Monday, April 30, 2007
Dharamsala/MacLeod Ganj
MacLeod Ganj, the upper area of the town of Dharamsala is home to the Tibetan government in exile & to the Dalai Lama. It was just over 30 km from Sungal & a scenic 2 hour bus ride from Palampur, so we felt that we couldn't miss the opportunity to visit it & we're so glad that we did.
We walked the 3 km road that winds up 1000 metre through the Dhauladhar mountains to arrive in the bustling main streets of MacLeod Ganj. Of course, it was hot & sunny on the trek up but as soon as we got to the town, the clouds blew over. We were shivering over lunch on the terrace of the Om Hotel, but breathtaking views & wonderful Tibetan soup & dumplings, not to mention syrupy ginger, lemon & honey tea, more then compensated.
The whole town had a great atmosphere & we felt as if we had crossed a border into a foreign country, the Tibetan influence was so strong. The highlights of the weekend were visiting the Tibetan Buddhist Temple Complex, wandering through the streets past the Tibetan & Kashmiri market stalls, sampling the delicious foods available, using the amazingly fast Internet & having a cup of chai with 2 cheerful & friendly Buddhist monks. Thupten Namdol & Choekiy (pronounced cheeky) Niyama were in town for a month to further their studies & to attend lectures from the Dalai Lama. Their home monastery is in Sera, near Mysore, in S. India which they told us is the biggest Tibetan monastery in the world - we have an open invitation to stay there any time!
Thupten was a refugee who had trekked out of Tibet through the Himalayas into Nepal as a young boy, in a group of 70 who took 1 1/2 months to make their escape. Some of the group had succumbed to severe frostbite on the trek, losing fingers, toes & more. This was not an unusual story. We spoke to other Tibetans with similar tales to tell & the most moving place we visited was the Tibetan museum. An exhibition entitled " A Long Look Homeward" detailed the history, geography & culture of Tibet. The destruction & struggle that have befallen the people & the country since the Chinese invasion of 1949 wasn't unknown to us before but hearing about it 1st hand from some of the people themselves, who were all so charming, made a big impact on us. http://www.tibet.org
We didn't have as long as we would have liked in MacLeod Ganj. Apart from the captivating atmosphere in the town itself, we would have loved to have spent a few days walking in the mountains around. Of all the places in India that we have visited so far this was our favourite - we would love to go back...........
We walked the 3 km road that winds up 1000 metre through the Dhauladhar mountains to arrive in the bustling main streets of MacLeod Ganj. Of course, it was hot & sunny on the trek up but as soon as we got to the town, the clouds blew over. We were shivering over lunch on the terrace of the Om Hotel, but breathtaking views & wonderful Tibetan soup & dumplings, not to mention syrupy ginger, lemon & honey tea, more then compensated.
The whole town had a great atmosphere & we felt as if we had crossed a border into a foreign country, the Tibetan influence was so strong. The highlights of the weekend were visiting the Tibetan Buddhist Temple Complex, wandering through the streets past the Tibetan & Kashmiri market stalls, sampling the delicious foods available, using the amazingly fast Internet & having a cup of chai with 2 cheerful & friendly Buddhist monks. Thupten Namdol & Choekiy (pronounced cheeky) Niyama were in town for a month to further their studies & to attend lectures from the Dalai Lama. Their home monastery is in Sera, near Mysore, in S. India which they told us is the biggest Tibetan monastery in the world - we have an open invitation to stay there any time!
Thupten was a refugee who had trekked out of Tibet through the Himalayas into Nepal as a young boy, in a group of 70 who took 1 1/2 months to make their escape. Some of the group had succumbed to severe frostbite on the trek, losing fingers, toes & more. This was not an unusual story. We spoke to other Tibetans with similar tales to tell & the most moving place we visited was the Tibetan museum. An exhibition entitled " A Long Look Homeward" detailed the history, geography & culture of Tibet. The destruction & struggle that have befallen the people & the country since the Chinese invasion of 1949 wasn't unknown to us before but hearing about it 1st hand from some of the people themselves, who were all so charming, made a big impact on us. http://www.tibet.org
We didn't have as long as we would have liked in MacLeod Ganj. Apart from the captivating atmosphere in the town itself, we would have loved to have spent a few days walking in the mountains around. Of all the places in India that we have visited so far this was our favourite - we would love to go back...........
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Camp Life
Our accommodation was basic & pretty filthy to start with - but it's amazing what you can get used to and even come to love !! Would have been nice to have had hot water in the room rather than at the other end of the corridor & a shower would have been pretty nice too - but we survived. The views & the company made up for a lot.
Extra Curricular Activities
There were classes for volunteers too. The one we enjoyed the most was our morning yoga class led by Diapak, a very charming young man devoted to his subject. We also went to Hindi classes & cookery lessons. The Hindi classes helped us with our teaching providing us with the ability to ask the children to stand up, sit down, listen, say after me & please be quiet. We did also learn to say well don (Shabbash) & thank you (Danya Vad / Sukria).When we get home some of you may like to sample the lessons we learned in the cookery classes although we think we may not bother trying to impress anyone with Tuna Mayonnaise. Rather a bizarre lesson, that one!
We turned down the chance to learn the art of henna - rather messy & we didn't think that it was particularly attractive to have dense brown patterns painted over our palms, wrists & feet. We missed the lesson on how to wear a sari, too, through pure forgetfulness. Definitely a missed opportunity - for Howard in particular, of course.
Apart from all that we walked, made trips to Palampur to shop & use the internet, when electricity supplies & telephone lines allowed (at our abode, the telephone connection for the internet was made through a mobile phone - a strange & useless arrangement)& we sat in the garden appreciating the magnificent views. Fiona drank as much Chai Masala as she could. There were books & local newspapers to read & much time was spent chatting with our fellow volunteers whose company we really enjoyed. The Brits : Jo, Carol, Andrew, Sandra, Karen, Anne, Barbara. The Scandinavians : Ingeborg, Anne-Marie, Liv, Dorte, Mette. The Austrian : Christian.There was lesson planning, cleaning & ironing to fit in as well, but we won't dwell on that.
We turned down the chance to learn the art of henna - rather messy & we didn't think that it was particularly attractive to have dense brown patterns painted over our palms, wrists & feet. We missed the lesson on how to wear a sari, too, through pure forgetfulness. Definitely a missed opportunity - for Howard in particular, of course.
Apart from all that we walked, made trips to Palampur to shop & use the internet, when electricity supplies & telephone lines allowed (at our abode, the telephone connection for the internet was made through a mobile phone - a strange & useless arrangement)& we sat in the garden appreciating the magnificent views. Fiona drank as much Chai Masala as she could. There were books & local newspapers to read & much time was spent chatting with our fellow volunteers whose company we really enjoyed. The Brits : Jo, Carol, Andrew, Sandra, Karen, Anne, Barbara. The Scandinavians : Ingeborg, Anne-Marie, Liv, Dorte, Mette. The Austrian : Christian.There was lesson planning, cleaning & ironing to fit in as well, but we won't dwell on that.
Working life in Himachal Pradesh
We spent a day touring various projects that IDEX supports in the Sungal area, so that we could make an informed choice about where we would all like to volunteer our time. There are several government run District Community Centres, where children aged 2 to 6 attend every morning to be cared for & fed. These DCCs are also responsible for community visits when parents are encouraged to bring their children along to the centres & pregnant & lactating mothers are monitored & given advice. There were opportunities to teach English to a variety of age groups, to assist (well, turned out to be more like observing) at a health care clinic & to teach computing classes.
In the mornings we chose to work at a primary school (at Matt, pronounced mutt!) where we ran holiday classes, along with our co-volunteers Karen & Sandra, for 6 to 13 year olds. The number for children attending ranged from 11 to 26. We ran a joint session for all ages at the start & finish of the morning, teaching useful phrases e.g. Good Morning. How are you? I'm pine thank you. (Many Indian children can't seem to pronounce "f" or "sh" - on holding up a picture of a fish, we got a chorus of "PISS" shouted out by the children!!)
We also sickened ourselves, but we hope not the children, with repeated renditions of "This is the way we wash our faces", "The Hokey Cokey", "Head, shoulders, knees & toes", "Old MacDonald had a farm", "1 finger 1 thumb keep moving", "5 little ducks went swimming 1 day", "10 green bottles"..................... & many more old favourites dredged from our memories. We took the older children for lessons in Maths & English & our accompanying guide & yoga teacher, Diapak, led a yoga session & playtime games. Howard did go out & play football in the playground one day leading to a spectacular fall & a great goal - but once was enough.
We found that the children attend school somewhat sporadically. This can be true for the teachers too, leading to the need for volunteers like us. The school rooms left a lot to be desired too - tiny dark concrete cells, with dirty mats to sit on & little in the way of books or equipment. We were lucky to have a good wide balcony where we preferred to conduct classes out in the open air & we were also lucky to have a play area available (if a rather messy one after the local fair had been pitched there).
Learning in schools is obviously usually a matter of rote learning with little opportunity for thinking outside of the box or having fun while they learn. We were surprised at how fazed the children were at being asked to add more than 2 numbers together at a time or being asked to cut up a circle into fractions & then piece it back together. They found these things difficult to do ! They don't even get the chance to draw or do colouring. However, the standard of reading was good, they were incredibly well behaved & they were all keen to learn. The literacy rate is 74% in Himachal Pradesh as a whole & they have small families so the future looks hopeful.
We personally felt that 3 weeks was hardly enough to make a lasting difference to the way the children of the area are cared for & educated but who knows what spark we might have struck? We occasionally noticed local teachers lurking nearby, watching what we were doing & if nothing else, we kept quite a few children usefully & happily occupied for several hours a day. It was surprisingly tiring for us but definitely worthwhile - & mostly fun.
For an encore, in the afternoons Howard did more of the same, supposedly for women & adolescent girls, but mostly for children aged 8 to 12, while Fiona took a class of teenage girls for computer lessons.
And all of this without a stick - yes, teachers use sticks to keep order in Indian classrooms!
In the mornings we chose to work at a primary school (at Matt, pronounced mutt!) where we ran holiday classes, along with our co-volunteers Karen & Sandra, for 6 to 13 year olds. The number for children attending ranged from 11 to 26. We ran a joint session for all ages at the start & finish of the morning, teaching useful phrases e.g. Good Morning. How are you? I'm pine thank you. (Many Indian children can't seem to pronounce "f" or "sh" - on holding up a picture of a fish, we got a chorus of "PISS" shouted out by the children!!)
We also sickened ourselves, but we hope not the children, with repeated renditions of "This is the way we wash our faces", "The Hokey Cokey", "Head, shoulders, knees & toes", "Old MacDonald had a farm", "1 finger 1 thumb keep moving", "5 little ducks went swimming 1 day", "10 green bottles"..................... & many more old favourites dredged from our memories. We took the older children for lessons in Maths & English & our accompanying guide & yoga teacher, Diapak, led a yoga session & playtime games. Howard did go out & play football in the playground one day leading to a spectacular fall & a great goal - but once was enough.
We found that the children attend school somewhat sporadically. This can be true for the teachers too, leading to the need for volunteers like us. The school rooms left a lot to be desired too - tiny dark concrete cells, with dirty mats to sit on & little in the way of books or equipment. We were lucky to have a good wide balcony where we preferred to conduct classes out in the open air & we were also lucky to have a play area available (if a rather messy one after the local fair had been pitched there).
Learning in schools is obviously usually a matter of rote learning with little opportunity for thinking outside of the box or having fun while they learn. We were surprised at how fazed the children were at being asked to add more than 2 numbers together at a time or being asked to cut up a circle into fractions & then piece it back together. They found these things difficult to do ! They don't even get the chance to draw or do colouring. However, the standard of reading was good, they were incredibly well behaved & they were all keen to learn. The literacy rate is 74% in Himachal Pradesh as a whole & they have small families so the future looks hopeful.
We personally felt that 3 weeks was hardly enough to make a lasting difference to the way the children of the area are cared for & educated but who knows what spark we might have struck? We occasionally noticed local teachers lurking nearby, watching what we were doing & if nothing else, we kept quite a few children usefully & happily occupied for several hours a day. It was surprisingly tiring for us but definitely worthwhile - & mostly fun.
For an encore, in the afternoons Howard did more of the same, supposedly for women & adolescent girls, but mostly for children aged 8 to 12, while Fiona took a class of teenage girls for computer lessons.
And all of this without a stick - yes, teachers use sticks to keep order in Indian classrooms!
A VERY SPECIAL DAY
22nd March 2007 - Howard's 50th birthday!
The other volunteers presented him with a home-made card (thank you Jo) & sang him Happy Birthday at breakfast. Ingeborg picked him a beautiful bunch of wild flowers.
The children at "our school" also made him cards & sang him Happy Birthday, in English & in Hindi.
To finish the day, the staff hung balloons in the dining room, baked him a cake - & sang Happy Birthday.
Howard thanks everyone who sent greetings & wishes that you could all have been with us in India to celebrate!
Sungal, Himachal Pradesh
Our home for 3 weeks, in Himachal Pradesh, was the village of Sungal, near the town of Palampur, in the Kangra Valley. The weather was cool but sunny at first, warming pleasantly a little more each day. We had lugged our thermals, hats, gloves etc. around South Africa in expectation of cold weather in northern India, but weren't too disappointed when we didn't get to use them!
Although the roads were no better than we'd experienced before in India, there was much less traffic. We found that the whole atmosphere much cleaner & fresher - & the scenery & views were wonderful. We were surrounded by tea plantations & there were lush fields of rice & vegetables, not to mention healthy green beds of cannabis growing by all the roadsides. And, of course, there were the mountains, our main reason for choosing to come to this area. We were in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Palampur is a busy market town, just 15 minutes & a 5 rupees bus ride away from Sungal, which is a delightful village with brightly painted, well maintained houses.The paths that meandered through the village led to a clear, fast flowing river scattered with enormous boulders. It was a peaceful spot to sit & contemplate the mountains with eagles wheeling overhead, parrots in the trees & bulbuls (birds with fantastic blue plumage) preening on the rocks.
For the 1st time in India, we were able to get away from the madding crowds. We weren't hassled by passers-by, touts or beggars when we went into town & although we came across locals out walking or grazing their cows, horses, donkeys & gorgeous Kashmiri goats, nobody bothered us with more than a smiled greeting. Nobody asked to have their photo taken with us (it's mainly Howard who gets this request!), stared at us, formed a crowd around us or tried to sell us anything.
We understand your taste.........
You may not be able to read it in these photos but this wayside restaurant sells itself with the phrase: "We understand your taste"!
We think not!
Unless, of course, our taste ran to flies galore, the smell of urine, filthy tables, dirt floor, smelliest toilet ever - that didn't flush - about 3 feet from the tables, hungry monkey & mongrel on short chains just behind the tables.........
IDEX took us there once, then tried again twice more - but there was a revolt about the revolting caff & we became imperious with cries of "Drive on!"
A spot of bother on the main road into Himachal Pradesh
You can see our jeeps threatening to get bogged down too - it's not travel as we know it!! Indian English intrigues us - it's taken off on a life of it's own - & the definition of "main road" has definitely evolved into something rather different..........
Monday, April 23, 2007
1st Insight into Hinduism
We admired of the opening remark of our talk on Hinduism :"It's a mythology." With 330 million gods & goddesses, how could it be otherwise.
The starting trinity, we were told, are Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver & Shiva the regenerator. A yogi put it somewhat differently, for western consumption probably - Brahma the Generator, Vishnu the Organiser, Durga the Destroyer. He also told us, for some inexplicable reason, that the opposite is DOG!!
Of course, the subject of caste came up & while discrimination against untouchables is now a criminal offence, it will take many generations for the caste system to be cast off. (95% of all marriages still take within the families' own caste.) The caste system originated with the arrival of the Aryans in India about 2000 BCE. This fact stirred up feelings of unease within us, of course, as has the constant sight of swastiks everywhere. A swastik is apparently a symbol denoting goodness & is usually the 1st decoration to be painted on a new house (or car or lorry...). Disconcertingly, we have often seen them in conjunction with what we call Magen David (Star of David). We have also seen Stars of David on mosques!
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