I took some great pictures and went to go post them at the "fast" internet cafe, but they were just about to close. I asked them why, and they said the owner "expired" (translation-died). How sad :( I have really been enjoying Dharmasala. The teachings by the Dalai Lama are really powerful. He has a session in the morning from 9:30am till noon and again from 1:30 till 4 in the afternoon. He speaks in Tibetan, you bring a small FM radio with headphones and tune into the English translation. Deb and I usually sit on the Tibetan side versus the Western side. They don’t “officially” segregate the seating, but foreigners have a separate entrance with tighter security. Tibetans such amazing people. Hearing their stories and what they have been through and still to see them so at peace and loving is truly amazing. The other morning my friends were eating at Nick’s (our favorite restaurant) and a monk came by asking us to sign a petition to pressure the UN to issue human rights violations against China. We got chatting with him and he started to tell us his story. He is a refugee who was imprisoned for 3 years, tortured, beat and almost died. . He wrote a book, “A Hell on Earth”, everyone should order it from Amazon (if you can). As a 20 year old monk living in the ganden monastery in Tibet, he was accused of leading a major demonstration in Lhasa against the Chinese occupation in which a Chinese police officer was killed. He had been part of a mass protest, but knew nothing of the killing. He was tortured so badly and forced into confessing. His handcuffs were so tight before confessing that his bones were visible. Through the electric shocks and beatings, his kidneys were damaged and his hand and head still tremor. He was a prisoner for three years and upon release fled to Dharmasala (by foot), despite his health. Clinics are set up throughout the city for refugees who arrive after trekking through the desert and then Himalayas. Most (if they make it) arrive with frostbite, borderline starvation and a string of other ailments. Upon his arrival, Ven started to write letters to various political leaders and organizations to tell them of his torture and forced confession. Ven needed a kidney transplant and through his letter writing campaign, Danielle Mitterand (French President Mitterand’s wife ) invited him to France to undergo the transplant. He lives here now and has traveled with the Dalai Lama before to lecture and try educate others of the human rights violations committed by the Chinese. We drank tea together and I listened for hours to his stories. He said “the Chinese can torture my body, but never my soul”. I bumped into him at the teachings and we sat together, truly an amazing to sit amongst hundreds of monks and listen to the Dalai Lama.

Being here reminded me of one of my 7^th grade SOAR project. I wrote something like 50 letters to various political leaders, business leaders, musicians and actors. The point was to see what group of people were most likely to write back. I think I asked them a handful of random questions about god knows what. I remember I told them the point of the project, gave them a deadline of when I needed a response (ha ha!!) and surely some other nonsense. I used to anxiously check the mail for a few weeks on end. The Dalai Lama’s response was one of the first (well, I am sure he didn’t write it, but rather his press office). My teacher at the time, Mrs Hart helped me come up with the list of the 50 plus lucky recipients. I remember she suggested the Dalai Lama of whom I knew little of at the time. Other responses I got included George Bush ( he was president at the time), Dalai Lama, Lee Ioaccoca (another one of Mrs Hart’s suggestions) who also sent me a copy of his autobiography) and maybe a few others. I wish I remembered who else I asked to be my pen pal. I think Michael Jackson was on the list. My next project was a video to the Mcdonald’s menu song in which I acted out eating all the food and then got sick. (Taz, that’s why I still remember the words). I put toothpaste on my face to give the effect of being full, sick and green. That would be a great tape to get my hands on.

Oh, and before I forget, my dad was asking if Taklagyal was my “boyfriend”. No, he’s not! I seem to be moved by everyone’s story. The girls and I took a cooking class from Lhamo. He walked here from Tibet with his sister. It took him over two months and he showed us his frostbite. Most of the refugees are my age and they left their parents in search of an education and hopes for a job. Despite all they’ve been through, they still smile, hold little resentment and follow their Buddhist path of compassion and self awareness. I am so lucky that I can more or less pick up the phone and call anyone I want and travel more or less anywhere in the world. We are truly lucky, well most of us at least. My Brit friend Lisa wants to come to NYC and visit, but she isn’t allowed back in the US for a while since she overstayed her welcome last year. Same story with Elke, we are thinking of going to Australia together, but last time she was there she stayed longer than her visa allowed her. Yeah, chicks rule.

This afternoon was full on! It rained so we ended up going to the movies (Dada, don’t think of the Jaipur Sandalwood theatre or a the usual AMC theatre (or whoever monopolizes that industry these days). It was the back of a café with a tv and some benches. We watched Water, a Deepa Mehta film that left me in tears (she also did Earth and Fire, all 3 are really controversial in India). It’s an amazing film if you haven’t seen it. It left us all in tears. We stayed for Cry of the Snow Lion too, http://www.cryofthesnowlion.com/, a documentary on Tibet. By the end of the day, I looked like I just got through a bad breakup. Yes, so basically I cried most of the afternoon and thought about how I really don’t want to come back to what my dad calls “the cruel world”. Life is too short. My favorite quote from the movie was “while the West is exploring outer space, we are here exploring our inner space. They might one day conquer the moon, but we have conquered our minds”.

Enough depressing and gloomy news……tomorrow we are renting motorcycles and going to some hot springs after the teachings! We’ll have a whole gang of girls and one local with us. I’ll try take pictures, but haven’t been carrying my camera too much since you can’t take time into the teachings.

DH is great, I finally found some dental floss. I checked more or less every store in Rishikesh, but apparently not too many people use it there. The closest thing I could get was some weird metal strip that someone later told me was a “tongue scraper”. Thanks, but no thanks. I was sooooo happy when I found it here. Apparently none of the Western travelers I’ve met use it either. Jennie and Lorna (the Canadians girls I triple rode with on the moped) were dental hygienist and I should have thought to get it from them. They were hilarious. I loved their stories about how their eyes are so well trained that when they first meet someone they really have trouble listening because they are so focused on their teeth. And if they are dating someone, they struggle to even kiss them unless they’ve had their teeth cleaned in the recent months. They’ve both dumped numerous guys over their teeth, they reckon that’s why they are in their 30’s and still single.

I am traveling with Elke to Amristar in a few days and again meeting up with her in Goa mid April. My friend Mary is also doing the same yoga workshop as I! Deb and I are sharing a room since the place is really packed for the teachings. (sorry Mary, we didn’t’ stay in your room. And how did you find that place? ) It’s amazing all the people I’ve run into that I met in Rishi. India is so big, but yet so small.

DH is a hill station and it gets pretty cold at night! Yes, I do miss the hot water I had in Rishikesh……I am back to buckets. Buckets with 30 minutes (Indian minutes) notice.