Road to Dharamsala

Well this was several days ago now, but I think I’d rather go in the order that things have been happening, since I’m uploading those pictures today. Thursday night we left Delhi about 10 p.m. for Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama and the Gyalwa Karmapa.

 

This is what a pilgrimage is all about, let me tell you! They don’t make it easy to get to Dharamsala. We traveled all night without incident, although there was terrible traffic getting out of Delhi. I must have dozed some. By dawn we were traveling through the Punjab. Sikh country. Beautiful white archways over the road. Rose gardens. Neatly dressed people in turbans and saris. Breakfast at a “resort” where it took forever to get our food (I now realize that this is just a reflection of what they call “India time”), and then only after we demanded it. A pink marble bathroom outside, which they took the opportunity to paint while we were there, inside and out. Were they expecting another busload of 40 people that afternoon?!? Maybe so.

 

Lots of building going on in the Punjab – roads, temples, public buildings. People carrying brick and working without end in the hot, hot sun. The a/c in our bus wasn’t working so well, but the scene outside made me aware that we were gliding through the country in another reality altogether.

 

I love India more than I though I would. Amid all the dirt and squalor there is a constant stream of sharp, detailed images. These people aren’t afraid of color. Filigreed doorways and mural-painted trucks are even more detailed put next to garbage-strewn streets and unfinished or fallen-down buildings.

McLeod Gange/Dharamsala

No time to write, but we did make it here last night after an 18-hour bus ride — 23 hours for the people in the bus that got two flat tires just a few km away from our destination. They don’t make it easy to get here, that’s for sure! I thought I’d seen remote, but this makes the Montana wilderness look like Central Park.

I love India, but I say that from an extremely fortunate position. And now we’re in the mountains, which are relatively cool — only around a 100 degrees, where Delhi was 115 or so. It’s so beautiful. We’ll be here for a couple more days, so I’ll try to write more and post some more photos before we get out of Internet range.

Delhi

Where to start? I guess I was prepared for the worst, but it’s not nearly as bad as everyone said it would be, so far. Hot, yes. Lots of poverty, yes. But the people are so vivid and full of energy. We’re staying in the Tibetan camp, which is like a little enclosed village with narrow walkways and buildings built on top of each other. Our hotel has air conditioning and nice bathrooms with showers, even. We did have some short blackouts yesterday evening, but it didn’t last too long, and there was plent of electricity by the time we were ready to sleep. Our welcome party was interrupted briefly: People are still standing in the buffet line to get their dinner of momos and noodles, and all of a sudden — blackout! But by the time the more prepared of us got flashlights out of backpacks, the power was back on.

The food is good! We’ve pretty much made the Himalaya restaurant our home away from home. Once you find food that’s good and doesn’t make you sick, it’s a good idea to stick with it.

 Yesterday we did some sightseeing. Went to a huge Bahai temple, traveling through the city in our air-conditioned bus. This morning a few of us went to a Tibetan doctor here in the village. He spoke English and seemed very good. Spent about 25 minutes with each of us, and sent us away with herbs and dietary guidelines. All this for 300 rupees — a little over $7.

Tonight we get on the bus and head for Dharamsala — up to 15 hours on the road. Lots of fun! After that, I have a feeling things will really get interesting. I’ll post more as I can.

Email me, please!

Well, I’m inSeattle this week. Most of my stuff is in storage now. It rained all weekend in Dallas while we were moving it all. But it’s absolutely gorgeous here in Seattle. What’d I tell you, John?

And I discovered today that my web host in New York suffered a major crash this past weekend. Loribmedia.com is up again, but all the email addesses I had saved in their webmail system are gone. So if you want to hear from me at all in the next month, please email me!

My neighborhood site, winnetkaheights.com, may be lost forever — they’re trying to recover the data, but it could be another week or so before we know for sure. It’s a loss, but I’m feeling pretty circumspect about it. Somehow it seems fit that — after a week of purging and making decisions about every single thing I own — the website I’ve worked at for the past seven years, and am now ready to move on from, simply disappears.

News indeed

The NY Times calls it a “Nod to Journalistic Integrity:” PC World reinstates its editor, Harry McCracken, and dumps the CEO who refused to run an article critical of an advertiser. McCracken had quit over the disputed article.

Everyone wins but the ousted CEO. PC World gets great publicity. Readers get assurance that they’re getting real news. McCracken gets his job back. The rest of us are delighted to see that justice and integrity still win out sometimes.

Thank you, Dallas

So I’ve been kind of hard on Dallas lately, but I have been majorly blessed here. Some thank-yous are really in order:

• Cookson’s Transmission shop, for telling me the truth today about my car’s transmission (the Subaru dealership said it needed a $3,000 replacement; Cookson’s said no, that’s power steering fluid). Whew!
• While I’m at it — Gary Ogden, who’s been a prince of a mechanic for the past 10 years.
• Software Spectrum/Insight and all my bosses and colleagues there, for offering the professional experience, flexibility and good humor I needed to get through the past 5 years. I feel prepared for the next phase of my career, thanks to you all.
• Good Space, Inc. — the best landlords in the city.
• The Dallas Symphony Orchestra. What would I have done without my Impromptu membership these past six months?
• WRR101.1, for sending me to so many wonderful concerts this spring.
• Lama Dudjom Dorjee Rinpoche and the sangha of KTC Dallas. 21 days to blast-off — Hello Delhi!!
• Beth, Anne, Jessica and all my true-blue friends here. I’ve never had it so good, really.

But . . . I’m still going. :’)

Hello world!

Today is May 11th, and I now have a blog. Finally. Impetus (impeti??):

1. My upcoming trip to India
2. Impending joblessness and a move from Dallas to Seattle
3. A growing feeling of self ridicule at the idea that, as a “writer,” I still didn’t have a blog

So, with any luck I’ll be able to figure this thing out and begin sharing it.

Life is pretty exciting right now. Exciting and scary all at once. More than usual, I mean. The job I’ve had for the past five years is ending next week. I’m moving my cat to Seattle in two weeks, after I move all my stuff out of my apartment and put it in storage. A week later I leave for India for three weeks.

So it’s all about leaving and coming and going. But I think most of all it’s about not having my stuff. That’s really going to be the hardest part, when I think about the dailiness of all this change.

Right now, at this moment, everything I own pretty much has its place. It’s not a lot, but it’s there for me when I need it. In two weeks that will so not be the case. And since I plan to leave most everything here and stay with friends in Seattle until I get a job or have some kind of dependable income, I’m anticipating the state of “not having my stuff” may persist for some time. Months, perhaps.

I’m hoping the trip to India will prepare me. Yeah — like walking through fire prepares you to have your house burn down!