..On to Dharamsala. Or to be precise Mcleod Ganj. Dharamsala, well known as the home of the Dali Lama, is in fact not the home of the Dali Lama at all. What it is is a small and unremarkable town in the Indian Himalayas that is notable for not much more than being the end of a train line en-route to Mcleod Ganj - which is the much vaulted home of the Dali Lama. Needless to say we didn't stop there.
Mcleod Ganj, 4km up the road (on foot) from Dharamsala is also a small and unremarkable town in the Indian Himalayas. Once a British hill station (as far as I can remember) it perches precariously about 1700m up in a natural bowl on the sides of some spectacularly beautiful mountains. Aside from being a convenient respite from the heat of the Indian summer, and the staging post for some fairly decent treks it would probably not have made the tourist route at all if it had not been for the arrival of the DL. This event, however, has placed it firmly on the map and turned it into something of a cultural curio. Whilst being the home of many Indians it is as much a taste of Tibet as India and, as we found out, it is also home to perhaps the largest freak-show on earth.
Lets cut to the chase; this is hippy central. There are more dope smoking, dreadlock-headed, crystal gazing public-school saddhu wannabe's here than you could find at the average Levellers concert. I speak from experience; I have been to a Levellers concert. I assume the fact that this is the world capital of the Buddhist faith has turned it into a pilgrimage centre for the peace-police, all presumably frantically searching for themselves. Of course this could also be attributed to the astonishing amount of freely available dope..
Before arriving in India I read this book (which I highly recommend):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140283587/sr=1-1/qid=1150962117/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8030041-9035131?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books
I assumed this to be a comedic look at western travelers. What I did not realise was it was a factual expose on the Indian sub-continent. The author, it would seem, has been to Mcleod Ganj.
Despite how that may sound, I don't really have anything against these people. Hell if they want to travel half way around the world to a country that positively throbs with culture in order to smoke themselves into oblivion then fine by me. The queue for the Taj Mahal will be a couple of people shorter. But I do think it is a sad reflection in Western society that this is also the least friendly place I have visited in India and as far as I can see that is a direct result of the high proportion of western travelers here. In a cafe in Delhi (quick trip into the future) I nodded and smiled to a clearly British couple as they entered and was curtly ignored. This could be because a. they had just got off a plane and had not yet absorbed the Indian chill vibe or b. because I was sitting next to Stu who now has purple and orange hair, and so in my more altruistic moments I could perhaps excuse them. Either way, after three months traveling in the Middle East and India I have become accustomed to strangers nodding and smiling a greeting when they catch my eye. To be snubbed in this way was an uncomfortable and unpleasant reminder of home. Sadly Mcleod Ganj, despite the fact that it should be one of the most warm and friendly placed ON EARTH, positively vibrates with this same undercurrent of indifference and hostility.
This would be easier to accept if these people were not all (ok I'm generalising) preaching peace and love and on a mission to set right the ills of the world. Credence I think to the theory that, despite the mantra, actually all they want to do is get high. They sure as hell ain't living the dream.
Aside from this minor injection of reality our visit to Mcleod Ganj was a good one. A day spent looking around the town, visiting the DL (in his absence, he is presumed to be off somewhere further cultivating anti-Chinese feeling) trying and failing to visit the Tibetan museum, eating, drinking, making merry and generally appreciating the show. This followed by a stonking day trekking up 1200m to Triund, a small saddle between two peaks which affords stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
In the end, perhaps because of its isolation and perhaps because it is a meeting point of some fairly strange cultures this place is a departure from what I would consider to be the 'real India'. Love it or hate it though, don't miss it.
Mcleod Ganj, 4km up the road (on foot) from Dharamsala is also a small and unremarkable town in the Indian Himalayas. Once a British hill station (as far as I can remember) it perches precariously about 1700m up in a natural bowl on the sides of some spectacularly beautiful mountains. Aside from being a convenient respite from the heat of the Indian summer, and the staging post for some fairly decent treks it would probably not have made the tourist route at all if it had not been for the arrival of the DL. This event, however, has placed it firmly on the map and turned it into something of a cultural curio. Whilst being the home of many Indians it is as much a taste of Tibet as India and, as we found out, it is also home to perhaps the largest freak-show on earth.
Lets cut to the chase; this is hippy central. There are more dope smoking, dreadlock-headed, crystal gazing public-school saddhu wannabe's here than you could find at the average Levellers concert. I speak from experience; I have been to a Levellers concert. I assume the fact that this is the world capital of the Buddhist faith has turned it into a pilgrimage centre for the peace-police, all presumably frantically searching for themselves. Of course this could also be attributed to the astonishing amount of freely available dope..
Before arriving in India I read this book (which I highly recommend):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140283587/sr=1-1/qid=1150962117/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8030041-9035131?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books
I assumed this to be a comedic look at western travelers. What I did not realise was it was a factual expose on the Indian sub-continent. The author, it would seem, has been to Mcleod Ganj.
Despite how that may sound, I don't really have anything against these people. Hell if they want to travel half way around the world to a country that positively throbs with culture in order to smoke themselves into oblivion then fine by me. The queue for the Taj Mahal will be a couple of people shorter. But I do think it is a sad reflection in Western society that this is also the least friendly place I have visited in India and as far as I can see that is a direct result of the high proportion of western travelers here. In a cafe in Delhi (quick trip into the future) I nodded and smiled to a clearly British couple as they entered and was curtly ignored. This could be because a. they had just got off a plane and had not yet absorbed the Indian chill vibe or b. because I was sitting next to Stu who now has purple and orange hair, and so in my more altruistic moments I could perhaps excuse them. Either way, after three months traveling in the Middle East and India I have become accustomed to strangers nodding and smiling a greeting when they catch my eye. To be snubbed in this way was an uncomfortable and unpleasant reminder of home. Sadly Mcleod Ganj, despite the fact that it should be one of the most warm and friendly placed ON EARTH, positively vibrates with this same undercurrent of indifference and hostility.
This would be easier to accept if these people were not all (ok I'm generalising) preaching peace and love and on a mission to set right the ills of the world. Credence I think to the theory that, despite the mantra, actually all they want to do is get high. They sure as hell ain't living the dream.
Aside from this minor injection of reality our visit to Mcleod Ganj was a good one. A day spent looking around the town, visiting the DL (in his absence, he is presumed to be off somewhere further cultivating anti-Chinese feeling) trying and failing to visit the Tibetan museum, eating, drinking, making merry and generally appreciating the show. This followed by a stonking day trekking up 1200m to Triund, a small saddle between two peaks which affords stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
In the end, perhaps because of its isolation and perhaps because it is a meeting point of some fairly strange cultures this place is a departure from what I would consider to be the 'real India'. Love it or hate it though, don't miss it.
posted by Al at 1:35 am
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