The Week before Diwali

Hello again:

The sun still shines here. This is a picture of my room (my side - not my roomies). Work and play seem to meld here.



Saturday I walked up to McLeod and then further to the Tibetian Children's Village for their 48th anniversary and to see the Dalai Lama. It took about an hour and a half but easier than waiting in cab lines. My bananas and PB sandwiches came in handy. I found myself seated across an athletic field from where the Dalai Lama would sit. I was on some concrete stairs with many others (including this small lamb that helped himself to a lap!


It was right out of Harry Potter - the school is divided into four houses - with flags and house head (one boy/one girl).



All four houses marched in and stood while the school band (70 strong) played. Then His Holiness came in and walked up to the top floor where he stood for the parade in of all the students. Some people gave speeches and then the Dalai Lama spoke for about 30 minutes. He looked quite well, just having returned the week before from New Delhi where he had had some gallstones removed.




This was more time seeing him than when he spoke. It seemed less "holy" but still quite special. The Tibetians have had this school here for 48 years and it is used to educate the children - especially orphans whose parents are dead or still possibly in Tibet. There was no translation- unfortunately. The whole thing was about three hours. I really enjoyed sitting with the people - they brought blankets, tea, food - the kids were dressed up in all their finery for the occasion. I sat among mostly Tibetians but had the good fortune to walk up and back with several groups who spoke English and we shared our tales.

The Dalai Lama then did the white scarf blessing with some of the special visitors and went off to a lunch (one of the women I hiked back with had gotten around back and almost ran into him- literally - she had a great picture!) Then I hiked down to McLeod for lunch (a tuna and tomato sandwich and green tea) and a bit of shopping. The on down to Dharamshala (total of about 4.5 hours walking - yeah for me!). I saw a huge monkey - he was grey and had more of a monkey than baboon look - I didn't stop to take pictures because others were throwing things at several of us from the trees - seemed like a good time to move on!

I walked through market yesterday and it was like being at the mall the day or two before Christmas - tons of people - shops full - many tables of sweets and firecrackers and diyas (oil and wick holders) for sale. I bought some plastic garlands for our room at the flat. I also ordered and picked up a new suit (salwar kameeze) in brown with embroidery - it is fashion to get a new suit for the holiday. Giving household good (stainless steel cups, tins, pressure cookers, etc is very popular). Many big ticket items come with several "prizes" - ie DVD players with 10 movies. Despite the traffic and crowds, everyone was quite nice - shopkeepers were very very busy and buses disgorged large numbers from outside the area - all set on doing their last minute Diwali shopping (Diwali starts Tuesday October 28). It is a holiday called the Festival of Lights. The small lamps are lit to keep away evil and the goddess Lakshmi is worshipped to bring prosperity to the family. Houses are decorated with lights (think how we decorate for Christmas), though only a day or two before the festival. Several days of festivities will follow Tuesday (we do not have our teaching assignments for three days).

In the women's group we celebrated one of our lady's birthday. She brought a cake and cookies and we made chai. We gave her a journal. She gave us Diwali presents of earrings! This is me and the birthday girl! The person with the birthday feeds small bites of the cake first to each guest to show affection. It is a sweet and touching ritual - they take it very seriously. All these women are so open in their feelings and affections - especially with other women. You can see that they lean on each other for support, a place to vent, play and be themselves before returning to their world of hard work and family responsibilities. They care deeply for each other and are open and warm to letting us into their lives and families.



I will be traveling up to Naddi (near Triund at 10,000 feet) tomorrow and then over the weekend to Amritsar (where the Golden Temple is - most holy spot for Sikhs). There will be four of us and I am sure my blog will be very long and full. It is hard to believe I have 17 days left here in Dharamshala - I am truly blessed to have this time and be able to do this.