A Trip To Little Lhasa

Maria Roman Tak

21 November 2009, 06:08

Am I in Tibet or in India? This question is recurrent in McLeod Ganj.

Time, place, name, everything seems slightly out of sync as you look at the mish-mash of people on the streets – Buddhist monks young and old, locals both Tibetans and Himachals, unconventional tourists, the odd family crowd or newlyweds from the plains of Punjab, and on rare occasions, the town’s eminent resident the Dalai Lama himself.

Strangely, the Dhauladhars are not moved by any of this; they surround the small town looking calmly down their majestic mountain slopes upon the spectacle that this ‘Little Lhasa’ is today. From being a British settlement in the mid 19th century to becoming a Tibetan refuge in the late 20th century, this town appears to have seen it all.

In the morning we arrived in Mcleod Ganj me and my husband Adi set out for a walk to find the sun fighting the clouds and feel an unaccustomed gust of chilly air. The streets are quiet in the early morning hours; locals, mostly Tibetans, are opening their shops and setting up their stalls along the sides of the road getting ready to sell their trinkets, the smell of hot steaming momos and chai is rising up through the fresh mountain air and people are going about their business with their usual calm.

Yet there is a buzz in the air.

The heart of exile Tibetan life beats in McLeod Ganj, home to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan government, as well as other high-ranking Lamas and monks. So it becomes only natural that the prime attraction in town will be its Buddhist temples and its meditation centers, specially for those disenchanted foreigners seeking solace, peace of mind, or simply to champion the Tibetan cause.

And it’s a fact, politics and religion are entwined here.

The town seems like a throwback of another Lhasa, where monks and nuns perform their daily religious duties and other Tibetans remain preoccupied with their daily lives, some working for the Central Tibetan Administration, while others work in Internet cafes and other tourism sectors.

Tibetans in McLeod Ganj and in its surrounding areas, some 20,000 people, seem to sustain a tourist economy simply by being Tibetan, clinging to hopes of returning one day to their Chinese-controlled homeland.

At school their children study the Tibetan language along with Hindi, and in the streets women, especially the elder ones, proudly wear their distinctive robes, a long dark-coloured skirt accompanied with a stripped apron called paden in Tibetan.
Posters and murals of a ‘Free Tibet’ and flyers to volunteer in many of the groups advocating a Tibetan homeland are easy to spot across town.

But obviously, kilometers away from the so-called ‘Roof of the World”, travelers are not able to find the breathtaking views of Lhasa’s Potala Palace or the Jokhang Temple. However, just being here, McLeod Ganj offers a glimpse of the vibrant Tibetan Buddhism free from repression. At less than 6,000 feet, the town’s altitude is also a far cry from Lhasa’s lofty heights and a lot easier on the lungs.

The first halt in town will incontestably be looking for the Thekchen Choeling Temple, both the Tibetan spiritual leader’s residence and the main House of God for Buddhists and Tibetans.
On the outside, the Thekchen Choeling Temple is a modest, mustard-coloured building, easy to miss if no one tells you it is actually there.

As Adi and I are having chai at the Chonor House, our hotel in Mcleodganj which oversees the complex, an American couple looks quite disappointed as someone points out the sight for them, “Is this it? That building?” they inquire in a skeptical tone. It is so unlike anything they had expected.

However, inside of the temple it is another story.

When there is prayer, the sounds of Buddhist chants reverberate from every corner through the stillness. Then, dozens of Buddhist monks and nuns in their distinctive burgundy robes recite together, either from a book or by heart, barefoot and seated on a mattress, turning their recitation of mantras into a sweet murmur. Most of them hold prayer beads in their hands as they count time while meditating.

I was also told about an entertaining debate by monks at the temple in which they heckle, jeer, shout out, do lots of general gesticulation when they make their points, but unfortunately we missed it.

The Thekchen Choeling Temple is definitely a place where you could spend hours, breathing in the peace and watching the rigorous prayer rituals of the Buddhists who prostrate themselves flat in front of the massive image of Buddha only to rise and prostrate flat again; young and old, they do this a hundred and eight times every day.

Sitting on the first floor of the temple, one can watch the sun rise and set over the distant Dhauladhar mountain range (with snow it must be stunning!) while you overlook the lush green Kangra valley below.

As we’re about to leave, we walk the kora or sacred circuit around the temple, turning the brass prayer wheels as we pass. Each heavy wheel contains a prayer or mantra written on the wheel. Once the wheel is spun, the Tibetans say, the prayer is released and in its spinning motion it is sent to all corners of the earth. In a written placard it says it is a wish that all beings find peace and happiness.

The temple also houses magnificent images of Buddha, including a gilded statue of Shakyamuni, statues of Valokitesvara and Padamasambhava, alongside many Buddhist scriptures. There is also a separate room for thousands of butter lamps carefully lit by the monks as a sign of devotion when darkness descends on McLeod Ganj. On one of the temple walls I spot a big and beautiful painting of the famed Potala Palace, Tibet’s Holiest Shrine back in Lhasa and a painful reminder to Tibetans of what has been left behind back home.

Inside the complex there is bookshop, a gift shop, and a small but interesting Tibet Museum which gives an in-depth look through texts, photographies and videos at the atrocities committed against Tibet and its culture since the Chinese invasion in 1950. It is a history lesson, an eye-opener, a must see. One rare sight is to see photographs of a young Dalai Lama on a donkey or traveling by foot during his painful journey from Tibet to exile in India or the black and white snapshot of those Tibetans who first arrived in India, their face frightened with fear and exhaustion.
The museum also tells through photos, text and first-hand narrations the story of Tibet, called with melancholy “our land of snows” while one of the murals quotes an original old Tibetan saying “Even a nun can become a ruler of Tibet if that brings happiness to the country,” symbolizing the general spirit of religion, social and political freedom of Tibet.

By the end of the day we realize that walking is the most ideal way of seeing and soaking in the experience of Mcleodganj.
It is full of peace and tranquility. One of these places where the traveler is not sure for how long he would stay, it could be two days or two months, and where at first sight there is really nothing much to see or do. You can find anything in its narrow and hilly streets from Tibetan food, good luck charms, to sacred thangka paintings to Enlightenment.

You can stop to bargain with the Tibetan vendors for a piece of silver jewelry, prayer bowls or Buddha heads or step into one of the small shops that sell T-shirts with funky slogans like “Free Tibet” and “I love Tibet” or otherwise choose a colourful shawl for the winter. You can easily scour bookshops for rare delightful finds on Buddhism and stop at the bakeries scattered across the town for fresh cake. Cheap and vegetarian Tibetan and Indian food are everywhere.

There are also tons of ads to volunteer with Tibetan organizations, take yoga, massage, meditation or Tibetan cooking classes.

A typical sight in McLed Ganj is seeing people in small cafes sipping chai, reading, people watching or engaged in conversation with locals, monks or travellers. Tibetan women in their colourful aprons walk through the chorten or stupa in the center of town turning the red-coloured prayer wheels. Tibetan chants and monastic music composed by monks is the soundtrack as you walk along its lively streets. Visible on the terraces above are the prayer flags of bright yellow, green, blue and white, which flap in the wind coming off the mountains. Tibetans believe the wind blows the prayers printed on the flag.

One recommended walk towards Dharamshala, the main town below, leads to the Church of St. John in the wilderness, true to its name, hidden between the trees. This church is one of the few remainders from the British and its adjoining cemetery looks to have several stories of its own.

Another interesting trip is the Norbulingka Institute, some 15 km away from Mcleodganj. The Institute set up and managed by the trust created by the Dalai Lama himself, is an attempt to preserve the Tibetan way of life and traditional arts and crafts. The Bhagsu waterfall is also a short, charming little trip from McLeodganj. Nearby there is ancient Hindu temple.

And so passed day one, two, three and four in a blissful routine of nothing-doing. Late lazy breakfasts, mid-afternoon momo snacks, long walks up and down the hills browsing through stalls and shops, lunch at rooftop restaurants with stunning mountain views, followed by afternoon siestas and sporadic visits to the temple.

As we prepare to leave I have the sensation that by visiting this country within a country, I have experienced something of both Tibet and India.

Getting there and away: The most common way of reaching Mcleodganj is by overnight bus from New Delhi. Pathankot is the nearest railway station and there are also daily flights to Gaggal in the Kangra Valley.

Where To Stay: Adi and I stayed at Chonor House, very close to the main temple. It is an original place decorated with different Tibetan themes, murals featuring regions such as Kham, Amdo and Central Tibet, and the flora and fauna of the Land of Snow.
For those on a tight budget, there are plenty of hotels in McLeod Ganj, most of them in the stretch from the main chowk to the temple. It is better to stay in Mcleodganj, or “Upper Dharamshala” as it is also called, than in Dharamshala town in the valley lower down.

Eating: Be sure to taste Tibetan delicacies from the road-side vendors, fresh and steaming momos (like a dumpling) and Thupka soup, and definitely eat at least one meal, Italian or Indian, at on the roof-top restaurant with stunning mountain views.

Comment

  1. This writer is a real story teller. Can we please have more

    — Beatriz Davies · Nov 27, 02:57 · #

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