line by large monks. (If you ever wondered where the fire of the Tibetan people comes from, you have merely to watch an ancient wrinkled grandmother trying to see her lama, they are the fiercest of the bunch and you should probably just let them cut in front of you.)
Everyone was filling past bent over out of respect and getting a little blessing and a red protection cord from the Karmapa. When he saw me he gave a little smile and asked when I was leaving, stopping the continual flow of the line. Then he said he had something for me to bring back to the USA. This is how I came to spend several days around Gyuto Tantric University, waiting to receive whatever parcel I was to be the currier of.

Gyuto is actually down below Dharamsala and doesn't get quite as much rain. So far it has been noticeably hotter but also sunny for part of the day.

The entrance from the reception area (above) and the walkway art (below).

Nearby is a cool place called Norbu Linka, named after the real Norbu Linka in Lhasa. Norbu Linka means Jewel Park and that it is. It is a kind of park and cultural center with art exhibits, a cafe, and a small museum (all closed for me of course, as it is the off-season). But the most interesting thing about the place is not what is inside any of the many buildings; it is the architecture and design of the place as a whole that is really fascinating.


My favorite spot:

Everything seems to be built out of stone and almost every single walkway and building is curved and rounded. The stones are set at all kinds of strange angles to create unique designs in the pathways and on the walls. Many small flat stones are set on their side to create uneven ground that looks far more interesting than smooth marble or cement.

I wanna live here:

There's also running water everywhere.

Japanese Koi Pond with a cool Tibetan feel.

More coolness with rocks

The Norbu Linka has a shrine hall of course, but inside infront of the huge Buddha statue was a pile of chairs and tables set up for some kind of meeting, which you usually don't see in a monastery. On one of the chairs I found a pamphlet about recent responses to the protests in Tibet and a bunch of half-true information about what is happening there. As I exited the shrine hall there was an old nun doing prostrations and it occurred to me that politics and religion have always been connected in the Tibetan mind.