Dharamasala and the Dalai Lama

Due to a little Delhi Belly on my part, we decided not to catch the bus with the gang, however the next day in McLeod Ganj (4km above Dharamasala) shortly after arriving we ran into them- the town is that small! McLeod Ganj is the residence of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet. This northern hill station was very much like being back in Nepal for us- definitely quite different to everywhere else in India. It’s a major centre for Buddism and Tibetan culture. We met lots of volunteers who worked on community projects focused on the Tibetan refugee community We ourselves volunteered one afternoon to teach English conversation class. It turned out to be actually more of an informal chat with some monks then a strict teaching class. Malachy’s student was pretty much fluent in English describing to him his escape over the Himalayans from Tibet, his beliefs and his daily routine. He was a most interesting character. Perhaps I started on the wrong foot with mine by asking was he married and did he have kids! His English level was low and he confided that he rarely spoke during conversation class thus I think he found this 'one to one' session a little intimidating. However, after establishing how many brothers and sisters he had and his favourite season he eventually became more talkative, telling me about his life in the monastery.

Generally, Tibetans escape on a harrowing two/four week journey walking only at night until they reach Nepal. There is a refugee center in Kathmandu, here they attend to the refugees’ frostbitten weary starved bodies. Sometimes limbs are amputated, unfortunately some Tibetans are sent back and the really lucky ones expatriated to Dharamasala and in the case of the monks and nuns, to monasteries in Southern India. My student told me how he was placed in a monastery down south but he didn’t enjoy the experience as he felt alien there. The climate was much to hot and flat for him. He prefers living in the Tibetesque McLeod Ganj where he is close to a fellow friend from his monastery in Lhasa. We learned a lot about the Chinese occupation of Tibet from the museum. Basically the atrocities are horrific and all we can say here is FREE TIBET.

It was really surreal visiting the government buildings of a country outside of that country! There is an office called ''Tibetan Torture Survivors Program- Department of Health'' We spent a lovely day breakfasting, laughing, hiking, chatting, dining, drinking and card playing with our jeep and bus friends. A fun farewell to Dharamasala. It ever you feel the goodwill urge to volunteer abroad, this is a cracking place to do it.