Nirvana, Samsara, McDharma

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  McLeod Ganj, India
Sunday, August 20, 2006

I left Delhi on August 10, taking a sleeper class train up to Pathankot. I had initially planned to go visit my college pal and former housemate Hotfoot some time after August 15, Indian Independence Day. But he swiftly informed me that His Holiness the Dalai Lama would be giving a 5-day teaching from the 14-18, so who was I to skip out on that?!?

The New Delhi train station was much easier to navigate than I'd expected, especially once an off-duty Indian military officer provided me with a mini-orientation on the inner workings of the Indian train system. I was placed in a compartment with two other Westerners-Fabian from Germany and some European tour guide who was a bit more tight-lipped-plus a gaggle of Indian men. Partly due to uncertainty about my security, partly due to excitement about the trip, and partly due to the guys who would jump on the train at pretty much every stop (even the 2 a.m

A sign from the heavens

. stop) trying to sell stuff ("Chai! Chai! Chai!"), I didn't manage to sleep all that much on the ride up. Instead, I was back down on the bottom bunk staring out the window at the first signs of daylight. The Indian countryside is beautiful-quite lush really, but with no lack of people and interesting sights: still all manner of vehicles/travelers welcome on the roads, people having their morning bowel movements right there in the corn fields next to the tracks, exotic-looking temples and shrines springing up inexplicably here and there, etc.

Fabian and I seemed to buddy up together, and he'd had a good bit of travel experience (including five months on a previous trip to India), so I accompanied him to the Pathankot bus station once we arrived rather than trying to take a second train down to Kangra with the more surly European. The bus ride was a bit harrowing, as it turns out that we picked the rainiest month of the year to visit the rainiest region of India, so there had been numerous landslides along our route. Plus the fact that it was a local bus and therefore made constant stops to pack ever more people on-board, so it was a looooooong, somewhat uncomfortable and harrowing bus ride. But the scenery was gorgeous-HELLO HIMALAYAS!!!-so I didn't notice the harrowing bit so much. Every turn yielded some of the most dazzling vistas I've ever witnessed (complete with monkeys!!), yet frequently left one wondering whether we might soon be experiencing said vistas firsthand as our bus went plummeting over the edge

Chasing rainbows

.

Friday afternoon we arrived in McLeod Ganj and met up with Hotfoot, who took me to meet the Tibetan family and the two European fellers (Kries-Dutch, and James-a Brit) he's been living with. That night we let the games begin at a rooftop bar called "McLlo's," where we met up with two other Brits and a Dutch woman that Hotfoot knew and drank Kingfishers/shot pool till the wee hours of the morn. Ahhh, it was nice to throw down for the first time in a good little while, even if my throbbing skull didn't appear to be in agreement.

The weekend proceeded with lots of grand little adventures-a nice hike up into the surrounding mountain communities with Hotfoot and James; exploring an exquisite Tibetan Buddhist temple and museum; and scoping out some good seats for the DL's Teachings, which would begin on Monday. Some favorite moments included watching the Buddhist monks in heated debate down at the Namgyal Gompa, and crossing paths with a group of teenage Tibetan boys boisterously singing classic George Michael while on their own little romp through the woods.

I can certainly see why the entire Dharamsala area has been branded "too touristy" by the snobby backpacker scenesters; and sure, I'm a little bit embarrassed at just how enthused I was to be in the company of so many young Westerners for the first time in a good while

Circumambulating the DL's temple

. But at the same time, I really enjoyed the place. I have never been somewhere before where there was such a cosmopolitan, free-flowing mix of young people, all together on a collision course with Nirvana, Samsara, and McDharma. I was particularly impressed by the informal "jam sessions" we attended, where one could be treated to young folks from any and every corner of the planet-playing foreign instruments, stepping to unfamiliar dances, and reciting poetry and song in all manner of accent and language. Friends I made who had spent a bit more time there than I quickly humbled my enchantment with the place by pointing out all sorts of problems I should've already caught onto-especially as someone who grew up in the shadow of a tourist economy myself. Yet still, the enchantment remains, and I sincerely hope I can spend a few more weeks up there next year when I return to India. Besides, there is most definitely a qualitative difference between a tourist economy built around Tibetan Buddhism, Vipassana meditation, and Ayurvedic massage, and one built around Mickey Mouse. It's actually a quite interesting concept: spiritual tourism.

The DL's Teachings were mostly over my head, as I went there looking for "Buddhism 101" and he was clearly aiming at a more advanced audience. I picked up some writings by His Holiness at a local bookstore and on the internet, and that's definitely helped out a good bit, so hopefully I'll get more of a grasp on this Buddhism stuff eventually

Inside a Tibetan Buddhist temple

. But to be honest, even without the talks, just to be in the man's presence, not to mention that of several hundred (thousand?) devotees, was incredible. There we were, sprawled out on every possible square foot of ground/concrete surrounding the temple, listening to him and watching one another. From where our group was sitting I could actually see the DL pretty well, and regardless of what I think of Buddhist metaphysics, the man is obviously a sage. He has this truly divine presence about him-something my friend Pam had already pointed out just from watching some of his interviews on T.V.

My routine throughout the Teachings was to walk to the temple with Hotfoot at around 8:30 a.m. (after having breakfast with our family), chill there till about 6 p.m. (with a small break for food between sessions), then head back down to McLeod for dinner, discussion, and whatever lively activity the evening had in store. That week I got to know James and Kries pretty well, and really just met a lot of great folks that I thoroughly enjoyed talking to. One nice side-benefit of living in Delhi, now that I'm back and have been kind of jonesin' for some McLeod action, is that a lot of these kids are passing back through here on their way out of the country.

So yeah, one week left in Delhi, plenty of writing, reading, and preparing to do for my big jaunt out East, with maybe some nice socializing thrown in. Then it's off to Red China!!

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Inside the DL's throneroom	McLeod Ganj from on high	Midnight train to Pathankot	Nice spot for a cup of chai
Reserving a spot for the Teachings	Street scene in McLeod

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