Happy Independence Day from McLeod Ganj!

On my first weekend off from teaching English, it was the perfect day to hike to one of the surrounding hill towns outside of McLeod Ganj. After eating Tibetan Brown Bread and jam for breakfast, my friend and I headed up Tipa Road. Along the way, we passed two Indian men carrying this cloth. In the center are many rupees that people have tossed in as a way to ensure good health and fortune in return for the good deed of giving to others.

Our first stop on Tipa Road was TIPA, the Tibetan Institute of the Performing Arts, a school where Tibetan culture is preserved. The Dali Lama started the Institute many years ago as a way to ensure that Tibetan people would keep the traditions of their homeland even though many of them had to leave Tibet to save themselves from Communist Chinese rule.

At TIPA, we wandered past this mini temple on the institute grounds. We met a Tibetan man who was very fluent in English. He offered to take us around the institute. We spent over an hour walking through the costume studio watching mask and costume makers at work.
This gentleman has been making masks for 25 years. He sews them by hand using very fine stitches. He loves his work and is a master craftsman.
The mask on the left is an example of his work. The masks are used for traditional dances and operas. Right now,, some of the artists are preparing for a dance competition that will be held on August 11. The dancers are practicing secretly so no one can copy their work.

This woman makes headpieces that are worn during dances. She is modeling one for us!

This is Penpa, the gentleman who took us through TIPA. He is holding one of the boots that the dancers wear. The shoemaker was making the bottom half of boots like these using a sewing machine. He shares studio space with the painters.
We finally made it to Dharamkot! This quiet little town above noisy McLeod Ganj is the perfect place to "chill out." There are very few people here and it is very clean compared to the noisy, crowded and fairly unkempt town where I teach English everyday. It is a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of the lower hill station of "McL," as the locals call it. We ate Indian food at the Gecko Cafe (you can see the blue and yellow sign on the lefthand side of the road). My spicy Indian vegetable dish and garlic chapati (one kind of Indian bread that is like a taco shell) cost Rs 90/-, which is equivalent to about 2US$! A glass of tea costs Rs 5/-. Can you figure out how much that might cost in America?
The view from Dharamkot is pretty spectacular. The white dots you see on the mountain on the left are actually people's homes. There are footpaths along the mountains that people use to get from McL to their homes. It might take about two hours to walk home to visit your parents if you worked and lived in town. The mountain in the far background is pure rock. Can you see the snow on top? Last year McL had no snow. This is a problem, as it greatly reduces the water supply even now during the monsoon.
Upon returning from Dharamkot, we pass the monastery where I teach Beginning English to six very nice monks. We laugh a lot and work hard to help them learn our language.
Back down in McL, we're back in the "thick of it," with noisy cars and cabs, friendly people, slow moving cows blocking the road and sleeping dogs. Evening is beginning and everyone is out on the streets to shop, eat and visit. The traffic jam you see in this picture happens almost everyday. Policemen try to sort it out by blowing their whistles unendingly, but it only adds to the confusion!

Hope you're enjoying the pics and posts. You can comment on any of these posts if you wish. I'd love to hear from you! Tashi Delek!