A Good Resting Spot

After almost 3 months of travel we have settled for one and a half months in Dharamsala, India. It is the home of the Buddhist spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the exiled government of Tibet. Many Tibetans have fled China by walking over the Tibetan and Nepalese mountain range - some times walking for months - to settle in India until they can reclaim Tibet (from China) as their home.



It is a very interesting culture and religion that we have learned a lot about during our stay. From here we will travel north further into the Himalayas before leaving for Thailand but, for the time being, we were happy to unpack our bags and glad to not be spending long hours on cramped buses and trains!



We found a nice room off the main road with few other tourists. It has a lot of windows where we can see mountains from our bed (when it's not raining), a nice kitchen that we hope to cook our own meals in, and a clean bathroom with a HUGE but friendly spider. However, after our friendly spider took the liberty to invite friends (each one getting bigger and bigger), We have promptly chased them all out after a (human) friend told us that "they are only deadly a few days out of the year"... so the rest of the year they just hurt really bad?!?!?!



Other than our unwelcome friends we are really enjoying our stay in Dharamsala and everything here is going really well. Dharamsala was a lot to take in at first as it is much more westernized and tourist than the other parts of India we have been in so far... it is so weird to complain that because we too are tourists but it just felt weird coming from an area where it was hard to get around in and where we would go days without seeing other westerners to a city where everything was catered to westerners and it seems there might be more white people here than Tibetans. But now that we have found our grove we love it and think it will be hard to say good bye!



We are staying busy with various projects, too busy sometimes as we are having a hard time meeting our goals. It is worth it though because we are able to learn so much more from the people we have met working on the projects than we could have planned on. Both of us are really organized - sometimes to the point of being a bit anal - so it is a good lesson to learn to recognize and take full advantage of more meaningful experiences when they arise. As far as being busy... we like it....



Michele is teaching a beginner computer class every day (M-F) from 3-5pm. There are about 6 students in the class, and they range from knowing how to open a chat program but nothing else about computers to students who want to learn HTML (which she can't teach them) It's challenging to find a way to teach files and folders to someone who only knows basic English while teaching myself advanced programs like Pagemaker to keep the others busy as well.



Jason stays busy teaching an intermediate/advanced English class every day (M-F) from 3-4pm. There are about 30 students in the class, and they range from knowing hello/goodbye to asking me about the meaning of cynic. It's tough to know how much is getting through, it seems to be going pretty well.



Immediately after class there is "English conversation" which consists of brave tourists coming to face a Tibetan question firing squad. This is a really great experience, because you just talk for an hour and can talk about anything you'd like. Whenever we have a question about something we pose it in conversation class and have learned so much from the answers. Many people came up to us and asked us to tutor them in English and there are many non-profits in the area offering English classes. So in one of the classes we asked why it is that so many people want to learn English; there answers were: lack of jobs so there is nothing else better to do with spare time, want to share plight with others and English is often needed to do this, and the desire to move to the US (one child in the US can support the whole family in Tibet). They are not shy about asking us whatever is on their mind either... we have talked about gun control and poverty in America or why we think communism has offered less economic opportunities for its citizens than democratic countries do. I challenge you to try and explain your answer in simple English!



The people are just incredible, and the differences between our lives to date make it feel like we live on entirely different planets. Definitely a learning experience! We'll talk to people our age about their escape over the Himalayas and how they left their entire family behind (most people we met have no family in India and traveled here in their teens) and can't go back for fear of being thrown in jail (the Chinese government is afraid they have ties to the Dalai Lama)...and then they'll offer us tea or ask if we want to sing a song. For people who have met so many adversities in their lives one would imagine that they have become pessimistic about life or consumed with anger at the Chinese but they are the most genuinely kind, compassionate, and optimistic culture I have ever had contact with; never complaining and not thinking twice about offering everything they have.



There are two girls in that we met in class who have started inviting us to their home (one room with two beds and a stove top - toilet next door) after the class. They have hearts that we can't comprehend and that sometimes overwhelm our western boundaries - a very good lesson! They have shared with us their stories of the life they left in Tibet and their travels to India. One girl was 14 when she made her first attempt and, after finding a picture of the Dalai Lama on one of the girls traveling with her, was thrown into a Chinese prison for 14 days to interrogate her... 2 years later she tried again. The other girl is quiet but, when you listen carefully, has such a deep heart. In Tibet her cousin is worshiped as a Lama (a re-incarnated enlightened person). We could never have learned so much about Tibet from reading our Intro to Buddhism books!



In addition we are also working with some Tibetans one-on-one and our main commitment is doing random tasks for an organization that trains Tibetans in painting traditional thangkas and sells the final product in the states (detailed paintings of gods commonly scene on the inside of temples - www.tibetanpaintings.com). At first we felt like there was so many other things to do with our time because we had just come from the plains of India where the poverty is so intense that we had to debrief at the end of some days to working on the same types of tasks an entry level position would have in the US and for a family who economically, visibly does not need our help. Although, at first we felt we were not needed we realized that our work here helped to preserve a traditional Tibetan art that, other than this school and one other, is pretty much lost... we learned that that's really important as well. The woman we worked with welcomed us into her home and really made us comfortable. We have throughly enjoyed our conversations with her; she taught us a lot about the Indian culture that we would not have otherwise learned.



We were planning on leaving last weekend but found out the Dalai Lama will be speaking this week - so of course we postponed and most of this week we will spend talking with our new friends, starting to work on some of our goals, and hopefully learning form the Dalai Lama's wisdom - he's a pretty amazing man.


Our Friend Jem:





Our Friends Tashi and Palsto:






Two Tibetan woman at Temple





The Green Tara - a painting made by the studio we work for:





Pictures from around Dharamsala:





Pictures from Thangde Gatsal (the thangka paintings):

India angers bloggers as it cuts Web access

Many of you may have heard about the Mumbai, India bombings on the 11of July. The government claims that a terrorist group based in India, who they believe to "have ties with Bangledesh, or Nepal, so therefore is directly, or indirectly, funded by Pakistan", carried out the bombings that killed almost 200 people. We are a bit worried because the Indian government has pointed fingers so quickly and taken many people (we read as many as 200) into custody only days after the blasts. The two countries were in the process of scheduling peace talks but it now seems that India might pull out of these important talks. Other than the implications the bombings have had on India - Pakistan relations and the USs relations with both the countries we seem to be far away from any danger so there is no need to worry! You can read more about how the US is involved with these bombings at another entry below.



Speaking of our blog... we can no longer view or edit the site. It appears (the story follows) that the government has restricted the countries Internet access of a few large blogs - Blogspot.com included. If I remember correctly we are able to add postings by emailing our account... I just have to remember the name... otherwise we will be off-line until we reach Thailand... or until the country protests (which they do well).



India Angers Bloggers



As India's financial capital, Mumbai, observed a moment of silence Tuesday to commemorate the seven bombings of commuter trains seven days earlier, a blistering silence blanketed the Indian blogosphere. Last Tuesday's attacks in Mumbai killed 182 people and wounded more than 700.



For reasons yet to be disclosed by the authorities, the government has directed local Internet service providers to block access to a handful of Web sites that are hosts to blogs, including the popular blogspot.com, according to government officials and some of the providers. The move has sown anger and confusion among Indian bloggers, who accuse the government of censorship and demand to know why their sites have been jammed. Among the speculation offered was that certain blogs could be used by terrorists to coordinate operations.



Nilanjana Roy, a Delhi-based writer who runs kitabkhana.blogspot.com, a literary blog, called it "a dangerous precedent." "You have a right to know what is being banned, and why it's being banned," she said. "I can understand if it's China or Iran or Saudi Arabia. I'm truly appalled when it's my country doing this."



The ban, which has come into effect in recent days, means that people living in India are, in theory, kept from reading anything that appears on the blocked platforms, whether Indian blogs or otherwise. But the ban seems far from effective. Some Internet providers have blocked access. Others have not, and many more blog aficionados have figured out how to continue reading their favorite sites. One Web site offers help, by way of a free blog "gateway." "Is your blog blocked in India, Pakistan, Iran or China?" it asks, and goes on to offer instructions for outwitting the restrictions. That site was prompted by the efforts of the Pakistan Telecom Authority to block blogspot.com in February, as a way to prevent Danish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad from spreading.



It is impossible to know how many Indian blogs are affected. One blogger, Mitesh Vasa, from Vienna, Virginia, has documented "40,128 Indian bloggers who mention India as their country." That does not include those who do not name which country they are based in, nor others who identify their country of origin, as Peter Griffin does from Mumbai, as "utopia."



Another simular article:



India's burgeoning blogging community is up in arms against a move to block their web logs.

Mumbai Terrorist Attacks 7/11/06

The world has been a little extra crazy as of late with too many conflicts in the Middle East, the resurgence of violence in Afghanistan ( the very important return of Guantanamo Bay to national debate (http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4043353 ), and the terrible bombings in Mumbai, India. If you've been following the news lately, you have heard about the terrorist bombing in Mumbai, killing over 200 people. Fortunately, we were nowhere near Mumbai and are both completely safe. Our thoughts are with all of the lives impacted by the blast, and we sincerely hope that cooler heads prevail and the incident doesn't lead to any reprisal attacks that have been far too common in India's past.



I must go on somewhat of a sidetrack for a second and give some "in India" perspective on the Mumbai blasts... Michele and I were both amazed regarding the immediate (unsubstantiated) accusations from the Indian media towards Pakistan. Now the US media expresses it's own biased theories, but the Indian media made their opinions sound like confirmed fact. The level of suspicion and outright anger between the two countries is pretty sobering, and it seems as if people want Pakistan to be responsible. The fact that the bombers came from within India has hardly been debated (even though there were violent political riots in the days prior to the blast. This is all very dangerous b/c the two countries have already been to war and were currently making progress in peace talks. The Mumbai blasts have put all of this in jeopardy, and there are already indications that the relations have soured . Why all the agitation? Again, it is over the region of Kashmir, which has also seen increased violence as of late.



So why am I spending all of this precious email time going over the decades old India-Pakistan conflict? It's because the US has such a HUGE influence over both countries and is involved in the entire mess. The US is a lead backer of Pakistan's president Musharraf, even though it's debatable whether he has the approval of his own people, and India is becoming a key economic and strategic partner of the USA. It has been incredible to talk to the people and read the papers to see how much importance they put on the relationship with the USA...almost frighteningly so.



So here are some recent events that might have been hidden in the US papers that are of extreme importance here:



1) The US Congress is currently deciding whether to approve an agreement made by President Bush to give India access to US civilian nuclear technology (for energy...much needed in India). In return, India will open its civilian nuclear facilities to inspection (also important). This is a big deal, because India is one of the few countries not to have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (the others being Israel, North Korea, and...Pakistan) and current US law bans trade of nuclear technology with countries that have not signed the agreement. We are making an exemption for India. This is especially relevant given the current debate surrounding Iran and their insistence on using nuclear technology for domestic energy needs (of course debated by the rest of the world)
For more info: BBC News or New York Times.




2) While negotiating nuclear deals with India, the US is supporting Pakistan's military with a recent sale of 18 F-16 fighter jets. The US resumed sales of military equipment to Pakistan last March after suspending them from 1990-2005 b/c of Pakistan's nuclear program.



Now I recognize the reality of US policy in this region of the world, but all I'm saying is that we need to make sure to keep an eye on US policy in arming two nations with deep seeded anger for each other and a history already including three military conflicts. As if you didn't already have enough to keep your eyes on. :)

Hem Kund, Valley of Flowers, Amritsar

Photos from Hem Kund and the Valley of Flowers:





Amritsar Photos (clink on any photo for a larger view and to view all)

The Monsoon created a peitry dish out of Bikaner

Throughts yet to come, but here are the pictures:

The Blue City and Great Thar Desert

Story yet to come... but here are the pictures:


The Blue City:





The Great Thar Desert: