Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
India: Delhi....Mcleod Ganj....
Namaste!
It's almost one month ago that I arrived in Delhi and it was a complete different experience than two years ago. Indira Gandhi airport has a new terminal, clean...light...and organized ;-) It still takes you ages to get through the passport control but the waiting was less worse than two years ago, in a moldy, dark and unorganized terminal. The taxi drive from the airport to Pahar Ganj, traveler's district in Delhi, was not that horrible as I remembered and the Main Bazaar in Pahar Ganj completely changed! Everything is changing...all the time...we are normally only aware of these kind of things when we haven't been somewhere for a while...or when we haven't seen someone for a while. Changes are then more obvious...but if we want, we can be aware of this from moment to moment and I was so aware of this my first day in India.
Delhi:
My first challenge was, although all trains were fully booked according to an internet-booking-site, to get a train ticket to the nearest train station of Dharamshala. India wouldn't be India if there's not some kind of a possibility to get on a train anyway...I made it ;-) I wanted to get on the train as soon as possible because I subscribed for a Buddhism Introduction course in McLeod Ganj, a village close to Dharamshala and residence of HH the Dalai Lama when he's in India. I can only highly recommend this course to anyone who visits India and is interested in Buddhism. Check www.tushita.info.
The train trip itself was the second challenge...a woman...alone...in a night train. I used my most self confident attitude and was, after some curious views of some men, accepted and the other morning they were even very helpful. In India you actually never know what the next station is, they say nothing but you know more or less the arrival time, IF the train is on time...and guess what...they never are! So around 6am I just started asking if some one could tell me where we are...and 2 minutes later at least 10 men where helping this white, blond European woman...I got off the train on the right station...it always works...somehow :-)
McLeod:
Since I've been doing some Vipassana retreats, I wanted to know more about the background, the philosophy of Buddhism. Since I was 16 and got my first Buddhism book from my sister, I've had some interest in Buddhism. But Buddhism is like any kind of religion or spiritual philosophy not so easy to understand from just reading books. This Buddhism Introduction course gave me a good impression and interesting perspective of life...living...and being alive....
I met a lot of interesting Israeli and some non-Israeli people :-) and it was the first time that conversations didn't start with: " Hi, how are you, where are you from, where have been, how long are you traveling..." but Hi, what do you think of karma...reincarnation...impermanence....emptiness?" I was so looking forward to have these kind of conversations. If you are in India it's hard not thinking of the deeper meaning and purpose of life.
Lucky me...a couple of days after the course, the HH the Dalai Lama started his teachings in McLeod Ganj. The subject of the teachings and HH the Dalai Lama himself where hard to follow but just his presence is such an inspiration. Tears came just like that....
After I finished this course, I did a workshop about Emotional Balancing and although in the beginning or actually more BECAUSE of the fact that in the beginning I had to deal with a lot of disturbing emotions, this workshop was really helpful with becoming aware of my own and the emotions, reactions and actions of others....
There's so much to do and see in McLeod Ganj and it's surrounding that it's really easy to stay here for a longer time. The atmosphere is due to the mix of Indians, Tibetans and Nepali and others, quite relaxed. I learned a lot about the Tibetan history. It's hard to imagine that similar cruelties they have gone through and are still going through, go on and on all over the world. And how less we actually know what is still going on...all over the world! I sometimes feel quite embarrassed for the not knowing. The Tibetans with their relaxed attitude and friendly faces definitely have stolen my heart!
What else you can do?? Well there are a lot of courses to do: Yoga, Tai-chi, any kind of massage, Reiki, and so forth and not to forget lovely walks in an astonishing surrounding. Together with 4 others I went for a nice hike of 4 hours up to Triund in an afternoon to see sunset, stayed overnight, watched sunrise and walked down the other morning. We had to keep us warm by 'spooning' together in one big bed (lepeltje aan lepeltje for the dutch :-)) We've been laughing like teenagers, we've been talking like philosophers and we've been dreaming like children...
And now it's time to leave...just like that...it's hard...but...it's nice to know I will meet the 'same' and other interesting people on my next stop...Rishikesh...Yoga-temple on earth. If I find my place that feels good to me, I think of staying one or two months till it gets too cold ;-)....but like I wrote in the beginning... everything is changing from time to time...and I want to go with the flow...
with Metta...
carry
It's almost one month ago that I arrived in Delhi and it was a complete different experience than two years ago. Indira Gandhi airport has a new terminal, clean...light...and organized ;-) It still takes you ages to get through the passport control but the waiting was less worse than two years ago, in a moldy, dark and unorganized terminal. The taxi drive from the airport to Pahar Ganj, traveler's district in Delhi, was not that horrible as I remembered and the Main Bazaar in Pahar Ganj completely changed! Everything is changing...all the time...we are normally only aware of these kind of things when we haven't been somewhere for a while...or when we haven't seen someone for a while. Changes are then more obvious...but if we want, we can be aware of this from moment to moment and I was so aware of this my first day in India.
Delhi:
My first challenge was, although all trains were fully booked according to an internet-booking-site, to get a train ticket to the nearest train station of Dharamshala. India wouldn't be India if there's not some kind of a possibility to get on a train anyway...I made it ;-) I wanted to get on the train as soon as possible because I subscribed for a Buddhism Introduction course in McLeod Ganj, a village close to Dharamshala and residence of HH the Dalai Lama when he's in India. I can only highly recommend this course to anyone who visits India and is interested in Buddhism. Check www.tushita.info.
The train trip itself was the second challenge...a woman...alone...in a night train. I used my most self confident attitude and was, after some curious views of some men, accepted and the other morning they were even very helpful. In India you actually never know what the next station is, they say nothing but you know more or less the arrival time, IF the train is on time...and guess what...they never are! So around 6am I just started asking if some one could tell me where we are...and 2 minutes later at least 10 men where helping this white, blond European woman...I got off the train on the right station...it always works...somehow :-)
McLeod:
Since I've been doing some Vipassana retreats, I wanted to know more about the background, the philosophy of Buddhism. Since I was 16 and got my first Buddhism book from my sister, I've had some interest in Buddhism. But Buddhism is like any kind of religion or spiritual philosophy not so easy to understand from just reading books. This Buddhism Introduction course gave me a good impression and interesting perspective of life...living...and being alive....
I met a lot of interesting Israeli and some non-Israeli people :-) and it was the first time that conversations didn't start with: " Hi, how are you, where are you from, where have been, how long are you traveling..." but Hi, what do you think of karma...reincarnation...impermanence....emptiness?" I was so looking forward to have these kind of conversations. If you are in India it's hard not thinking of the deeper meaning and purpose of life.
Lucky me...a couple of days after the course, the HH the Dalai Lama started his teachings in McLeod Ganj. The subject of the teachings and HH the Dalai Lama himself where hard to follow but just his presence is such an inspiration. Tears came just like that....
After I finished this course, I did a workshop about Emotional Balancing and although in the beginning or actually more BECAUSE of the fact that in the beginning I had to deal with a lot of disturbing emotions, this workshop was really helpful with becoming aware of my own and the emotions, reactions and actions of others....
There's so much to do and see in McLeod Ganj and it's surrounding that it's really easy to stay here for a longer time. The atmosphere is due to the mix of Indians, Tibetans and Nepali and others, quite relaxed. I learned a lot about the Tibetan history. It's hard to imagine that similar cruelties they have gone through and are still going through, go on and on all over the world. And how less we actually know what is still going on...all over the world! I sometimes feel quite embarrassed for the not knowing. The Tibetans with their relaxed attitude and friendly faces definitely have stolen my heart!
What else you can do?? Well there are a lot of courses to do: Yoga, Tai-chi, any kind of massage, Reiki, and so forth and not to forget lovely walks in an astonishing surrounding. Together with 4 others I went for a nice hike of 4 hours up to Triund in an afternoon to see sunset, stayed overnight, watched sunrise and walked down the other morning. We had to keep us warm by 'spooning' together in one big bed (lepeltje aan lepeltje for the dutch :-)) We've been laughing like teenagers, we've been talking like philosophers and we've been dreaming like children...
And now it's time to leave...just like that...it's hard...but...it's nice to know I will meet the 'same' and other interesting people on my next stop...Rishikesh...Yoga-temple on earth. If I find my place that feels good to me, I think of staying one or two months till it gets too cold ;-)....but like I wrote in the beginning... everything is changing from time to time...and I want to go with the flow...
with Metta...
carry
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