A local walk
 |
| Iku Khad River - the one that runs down the valley near the school |
25th June
Normally my
Sunday’s are dedicated to washing, cleaning my room and the teachers’ office,
lesson preparation and reading, but given that I’d done a fair bit of the
domestic chores on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday breakfast was not too late,
I decided to visit Gyuto Monastery just up the road (well, up to the main road
and a couple of kilometers along it).
It was well into
the “stay under a tree” time of day, so I wandered slowly under the shade of my
umbrella. Humidity was extremely
high, as was the temperature. There
is a small art gallery, the Naam gallery, on the way to the monastery, which I
decided to include in my excursion.
The walk along the
main road was, of course, hair raising, though the beginning was relatively
stress free – there was a traffic jam, so I did not have to contend with
vehicles attempting to pass me with only a hair’s breadth to spare.
 |
| Iku Khad River - upstream from the main road |
The main road did
take me across the bridge that crosses the river that runs down the valley
beside the school. I have yet to
walk down to the river, which looks beautiful, and when asking Wangchuk about
the best path down to the river, he seriously discouraged me – apparently much
of the local population regards the river bank as an open air toilet….
Anyway, a close up
of the river from the bridge confirms it is beautiful, and I manage some photos
that do not include the dumping of rubbish from the roadside onto the
riverbank. I can see that the
current prime minister’s wish to
clean up his country is a big undertaking! (along with his making begging illegal – even here it was
present!)
Along the road is
a rather incongruous clock tower.
Inaugurated only a few days previously. It looks completely out of place amongst the scruffy
buildings and untidy roadside.
Beside it sits a gate, with plaques attributing, in very flowery
language, to the bravery of a local young man who came across a group of
insurgents hiding in a shed somewhere north of here.
 |
| The rather incongruous Dharamsala Clock Tower |
 |
| Gyuto Monastery |
I was getting
rather low on rupees, so kept half an eye out for a money changer, not with any
great expectations, but did find a place which offered such services, along
with the ability to book bus and airplane tickets and internet access – the
latter being taken advantage of by a couple of monks in their maroon
robes. I still find it faintly
amusing to find monks engaging in such worldly pursuits - and can remember my first very
surprised reactions to monks with mobile phones in Vietnam.
 |
| Gyuto Monastery |
I had done some
mental calculations about the benefits of changing some of the US dollars I was
carrying versus an ATM withdrawal, and decided I could be a little flexible
with the exchange rate. I was
quite pleased to be offered 64 as the exchange rate, with only 100 rupees as
commission (though when I changed money in the Tibetan sector in Delhi, there
was no commission)
 |
| Inside Gyuto Monastery |
This monastery is
one built as a “replacement” for its namesake in eastern Tibet, which was built
in the mid 15th century, and is the official residence of the
Karmapa, one of the highest lamas in Tibetan Buddhism.
 |
| Gyuto monastery grounds |
After visiting the
main temple, I paused outside to listen to a chanting of prayer with drum
accompaniment eminating from a small room adjactent to the main temple. Not wanting to be intrusive, I stayed
back from the doorway. As I returned to the front of the temple, there was the
obligatory request from an Indian family to be part of their family photo. No excursion would be complete without
such a request.
I felt rather
hungry by then, and the monastery café specialized in the Tibetan food that
students prepare at school, rejected my request for a ginger – lemon –honey
drink (maybe because it was on the breakfast menu) but their shop did have
Nescafe in slightly larger jars than the 25g at the general store at
Fatiphur.
As I headed back
towards the main road, I spotted another café sign, so went to
investigate. The proprietor asked
if he could tell me what he had -
assuring me that it was all veg, and I selected puri with mixed
vegetable – at the incredible cost of 50 rupees. While the puri were clearly freshly cooked, the vegetables
were VERY well cooked, clearly not freshly prepared. I crossed my fingers that all would be OK – less risk with
vegetables than with meat, which is why I am on a vegetarian diet for 3 months!
 |
| A not gourmet, but incredibly cheap, lunch |
I declined the
drink options, not wanting tea or coffee and definitely not willing to risk a
cold water and ice based drink without knowing the source of the water.
The owner opens
the inside café and turns on the fan for me, which is somewhat more comfortable
than the outside environment.
I renegotiate the
road back to the Naam art gallery (which has an entrance fee of 10 rupees – not
exactly extortionate!!) – a small gallery displaying a few oil paintings of an
English painter – all quite dark and seemingly somber in nature, and rather
more watercolours and acrylics by a German painter. Her acrylics tend towards the impressionist / abstract (for
all I know about art) inspired by her meditations and crossing a variety of
faiths. Her watercolours are
varied, with scenes of Himachel Pradesh, flowers, birds and butterflies and the
odd water scene with boats. I
quite like some of her mountain scenery paintings.
 |
| Sunflowers in the monastery grounds |
Once off the main
road I watch out for the lychee trees that T Deki had told me were there, and
eventually I see them – I had never seen the fruit growing before, and there is
quite an orchard not far from the school.
I must try to purchase some more of these rather delicious morsels
before the season finishes.
By the time I get
back to school I feel as if I am melting.
The students are eating lunch – a mixture of bread from the night before
and steamed dough dumplings, which are incredibly heavy. I thank them but decline to partipate
in this repast and go to run half a bucket of water to bathe and cool myself
down and rinse out my not particularly dirty but rather saturated clothes.
 |
| In the monastery grounds |
Given that the
students were eating lunch at around 3pm, the chances of anyone cooking dinner
for the normal time of 7pm are small.
I had purchased mushrooms on my way back to school, but don’t really
want to spend any time in the kitchen cooking – it is too hot and too many
mosquitoes and the floor is once more awash with water and very slippery from
where a rodent had knocked over the oil jug, so wash my mushrooms, grab a
tomato from the fridge, pour boiling water from my kettle over both to ensure a
degree of removal of nasty bugs and call it dinner!
 |
| Lychees growing |
Comments
Post a Comment