Week 50

21 July

We walked to Dharamsala to visit the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, where Stephen sits on the stairs surrounded by these lovely Tibetan women in their traditional chupas—the striped aprons show they are married.

22 July

We walked uphill to Dharamkot on Tipa Road. By the time we arrived at our destination of the Himalayan Tea House, the rain was really pouring down (this is monsoon season, after all). We took a break until the rain slowed and then walked back to town on the Dharamkot Road, which was little more than a path. Our reward was steamed momos (dumplings) with spinach and potato fillings.

23 July

On our hike to Bhagsu Falls, we saw this ingenious water cooling system using the cold water from the falls to cool the drinks.

24 July

These are my two new outfits: the salwar kameez is a casual Indian style with a top, pyjama bottoms, and a scarf (which I cannot keep on my shoulders).

The chupa and blouse with the pangde (apron) are typical Tibetan dress for many of the women.

25 July

“For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, . . . and for all the riches which we have of every kind?” (Mosiah 4:19) Ravi is a sweet, gentle beggar who suffers with clubfeet.

26 July

Rashpal and Rita Singh and their children are a very lovely Indian family in McLeod Ganj. Rashpal (Om) teaches yoga, and Rita teaches Hindi classes.

27 July

True to form, our departure from Dharamsala was not without its drama. We booked a flight at 13:05 to give us plenty of time in Delhi to visit one last bookstore. However, when we got to the check-in counter, they said there was a problem with our ticket. They never told us what the problem was, and we just kept waiting. It turns out they canceled our flight and put us on the 15:25 flight.

Week 49

14 July

We are sitting at the east entrance of the Brahmaneshwar Temple in Bhubaneshwar, a fine example of a panchayatana temple. We later visited the sun temple at Konarak, a much larger and more famous temple (but, alas, not a panchayatana temple).

15 July

We have come to know Kingfisher Airlines pretty well on our domestic flights here in India. Even the flight attendants recognize us. This is a picture of flight in motion from my window seat.

16 July

We’re now back in McLeod Ganj for the remainder of our time in India. Stephen was thrilled with his successful receipt of over 20 kilos of books at the local post office.

17 July

Several of us visited the local Anglican church services at the Church of St. John in the Wilderness, Upper Dharamsala (another name for McLeod Ganj), a 40-minute walk for us on the other side of town. A woman gave a very lovely message on redemption, and the members were very friendly and welcoming.

18 July

We’re taking advantage of our remaining time here to go exploring in different directions. From Bhagsu Road one can look beyond the colorful Buddhist prayer flags toward the town of McLeod Ganj rising up the hill in the distance.

19 July

We watched men (mostly) gathering to exchange empty propane bottles for full ones. The man on the truck lifts the empty cans and lowers full cans in exchange for an official-looking receipt.

20 July

Today we completed our walk to Bhagsu and visited the Hindu Bhagsunag temple with the offerings to the deity Shiva, which ultimately go to the priests. Be sure to ask Stephen about his memorable experience in seeing the last Harry Potter movie!

Week 48

7 July

These brightly colored prayer wheels belong to the “old-people temple” in McLeod Ganj because this temple is easier for older people to get to than the large temple at the end of Temple Road near the Dalai Lama’s residence. A Buddhist worshipper walks clockwise (in a pradakshina direction) around the temple and spins each prayer wheel as she passes. The words are a six-syllable Sanskrit mantra borrowed into Tibetan.

8 July

This is the second time we have seen a car with a tire over the edge of the narrow, steep-sided concrete roads in McLeod Ganj. The drivers of the cars behind who want to continue up the road are most interested in helping the car get back on the road.

9 July

Stephen’s Hindi teacher Rita, whose husband teaches yoga classes, went with me and several of the BYU students down to Dharamsala to pick out fabric and order ourselves an Indian salwar kameez. My selection is the gold and turquoise on top. The fabrics come in sets of three that are designed to make a pleasing combination for the top, the pyjama bottoms, and the scarf. We each paid just over $13 for the fabric and just under $3 for the labor at the neighboring shop.

10 July

The mother cow reigns supreme in India. Cows and bulls are protected (and never eaten). They always have the right of way in traffic and are not goaded or disturbed. They are buried with a ceremony when they die.

11 July

Here is the line at the local ATM—this is by far the best way to get foreign currency when traveling (when it works). We get charged $1 at the credit union for each transaction. We can withdraw 10,000 Rupees at a time, about $225. One typically pays for everything with cash here.

12 July

These mudras, or hand gestures, at the Delhi airport have specific meanings. We see them when we pass the transit security in going from one domestic flight to another.

13 July

Stephen and I spent the morning on a train from Bhubaneshwar to Tilaru Junction in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. We were met by a driver (as we had anticipated), but somehow he was not clear on how he was going to get paid (we had prepaid through a travel agency), so it took two hours and an occasional phone call before he was willing to take us to our next destination, the temple at Mukhalingam. This street was our view while we waited in the fairly oppressive heat.

Week 47

30 June

Further travel adventures in India—our goal was to ride on train 19224 from Jodhpur to Abu Road. Although the original posting directed us to track 5, eventually the information was changed to track 3. With few English speakers around, we were afraid we might board the wrong train or the wrong car. The only individual who truly helped us was an elderly man selling chai (tea). He said in very good English that this is where your train will be, and this is where to stand to get on the right car. He didn’t even hang around to get paid.

After seeing the exquisitely carved Dilwara Jain temples at Mount Abu (where we were not allowed to take photographs), we relaxed for the afternoon and walked around Lake Nakki.

1 July

Hawa Mahal is a distinctive landmark of Jaipur. The Palace of the Winds is a five-story, delicately honeycombed, pink sandstone structure built to enable ladies of the royal household to view the life of the city.

2 July

Doing laundry in our apartment includes turning on the hot water heater a few minutes in advance, scrubbing the clothes with detergent in a bucket, rinsing them, wringing them out, and hanging them on the lines outside our balcony to dry. The next critical step is to listen for the rain to start so we can dash out and retrieve the clothes before they become even wetter.

3 July

Here is the group of BYU students joining us in our apartment for sacrament meeting: Rachel, Megan, Kristen, Julia, Matt, Bonnie, and Elizabeth.

4 July

We went with the students to Nick’s restaurant for apple (and raisin) pie and ice cream to celebrate the Fourth of July. The pie was very tasty (even though the crust wasn’t particularly tender and flaky). We especially love and appreciate our country when we are away from it.

5 July

This little device is called a tata photon⁺, a mobile broadband service. After a frustrating week, it now enables us (more or less) to get on the Internet in our apartment (and supposedly throughout India). The locals are not particularly knowledgeable about getting it to work with Macintosh computers. Now we don’t need to go to an Internet café or a Wi-Fi café to send or receive emails, post on my blog, check the state of our finances, etc.

6 July

Besides being the Dalai Lama’s 76th birthday (we are living in the same town where he resides), it was Shagrun’s 3rd birthday. She is the daughter of Rita, Stephen’s Hindi teacher, partially visible behind Shagrun.

Week 46

23 June

This unique plant in the Delhi Airport caught my eye, so I forgot to pay attention to what I did with our boarding passes after clearing security. I must have dropped them while taking the picture—Stephen’s pass was turned in promptly, but it took a while longer for me to get mine.

24 June

We hike a very steep road up into McLeod Ganj (said McCloud Gaunj) when we want to shop or use the Internet or Wi-Fi. We’re still learning where things are. The concrete roads sometimes have quite a dropoff to the side.

25 June

This picture does not fairly portray our bus experience from Dharamsala to McLeod Ganj (it makes the ride look much too ordinary and pleasant). We were packed in like sardines, dripping salty sweat from our faces, and holding tightly onto a bar so as not to sway into our closest neighbors on the curves.

26 June

This lovely Buddhist Tibetan monk, Geshe Yonten, decided to bring several children from his impoverished area in northwestern India to a monastery in Manali to be educated. The documentary we viewed on the white sheet, Journey from Zanskar, portrays the courage of the parents in sending their children away for 10 to 15 years with no hopes of seeing them in that time (some children were as young as four); the treacherous journey over mountain passes (first by foot and then by bus); and the eagerness of the children to progress beyond their parents’ illiteracy.

27 June

Here I am with my laptop in Café Budan to take advantage of wi-fi capabilities. The price was choco-chip cookies (more like hardened biscuits with chunks of chocolate) and bottled water.

28 June

This teamwork really needs to be seen to be understood. Two men were moving sand from the middle of the road to improve the passage. The worker with his back to us wielded a shovel that had a rope tied to the base of the handle. The other worker grasped the other end of the rope, and with a swinging motion in tandem, they would scoop up the sand and toss it onto another part of the pile. They worked rhythmically and quickly.

29 June

One of the main reasons we are in India is to visit panchayatana temples (see 19 January). Here we are at the Surya temple in Osian, Rajasthan (on a hot, dry day). The central temple is surrounded by four smaller shrines, two if which are visible in this picture. Intriguing features of the temples are the presence of running water nearby (in earlier centuries), the temple being built on a raised platform, the movement of ascension to the central shrine, and in another nearby temple, bright-colored threads and ribbons tied to a fence as petitions for bearing children or receiving some other blessing.