The Past Week

We have been very busy this last week. We went to Tica's for lunch on the weekend. It was a very lovely day. We met her good friend Jane and Choke and his wife Pemma and two children. Choke is the Translator Head at the Tibetan library for whom Mom edits from time to time. We spent a very pleasant afternoon having lunch and discussing the world and Tibet and all the things that are the topic of this part of the world... Buddhism and spirituality. Tica grew up in Cuba, lived in Switzerland, was a translator in the UN, she also translated for the Dalai Lama for many years. People here have lived life!! She has decided to live her retirement here, for now... monsoon is what makes people move out. She has a lovely house between Mcclo and Dharamsala. She spends her time learning more Tibetan and teachings. She has been caring for a stray dog and her puppies. The children played with the puppies and we whiled away the hours chatting.

During the week we took both Jevita and another friend we met Johnathon, to Charan (on separate days). They both in their capacity as real teachers had good things to say about the little things we have managed to achieve. The sand pit, the water play, the playdough keep the children all very busy. From the observers perspective it runs quite smoothly. Only from my view, being in the thick of the teaching them the finer art of sharing, does it all seem so chaotic! But it is true that the 'hurricane of tears' that met us at first has all but gone. The older children now have the opportunity to focus on the maths and English games that Gerard does with them. They all enjoy the activity games we play. They loved the sports day we did on the grassy bit below the IPL stadium. They love us and we love them. From Vijay the cook, Krishna the jolly Queen of the Hill

who has made her tent into a palace, with a garden, to little Madoo with her three siblings that she alternately jiggles on her hips while she soaks in every little bit of learning she can get and little Reeshma who comes every day despite living in the maharishi side with only an A frame of plastic to house her and the seven or more siblings, while her parents lie wrapped in bags under the shade of a tree... not unlike the pictures we commonly see of the Aboriginal plight. What is it that makes two humans with the same opportunities or not, choose such different ways of being in this world? The Queen on the Hill... Reeshma's parents... Even so, the joy they have at our presence is the same. It is a wonderful thing to spend that time with these people. The sincerity with which they embrace the volunteers. The genuine cuddles from the children (and dear Arti),

the laughter, the stories of their lives that the people shared with us.... Of course I was sad as we said our goodbyes on Friday.... and when I made a quick exit Nandini came to tell me what a good family I had, how she wished one day she would have lovely girls like mine and what a good husband I had. Veeru told me in his very broken English how much fun the children were having and, as I washed the children's hair and clothes and shovelled the sand, that I was a good farming woman... apparently a good thing...He gave me a little glass stone to remember our time by. Its so hard to tell you how kind they were and how what they said was so special... their English doesn't say it without the weeks of getting to know them, like the joke Vijay said about wanting me to be his mother...

And little Prinka's look when Nandini told them we were saying goodbye, or the way Arti took me in her hands to kiss my cheek or the fact she has brushed her hair so neatly every day since I washed and braided it for her! Or the Charan community members that meet us any where in Dharamsala or Mccloed and cross the road to just to smile and hold our hand as they do in India.

We reported back to Tashi and Jamyang, giving them a folder of games and activities we worked out with your wonderful help! Jamyang (who is a lama) gave us a katag. Jonathan and Javita both said they would come back to work at the camp and were interested in supporting the hostel children. Frances and Abbey did so well. It was hard for them because the kids were less likely to do what they told them (especially with no English!) but they managed to console and cuddle, perform and demonstrate just as well as we did. Vijay and the other helping cooks took a liking to Frances. Arti adored Abbey.

Johnathan and his friend Catherine were also lovely people. They were only here briefly on their way back from travelling in Nepal and Tibet. We went to dinner with them and Javita and played Zip Zap, talked and talked, looked at their photos and exchanged invitations to visit one another. They live in Canada. Johnathan has a log cabin by a lake, Catherine a home in the hills. Goodness me but the world is full of beautiful people.

I caught a taxi early in the morning twice with Amy to have a chiropractic appointment at the Karmapa's where a Chinese doctor was treating the Karmapa's monks for free. We sat and watched the monkly antics while they came in and out, received their treatment and even had Chinese lessons. We walked the kora and chatted about the usual things one does here. Amy is another great person and the exchange of invitations has been extended there also. We often bump into her and Zompa on the way to dinner and join them with much laughter and thought sharing. Amy has lived here most of the year for the past fifteen years, adopting Pzompa when she was just a babe and ensuring she grew up with her Tibetan heritage. Amy was a specialist teacher before retirement and we hope to fit in a little poetry lesson before we go... which is only days two away, oh how time flies.

Then there was the return to Triund. Again so many wonderful people to meet on the top of a mountain drinking chai! Beautiful scenery and a cave adventure. The morning walk to the point to watch the sunrise over the mountains, filtering its soft light down over Himachal Pradesh below. Apparently the view is stunning after the monsoon washes the threshing dust from Punjab, the smog from Delhi and the Rajestani drought ridden soils out of the skies. We had lots of fun with Javita, enjoying the philosophical exploration of all things... teasing her about her restless night on the hard floor of a cave.

Yesterday we walked through the beautiful forests to Nardi, an old traditional farming village. Aptly and confidently lead by the sprightly Antoinette, this little walk was a delight. Thanks Antoinette! The animals in Nardi are housed down stairs, the people live above. They grow their grain and thresh it in their court yards. We watched a couple of children bring a pony and a donkey at 'liberty' through the streets and out through the fields. Pretty good but still a little way to go before they are as adept as the herders who transport the sand and bricks to the building sites around McLeod. One morning as we walked to Tong-len, we passed a herd of six or eight pony stallions waiting quietly at 'liberty' to be loaded up before carting the gravel up the mountain track with no more than a few whistles and hups (and a stick for back up) from their herder!! The animals roam here without fences. The crops grow, without fences... I haven't discovered how but it is interesting. Best of all the mountain trek and the village are away from the filth of tourism and Punjaby middle class tossers. The country side is relatively clean and tranquil. Apparently we need to go to Nepal next.

Anyhow for now our adventure here is all but over. We have a couple of dinners to go to and then we are off to Pushkar to the horse ranch, Jaipur to the Tiger Park and Agra to the Taj Mahal. It will take us about a week. The temperatures are expected to be up to 45 degrees down on the plains... Thank goodness for England... We leave India on the 15^th. Maybe we will get the chance to post another blog but if not, then its until then!!

Camille