Last days in Baghsu.

The panchkarma experience was great and my last days in Baghsu so relaxing. As you can see I renounced the computer for about 10 days and spent that time going for walks in the mountains, watching the women take in the wheat harvest, dozing under trees and noticing the variety of Himalayan birds. Green parrots and blue birds with bright colored long tails, all kinds of small stripped birds in yellow, green, black and white and woodpeckers with long beaks, red heads and black mohawks. For all my years in the Himalayas I never gave myself the luxury of time to just enjoy nature without having one eye on a clock, or my mind busy with some project or head stuck in a study book. Time off was so healing in so many ways. I lost around 10 lbs, feel great, have lots of energy and have no cravings for sugar, caffeine or salty/spicy food. The simple diet seems to agree with me just fine.

Last weekend there was also a big cricket match in Dharamsala so Baghsu was bombarded with young Sheik cricket fans who love to party and attempt to chat up/harass any and all western girls. It was so funny though watching them in the Baghsu’s holy water swimming pool on Sunday. There were hundreds of big overweight, tattooed guys with hangovers in their underwear and black hairnets trying to impress or outdo each other jumping or diving into the pool and having swimming races like a bunch of teenagers. A big, funny Sheik soup. One guy even dislocated his shoulder and Dr Siby came to his rescue snapping it into place; boy did he scream.

I was all so very lucky to be able to visit with 2 lamas before my departure. Geshie Chopel, who has to be in his 90’s by now and still has a youthful cheeky grin and loves to joke. Also Khensur Denma Locho Rinpoche    http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/lineage-lamas/499-denma.htm   who gave a wonderful Chenrazig initiation which started off the 15 days of practice which ends with Saka Dawa on June 3rd. Saka Dawa is on the Buddhist holy day with celebrates Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death or paranirvana. During these 15 days Buddhist do a lot of actions which create positive karma, such as prayers fasting, offering and assisting people however they can. So I had better get on it.


On to Kashmir

It was hard to say bye to the wonderful staff of Siby’s Health Clinic and the family I stayed with as they all took such great care of me. However Kashmir was calling and I was very lucky to bump into my old friend Shabir. He has been working in Bahgsu and McLeod Ganj since 1996 and since he was headed to Kashmir we shared the costs of petrol and hit the road 5.30 am. Much better to go by car than spend two days on the bus. Anyway that was two days ago, but it feels like ages ago. The trip took 13 hours with a few stops for chai and lunch. The views of the mountains on the way were amazing and I often found myself hanging on and whispering a few Tara mantras, not only because Shabir drove fast but because the river was a long way down from the windy mountains roads and I wanted to as they say in India arrive, alive!

Srinagar, a town which was silent and in curfew 2 years ago is now a bustling, loud, tourist destination packed full of Indian honeymoon couples and families. The boulevard on Dale Lake was at a standstill, every car blaring Bollywood music and the local Kashmiris trying their best to sell the tourist sunset shikara (gondola) trips around the lake, plastic trinkets made in China or snacks of spicy nuts. It was the complete opposite of peaceful Bahgsu. Shabir’s family live on a house boat and they luckily had an extra room. These days a room on a house boat, and the house boats are beautiful, starts around 3000 rupees ($60). During times of curfew the same room you could get for about 500 rupees ($10). My question is then, where is the line between making hay while you can in a good tourist season and when are you price gouging? Anyway Kashmir is in its paradise mode just now. People are all crazy to make money from the tourists and everyone is either in denial of Kashmir’s problems due to the conflict or have no clue.

So I am here, not only for the shikara rides, houseboats or to buy the handicrafts but also to volunteer with NGO’s that work with women and peacebuiding. The women I will be assisting are ladies that I met in 2010. In a few days I will be starting with HELP foundation  http://www.jkhf.in/  which was founded in 1997 by a very courageous and resourceful woman Nighat Shafi Pandit  
http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=1820. 


The project I am assisting with will take place in the district of Kupwara which is close to the Line of Control, the defacto border with Pakistan. I will be glad to get out of town and away from the tourists for those few days. HELP is setting up a three year training program for women and will cover health education, sustainable agriculture, income generation and small business development such as learning tailoring or honey making, human rights and law awareness and in general self development and connecting women to each other so they can support and assist each other. I only met with HELPs founder yesterday so tomorrow I will find out more about what exactly my role will be. Of course I also have to get settled with a reasonable priced place to stay, get an internet connection adjust to being in a different culture and get a big headscarf; not out of respect for the religion, but I just get fed up of judgmental stares and men checking out by chest. It is a funny world.