The old... and the new.

Ok, going to try and reproduce some of the mysteriously dissappearing writings...

 

I think thew street dogs say a great deal about a place. Every place we've gone has had street dogs that are pretty similar, but have had slightly different characteristics. The characteristics of the dogs on the street give hints into the nature of the city, its traffic, how animals and people of a lower class are treated, and what its streets can sustain. in E Wi Jo, the rural Karen village in Thailand, the dogs were smaller and all looked simiral as they likely all breed with each other. They knew their place perfectly in their society, and knew the schedule for meals far better than the humans did. in India they have been slightly larger, and in various states of mange. in some cities they were cleaner than others. In Amritsare they were clean, but many had injuries. Only 3 legs, or severely broken legs. Amritsar does have some of the most intense traffic, and in its absense of cows people seem to drive faster and more carelessly.

 

The street dogs in Dharamsala are big fluffy golden retrievers, and other breeds of big fluffy dogs. They seem, for the most part, clean and well cared for, and I didn't even really believe they were street dogs at first. You can't even imagine what this says about Dharamsala... or maybe you can.

 

The mountain air is cool and fresh, and the city is a beautiful meshing of cultures.

 

Other notable things to mention would be the Sihk Golden temple in Amritsar. It was amazing, probably my  favorite temple in India, which is unexpected. The atmosphere is filled with surreal Godly chanting accompanied by Tabla, and as you circle around and enter across the water into the temple, you realize it is live, being sung and played by Sikh Holy men to a meditating, holy book reading audience. The temple has many levels, and the atmosphere is conducive to stay awhile, sit and absorb the good juju, to look up onto the ceiling at all tmirrors reflecting the godliness in you back to you. And of course you can visit the book and say hello to the living prophit that is the text, constantly being read until it is cerimoniously put to bed each night in its luxurious bed, and woken up each morning to continue the saga.

 

The people in Amritsar are very open and friendly, even the women. They were, however, very in your face. It is afterall India. We were stopped many times to have our pictures taken, or had our pictures discreetly taken on cellphone cameras. I don't think they see many white tourists, and many of them are Sikh tourists themself from all over. Maybe its just nice for them to see westerners enjoying their culture and traditions, as the Sikhs have not always had the kindest reception.

 

Amritsar, and all the movement and traveling for many days without staying in one place really took it out of me. I wrote in my journal that traveling is like riding a tiger. The illusion that you illicit control over the wave is broken, you're just riding it.

 

Couldn't meet it, couldn't meet India's gaze, don't know what it wants from me, but it just me it wants. The smiles of wellmeaning strangers are met by shielding of my heart, missing thimity of my cold culture, the curtain sending a haze over everyone's eyes (or perhaps the freedom I have with my friends to be transparent about when I have nothing to give and need space). I have a giant target on my head that peoples eyes pierce into. What exactly do they seeking pictures of? (And what exactly do they do with the pictures?)

 

I like the trains. When I put in earplugs and a sleep mask everything melts into vibrations and the universe rocks me to sleep. I also take speel aids, so I don't get woken up to people shouting "Chaiiii!!" in my face at 2 in the morning like some. My luck has been good so far, and I have not had the familiar travel misfortunes cross my path that some others have had. Except sickness, of course.

 

Perhaps in Dharamsala I am rejuvinated and have more energy to meet the world again. I at first blow people in the street off, thinking that they are just trying to sell me something, like everyone else, and they are, but blowing them off would have been a mistake. I've made some nice connections here. A guy talked to me for a few hours about studying Tibetan medicine, and his journey from Tibet to Dharamsala as he watched over his and DVD stand from across the street. He never once suggested I should buy anything from him, he just wanted to talk to me and was happy to share. His journey over the mountains from village in Tibet to the border of Nepal took 27 days.

 

I've also gone to an English conversation group to teach English to more recently arrived refugees, where I've heard more peoples stories about the journey here. I'm excited to make more connections and deepen the ones I've already made. The time here doesn't feel long enough. Even though we are in one spot for longer than we have been on this entire trip, we are still moving around a lot, and it still isn't nearly enough to delve in significantly into the culture. Anything I could really extract would be about as much information as a wikipedia article.

So this is interesting and I probably should have started with this... I was walking around yesterday, the day of Holy, the color holiday (or perhaps the day after, it is a little unclear) wearing clothes I didn't care about looking for people throwing color and not finding anyone, and then I see a group of westerners throwing color, and I recognize one of the as Ryann, the fairhaven student on the adventure learning grant. I knew she was in India, but I didn't think we'd be able to meet up. I had no idea where she was. It was pretty unreal to run into her, and then get completely covered in Rasta colors by her and her friends. We talked for awhile and made plans to meet up later, which fell through. Still don't exactly know what happened with that, and now she's gone (was only here for a day), but it was awesome seeing her only for a short time.

And this is even more difficult to believe. Chris from this group ran into another person from Bellinham, who I wasn't sure I knew at first, but then ran into later and indeed know through living at the forest house and through friends. His name is Justin Gere. That was completely insane and unpredictable because I had absolutely no idea this guy was in India, or even traveling at all, and here is is in Dharamsala. Seriously, this isn't normal. There really is something about Bellingham, it also has a strong connection to India and Hinduism. In some ways it doesn't surprise me that I've run into 4 Bellinghamsters despite the odds. Jason, who I knew I'd see, because village studues had previously arranged for him to work with us while he is also on the Adventure Learning Grant... Pat, who I took Religion and Society in India with last quarter and made plans to meet up with in Varanasi awhile back while we were still in class, Ryann and Justin... crazy crazy crazy...

I have started and stopped this blog entry 3 times now since I began, saving it in my drafts each time, so new things have been developing throughout the day. I was in a very confused haze about my project for awhile, but I talked to Alex today and really cleared things up. I am going to attempt to dive into Tibetan medicine a bit, getting a background in it from reading (bought a hefty book today, been talking to a Tibetan friend previously mentioned who is studying it, etc), going to Tibetan doctors and massage therapists and having check ups myself and work done, evaluating how I feel about it in my own experience, and talk to individuals who both do and do not use Tibetan medicine about their experiences with it, and their beliefs about their bodies and their health. I can't dive too deeply into Tibetan medicine itself, but I can get an overall sense of people's interactions with it, how it makes them feel over their bodies, how they construct agency over their bodies, their beliefs and how they differ from western beliefs and my own personal beliefs and experiences, etc. That is the hope.

Oh man, I think I am making a really nice connection with the Tibetan guy I've mentioned. Jessica and I just had tea with him and a monk friend of his and had a really fruitful conversation. He's a really smart guy. Well hmm... glad I have more direction. Don't want to leave Dharamsala... what else is new.