10 days in Delhi.

So after my disappointment last week I have been calling and applying to some other NGO’s to volunteer, no luck yet. Not For Sale http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ did not let “members of the public” volunteer, so I have to wonder who works for them. 
Unfortunately  working with Apne Aape did not come about but they do great work are highly organized and effective. They recently started a raising awareness campaign encourage men not to buy girls for sex. Please, Please check this out and pass it to your own network as we need to get this message out so that men, and also women pimps will stop this horrific behaviour. 
http://apneaap.org/cmdbs/cool-men-dont-buy-sex-campaign 


I have my fingers crossed to work with WISCOMP as this is in line with what I studied. Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace. http://www.wiscomp.org/  They do research and training that facilitates women's leadership in peace secuirty and international affairs and was founded using the prize money His Holiness received for his Nobel Peace Prize in 1989; which is just way brilliant. So today, all being well I will get the yeh or nae on that. If that is a nae then, maybe I can volunteer with them in the autum. 
if it is a nae then I will contact BBA again, they work to end child slavery and talk with their volunteer manger who was “out of station” or not in the office last week. http://www.bba.org.in/


Also trying to organize projects for the summer in Kashmir this week and hoping to assist a Kashmiri woman who is involved in peace building projects and is part of the Women Building Peace Network. http://www.huntalternatives.org/pages/7799_ashima_kaul.cfm She hopes to do a conflict resolution project with Kashmrir youth as well as a training for women. Of course this is contingent on funding, which I hope she gets. Just yesterday I also got wind of another project in Kashmir to empower women as citizen journalists and community leaders. For this project I may have the opportunity to meet with Ms Habib who has worked for women's right, the release of political prisoners and is also a political leader calling for an independent Kashmir. http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Jun/17/zamrooda-s-prisoner-no-100-released-12.asp I am also looking forward to re-connecting with the women I interview in 2010, maybe even get this wee book I did printed in India and distributed to people involved in women's inclusion/ empowerment work.

So this week I have spend a lot of time in my hotel room, in front of the computer, in my undies with the fan on full blast, taking cold showers every few hours; it is just a tad warm in Delhi these days. Luckily I can visit with my dear friend Pema who lives here and we do an hour of yoga ion the morning when it is cool and hang out with her baby girl. We also managed to take a trip to Khan Market and Hus Kaus Dear Park and Arts Village in south Delhi which was a fun day and great to be get out of the hotel room and see some greenery. Delhi is fast becoming the hip and trendy place to be, when I think how it was 15 years ago this city has really changed fast. I see BMW's designer cloth shops and so many coffee shops with  20'-30's somethings on their laptops which was never even conceived of in 1995. I have also met another great lady, Fiona who though a mutual friend and the power of facebook have met and shared some good long chats over ice tea. 

After 5 long  nights in Main Bazar with lots of talk, I am now in Maju Katilla, again and back to the drawing board.
I had come to Delhi to talk with the European  founder and the regional project managers of an Indian based NGO. They want to expand their woman's vocational training and microfiannce program and I was very interested to see if there would be a chance of working with them and building on what they have already started. However and not going into details, this is just not going to work. I am very disappointed and generally frustrated at how business and communication is done in India, i.e. do it tomorrow thinking, along with disrespect for people's time, their female gender and not to mention the assumption that all foreigners have tonnes of cash and can therefore work all hours for free. Mind you that last assumption is rife in America in the assortment of unpaid internships. Oh well, anyway such is our crazy world.
What was very interesting this week, but also has left we with a very sad mind, was that I had the opportunity to visit a refuge camp on the edges of Delhi. The camp houses approx 1500 people who were made refugees at the partition of India. They are Muslims who came from Pakistan just over the border of Rajistan, so ethnically they at Rajistani but did not want to live in newly formed Pakistan. At that time, 1949 ish, India was promoting itself as a ethnically and religiously diverse democracy that would welcome anyone who did not want to live in the newly created Pakistan or West Bengal. So this group of people which were about 800 back then, moved into Indian Rajistan but had no luck in securing land from the government and decided to come to Delhi in the hope of procuring land here. Unfortunately they are still landless and have been squatting on small parcels of land in make shift tarpaulin and stick houses ever since. Every 5 to 10 years they have been forced off the land they squatt on and have to find a new place to live. They have been on their present piece of land for approx 7 years and once again will have to move very soon as the Delhi city plans to build a highway in the area.
The NGO have a small school for kids up to around age 10 then the kids go to government school. I was their on their behalf to find out the woman's needs. On asking the women about their living, health and income situation all they repeatedly told me was that they wanted was land, they can handle all hardship but for the NGO to help them get land. This of course makes perfect sense, so they need an advocate more that a vocational trainer.
The camp, which was beside some fields was pretty bad, tent close together, stick frames with black tarpaulin and an old shawl or cloth for a door. I could not see any well but did see two bathroom areas but I am sure there is no plumbing.The flies were thick and the terrain dusty. Most Children appeared to have skin rashes, mosquitoes bits or some some form of skin infections but were lively as all kids are and super curious to see a foreigner in their midst. The NGO staff talked with the people about their school project and   it was then my turn to talk with the women. Overall we must have only been there for about 1 hour, not enough time to get any kind of a real story, but long enough to connect to and feel the women's frustration at their situation. I would have loved to do a full story on the camp and send that to journalist however due to the Indan governments reviewing of all NGO's I will not be doing any story and I feel terrible at even meeting the women if the NGO can not at least attempt to advocate on their behalf for land.
Lesson learned from this experience, never wander into a camp without being backed up with resources, cash, contacts and expertise because even asking the question, or hinting at the question, what do you need? creates false hope and is just a horrible thing to do to people.
So I truly hope the NGO can continue with their education programs and continue to benefit people and hopefully even help the Pakistani refugees get their own land.

Pahr Ganj otherwise know as The Main Bazar.
Every traveller in India worth his or her salt has to spent at least one night in Pahr Ganj. I managed to procure a room in Hare Ram guest house for 250 rupees, about $5, which is a bargain. The bathroom has no hot water but the toilet does flush, the white sheets are clean but a lovely shade of grey, mind you I am scared to lift them to see the state of the mattress. The floor was washed maybe in the last decade but I found a broom so gave it a good sweep. There is also a window which is a bonus and of course the standard flourensent tube lighting makes me look more to tired and worn than I feel, or could that just be the Delhi pollution and dust which feel caked on to my skin? The hotel staff are very helpfull and pleasant and the roof top restaurant clean and cute with potted flowers and a Bodhi tree for some shade and three stray cats that scrounge for food.
Having been here before this time I came equipped to survive the attack of the senses with earplugs and a sleeping blindfold and had a surprisingly good nights sleep. This small street is NOISY, packed with shops selling all kinds of stuff and buyers haggling for the best price. Many travellers pay for their trip to India by buying Indian chatchkies and dodads and selling them back home. Everything from hippy cloths and smoking paraphernalia, leather bags, shoes, belts, jewellery, watches and accessories, bindis, perfume and makeup, sweater, backpacks and hiking gear for those going to Nepal, cheap electronics and the list goes on. Indian merchants too come from all over to stock up on goods to sell in their shops back home. The best thing about shopping in India is that you can get brand name products for a portion of the real price.Today, in between dodging the rickshaws, cows,ox and carts, bikes and high hippies, I purchased some nice Calven Klien undies and a nice purple Amercromby sweatshirt. Ok it is the India version but at a quick glance it could be the real Macoy.
This street is really quite fun though, just hanging out in the cafes is an anthropological study and it is quite funny how many of the travellers, I am sorry to say do fit the stereotype's. The Americans do talk louder than most, but I am glad to see so many young Americans travelling; the Israeli's love to argue about the bill, feeling that they are being somehow cheated; the British are in the bars and the Italian's and French are defiantly the most stylish. I have also noticed and have enjoyed seeing that the cool traveller hairdo is a through back to the 80's which was a bad hair decade, i.e. shaved on the sides, mullets and mohawks with the odd dreadlock, feather or bead, not forgetting the distinctive bad home dye job with crazy colour. Well been there done that and I am quite happy with my unstylist and unnoticeable shoulder length straight brown hair.
The clothes too have been fun to see. Ali baba pants are in in all kinds of sizes, cloths, colours and designs, scarfs are a must have, but here are no tie dye only lots of T shirts with political statements, Indian deities and of course Bob, John, Jimmy and Gandhi faces never go out of style, I am even seeing HH Dali Lama on T shirts. Here again I must appear not quite with it or cool and trendy in my jeans and plain Tshirt but hey I am comfy and again happy to go unnoticed. Today though I did have a fashion extravaganza and spent 10 rupees on a packet of silver bindis. Wahoo !!!

This post is from mid February ?
12 hours overnight bus journeys up the Himalaya can be quite sleepless, but surprisingly the whole journey was not so bad. I was wedged between a very big, friendly monk and the window. So with the help of some blankets I was not thrown around too much and actually slept. I am here in McLeod Ganj for 12 days at Tushita meditation centre to do a meditation retreat, on a practice which I have been promising myself to do for many years. We start tonight so no phone, non internet and no talking for 11 days. After being so busy in Bodhgaya I am looking forward to thee next few days. McLeod has grown so much even since I was last here in 2010.  I lived here from 1996 until 2002. It was a quick exit then as India and Pakistan had their nukes pointed at each other and all the embassies were advising all foreigners to get out of the country ASAP. Anyway back then McLeod had more trees and less concrete, more chia stalls than coffee Wi-Fi cafes and more dharma bums and practitioners than rainbow dressed with matted hair, backpackers just up from Goa and out of university. Times have changed and so has this town but the still has to be the most international town with 4 streets in the world. From the bus stop to the post office you can hear, Tibetan , Hindi, English Japanese Korean , all the European languages, Russian Mongolian, Kashmiri, Chinese Korean, Vietnamese and Hebrew. So many people are drawn here to see His Holinesses the Dalai Lama and Karmapa but also with the rise of the middle classes in India there are many more tourists from the Punjab, Mumbai and other parts of India. It has a great climate in the summer when it is way too hot in the rest of India, the Tibetan/multicultural environment is relaxed and easy going and we can be grateful for this place through the kindness of the Himachal Pradesh local people who have hosted the Tibetans here for just over 50 years now.

I learned so much being in this town sure I learned all about the Buddhist teachings but that knowledge is only valuable when used in practice; i.e relating the teaching to ones experinece of human existancenes. Admiting old habits, disfunctional desie and in general uncontrollable self concerned mind. and admitting wee youreally are, then trying, often woith great efffort to develop the heart and mind, becoming less selfish and more self aware, aware of oneslef in relation to others and concerned for the welfare of others. Did I say thisinot a easy path it is a lifelong practice and it is not a path of constant imrprovement just coz i place my hand in reverance in fornt of the Dalai Lama or Buddha statue. This makes me question the world, my  movtives and actions and it is a path that oneself can only developwi by accepting all the rap tat ie thughs at you and taking that pain and suffering as the material, the clay with which to make happiness flourish. nyway

McLeod Ganj was a breath of fresh Himalayan air after the exhausting yoga course. http://mcllo.com

The past 12 days consisted of  relaxation, some very intense yoga classes, long walks in the mountains a wonderful teaching from the Dalai Lama. Oh yes, also good food and some of the best chocolate cake on the planet from the guys from Bihar at the Trek and Dine in Dharamkot. Yummy
Since it has been years since I lived in McLeod, with only had a quick visit in February for retreat, I was really surprised to find out there are so many yoga places, some of which, like Sampoorna Y
Yoga seems to be out for the $$ while others were really good  Rossi from the yoga course travelled with me to McLeod so I got to play tour guide and introduce her to the Tibetan culture as well as have a new yoga teacher buddie to practice with, plus she is also just a great lassie. In some ways the past few days have been some time out from a very busy schedule since I arrived in India and it was great to meet old friends make new ones and just be for a while in order to prepare for the next step.

Monks doing prayers in Namgyl Monestry

These days McLeod is defiantly on the tourist/ self healing trail. In fact it was a bit funny reading all the posters splattered all over town about all the various course and treatments you can have. Cooking classes, massage classes, reiki classes, chakra balancing, aura reading, reflexology courses, tantra and kundalini classes, astrology, palm reading, past life regression therapy, crystal healing, meditation classes of all guises and probably much more, I just got tired of reading all the posters. It is as if Goa and California of the 60's/70's all moved to the Himalayas.
There are also so many opportunities to volunteer. You can volunteer to pick up trash, teach English, get involved with raising political awareness or donate to the various causes such as, spay the local dogs, the Tibetan Children's Village, the retirement home, the  transit school for newly arrived Tibetans or the numerous religious institutes. I had to agree with Rossi when she said " they really do not need anything, it is so organized here." It is true in so many ways the Tibetan refugees have become most fortunate in receiving aid  and assistance from others.
Anyway here are some recommendations or sites to have a peep at. Although the yoga studio in McLeod  itself sucks, I highly  recommend Universal Yoga  http://www.vijaypoweryoga.com for its good and caring teachers and serious yet playful atmosphere. Aryan gave a good traditional Astanga class, i.e. a bit too serious for me, but he has a good following and works closely with his students http://www.yogattc.com. We never made it to Siddarth's classes but he has been doing yoga in town for ages is a great guy with a large following and is now in quiet Upper Bagsu just round the mountain from McLeod.  http://www.siddharthayogacentre.org. We also looked at Kailash Tribal Yoga  http://yogatribe.org  but could not take classes there as they were starting a teacher training. The studio is beautiful, the Tshirts pretty cute, the teacher seems dedicated but the training course, expensive.

The teachings of the Dali Lama were held  to inaugurate the new monastery of Kamtrul Rinpoche. http://www.cglmonastery.org. Kamtrul Rinpoche is a lama in the Nyingma tradition whom I received teaching from while I lived in McLeod in the late 90's. A wonderful kind man and great teacher with a heart of gold.

As good fortune would have it I was able to meet with Jhado Rinpoche who was in town for a few days in between teaching trips to Taiwan, Europe and USA. His kindness and patience is beyond words, his knowledge of the Dharma immense ans smile, as you can see lights up the world.


I also had the opportunity to stay at the nunnery of  a dear friend Ven. Sangmo, a Dutch nun who founded Thosamling Institute and nunnery for Buddhist women of all traditions. Only 10 years old the Institute is flourishing and has become a hub of learning for women and Sangmo has worked tirelessly to make her dream a reality. http://www.thosamling.com and I wish her every continued success.
Jetsuma Tenzin Palmo also taught this week but I did not make that teaching. She has also founded a nunnery in the Kaygu tradition for Tibetan nuns. http://www.tenzinpalmo.com. Originally from London, Tenzin Palmo was one of the first western nuns and spend years in solitary retreat in cave in the Indian Himalayas. The book "A Cave in the Snow"  by Vicki McKenzie tells of her trials and realization during her long retreat and is a good quick  read.

I was also happy this past week to bump into an old Tibetan friend, Lobsang  a local activist, artist and photographer who works to keep us all up to date on Tibetan issues with his web site http://www.tibetsun.com.  He is also responsible for creating and organizing the Miss Tibet pageant and the Tibetan Olympics in 2008. Lobsang is always creating new projects to get the plight of the Tibetans in the news and everyone who spends time in McLeod gets to know who he is sooner or later and yi can't help but just love the guy.

Anyway whats the next step? well I arrived in Delhi today and met with Marshal, the founder of Ecoles De La Terra, the NGO I worked with in Bodhgaya.The regional meeting for the NGO is this weekend and I will find out more about the work of the other branches in Delhi, Calcutta and Rajistan. Marshal has plans to continue and build on the slum school here in Delhi, of the Pakistani Hindu refugees that were made homeless during partition in 1949. I am not sure where I fit into this but we just had a long talk with lots of ideas and will hopefully I will visit the Delhi programs and find out over this weekend how I can get more involved.

Death of a Tibetan protester in Delhi
Graphic story of the Tibetan Boy who self Immolated in protest of Hu Jinao visit to India.
.http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/03/29/tibetans-self-immolation-casts-shadow-over-brics-summit/

This is a terrible tragedy, that he felt he had to go to such measure to bring attention to the plight of the Tibetan people. Many more people in Tibet, mostly monk have been self immolating in protest but of course that news is difficult to get into the mainstream media. Jamphel Yesh, was from Kham and has spent only two year in exile in India. He was very politically active while in Tibet and India but this action has been a shock to so many people here. The Tibetan Camp in Delhi, was closed down for over a week and on the day Hu Jinao left Delhi the police and special reserve forces had closed off the Tibetan camp and were armed and ready to move if the Tibetans took to the street. However all that the police did was watch people sit and do prayers for the good rebirth of Jamphel Yeshi. His funeral was in McLeod Ganj on Friday and again the whole town closed down and people march quietly to the Temple of His Holiness to pray. The general atmosphere here in McLeod is somber to say the least
http://www.tibetsun.com/archive/2012/03/29/jamphel-yeshi-funeral-in-mcleod-ganj-on-friday/

It is official  I am now a certified yoga teacher. Yesterday was exams, a fire pudja to seal the deal and then of course dinner and drinks. So glad that it is all over as it has been a tough experience emotionally and physically but I am so happy with my progress and the people on the course were just great. Of course I  feel this is just the beginning of deepening the asana practice and hopefully I will be more confident to teach at some point soon. In fact we met a lass from Finland who has just finished a 6 week long hatha yoga teacher training in Rishikesh for a portion of the price and with a lot more one on one training from the teachers. So I think this may be also good to do before leaving India. Since I have been learning all about the different styles it seems that Hatha, rather Astanga yoga may be a lot better for us folks over 40 yoga.

Anyway yesterday the exams were not that bad, but the course teacher did play the lets stress out the student and of course changed the questions around from what they said they would do. Anyway we all looked pretty cool in our whites at the fire ceremony  but it was a shame that it was not explained as just doing a religious ceremony for the sake of show is a bit weird and freaked some people out while others went along blindly have a spiritual Indian experience. I enjoyed it for what it was, a show for the westerners and some good joo joo for them to keep on making the big bucks. Now could I be sounding just a wee bit cynical?

It must be tough for them to create a yoga training that stays true to the ancient yoga tradition and the philosophy while catering to westerners, some of whom have never been to India and have never studied yoga philosophy before. Everyone brings there expectations to the program and of course web site have the ability to make it all look so perfect and inviting. In short, while I have deepened my own practice and am grateful to the asana teacher for that, I would not recommend Sampoorna Yoga  as a teacher training program. I would also say that the owner is more interested in flirting with the girls, having facials, riding  his motorbike and posing on a white horse on the beach. In general he enjoys generating lots of money without being present to assist the students with their asana practice.While the philosophy was good to learn the teacher had the ability to take a fascinating subject and just kill it with his antiquated teaching style, manner of talking down to people and never allowing questions,

Anyway today is the last day at the beach and off to Delhi and on to McLeod Ganj tomorrow.