I have spent quite some time in Bhagsu and Dharamsala area, over a month, and one can righteously wonder what I have been up to there, half-way up the mountain! Quite a lot, and not so much at the same time, really! I have had some activities, and relaxed a good bit too.
For a few weeks I was volunteering for the Tibetan organization Lha which serves the exile community. I helped out with some graphic design work and it felt good to contribute my skills for a good cause and their gratitude was very rewarding. It was nice too to get in to the office in the late morning for a few hours work to get a structure for the day. On the way there, I often grabbed a newly baked full wheat croissant form amazing Lhamo’s Croissant, leaving me feeling very French as I munched on it along the busy street! When I had the time, it was also the nicest café to sit down. Earthy photographs from Tibet covering the walls, tiger-striped wooly mats on the floor to sit on, and every evening films about wizard Tibetan yogis or the Tibetan freedom struggle.
On a sad note; just at the beginning of my stay, there was a protest in Delhi in connection to the visit of Chinese leader Hu Jintao to India. Tibetans marked that ‘Tibet is not a part of China’ and in the cause of events a young man, Jamphel Yeshi, put himself to fire. He died after a couple of days from 98 % burns. Most of McLeod was solemnly shut down due to the sorrowful event and thousands of Tibetan prayers were sent to accompany his journey onwards. These kinds of protests happens continuously in Tibet, but this time the news seem at last to have reached the world media at a larger scale.
Six days of the week, Tibetan meditation centre Tushita offeres beautiful morning meditation sessions, altering between shamatha practice (one-pointed concentration) and meditations of inquiry. After I found it, I went to almost every session, only a few cold Himalayan morning rains keeping me in bed. The center is in the nearby village Dharamkot, which required a refreshing uphill morning walk through green barley fields, over rocky pathways, through a serene garden and past a couple of curious Indian cows and an indifferent goat.
Those Tibetans certainly know what they are doing! The instructions were very precise and useful – even if I have been working with meditation alongside my yoga practice for many years, I had quite a few details to adjust.
If in McLeod (later to be renamed McCloud), the Common ground café was an amazing chill out place. With an excellent menu, nice music and a library covering the Tibetan cause, it was easy to pass hours of rainfall outside with reading or with mind-stretching games of chess. I even beat my dear chess master once!
In the rain it was also good to go for a cup of butter tea, a Tibetan speciality. Most people do not like even the idea of tea with butter and a salty taste, but I have loved it right from the start when first trying it a few years ago in Auroville. For the original, yak-butter is used, but since it is not readily available some use ordinary butter, while the yummiest version is made with almond butter. Very nourishing and good when up in the mountains! Only available in McLeod.
Some short treks to overly romanticized waterfalls and a few day-trips to a monastery nearby were also part of my Dharamsala tapestry, and all along I had blessings and amazing angels by my side. I had intended to stay until the end of my journey, only heading back to Delhi a few days before flying out, but when each day someone new from the old Arambol crowd would turn up anew it started to feel like it was time to escape and I sensed I should do something else with my remaining time in India.. So when my friend came up with the wild idea of going to Kashmir, I did not hesitate to join.
