Long-time ATC supporter Jill Lancashire shares some of her experiences on the November 2010 Dharamsala Insight Tour.

Day 9
The highlight of today was Tibetan astrologer Tsering Choezom at Men-Tsee-Khang, the Tibetan Medical and Astrology Institute. She’s been doing charts for 22 years and knows them like the back of her hand. What to say? She floored me. She outlined key features of my character that I’d only just identified myself. Apart from those showstoppers she mentioned longevity, periods of future ill health, periods where projects would be successful and other things. Given she confirmed what I knew to be true, I’m assuming the rest will be true too…logical? It’s incredible that all she had to go on was my birth date and time. Mark was in the room too and I listened to her nail his traits and characteristics 100%. Some people received better news than others. Many have food for thought.

Also went to the brand new Refugee Reception Centre, about a 40 minute drive from Mcleod Ganj. It holds 500 people but there are only 40 there at the moment as many Tibetans are being turned round at the Nepali border and Chinese authorities have increased security against those trying to leave Tibet. I hope it doesn’t happen that refugee numbers dry up now the system and facilities are all in place to meet them. The residents of the Reception Centre are waiting for His Holiness to return from overseas for their personal meeting with him. Afterwards they’re dispersed to the appropriate institution. The pictures of children with severe frost bite were disturbing.

Need a bit of retail therapy after today.

Day 10
Slowed down this morning and sat and listened to the puja on the Kora around His Holiness’ temple. Marvelled at an old Tibetan man (6:30am) teetering along on his walking stick. Then he started to wave it around - yep he was blind as well. He must know every stone and slope on the path … it’s not an easy walk. At the end of the puja the Tibetans lined up and he led them in a passionate national anthem - very moving - with personal harmonic vitriole at the end. He does it every day. They all do it every day. Acknowledging cause and effect, these guys are creating the cause to return to Tibet soon.

Went to the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and was shown around the archive. It housed scriptures from the 8th and 12th centuries, large and heavy, carried over the mountains in 1959!! They were just in a room, controlled temp machines broken, no white gloves… The best sight was a monk operating a HUGE flatbed scanner. Every sheet of every scripture has been copied electronically. Hooray.

I finished the day with a visit to the Tibetan doctor. Why not make it a bit more intense? Got the director, who read my pulse and asked me if I had this and that, yes yes. He’d nailed the health conditions, asking barely any questions. Needless to say I bought 4 months supply of Tibetan medicines, I hope I can get them through customs. Intense day, all tucked up in bed by 7:30!

Day 11
Usuals again today: Kora - same format, inside Namgyal temple, looking for things people had asked me to find. Farewelled the ladies of the Tibet Women’s Association and started to find gifts in the bazaar. Bought some statues which are being filled by monks at a monastery overnight ready for pickup tomorrow before I go. Pity I gave them no time to do it.

Mark, Ken, Jan and Nigel (the techno/enviro sentient beings) went off to the Government-in-Exile’s Environment desk. They had a great day working out how they could help in the future. I think a lot of the group are wondering about that. A few are wanting to help an old folks home near the main temple. It needs a plan as well as cash. They’re working on it.

Stockpiling small denomination notes ready for the beggar rupee drop tomorrow. I’m comfortable here now and will be sorry to leave. Group dinner at the Mcleod branch of Norbulinka in another one of their beautifully crafted environments…

Day 12
Everyone is squeezing everything into today: final statues, thankas and gifts to take home. Old man not at the Kora this morning - wonder where he is.

We went to Gu Chu Sum in the afternoon, the place that receives and looks after the ex-political prisoners. The ATC donated six computers which they’ll use to train the residents in computer skills, alongside written Tibetan and English in a bid to assist them in get a job.

Gu Chu Sum also runs a Japanese restaurant and sell clothes from a sewing room where they train women to sew. Even so, it is incredibly spartan. A lone guy in the kitchen gets up at 3am daily to ensure he can make enough dough/noodles in the ancient noodle machine to feed 60 people. Same story with the old folks home near His Holiness’s monastery, who make noodles daily to feed 150 residents!! The kitchen at Gu Chu Sum resembles a blackened hole. It would be great to help fix up that kitchen. Getting to know this place better can be intense at times, but it’s all part of the reality of an oppressed people currently in exile.

Took off down hill in the mini buses to catch the overnight train to Delhi. Felt like we were leaving a safe haven. Suffice to say Indian railway stations have not improved, and as you get older any sense of ‘the challenge’ wilts away with the wall of people all trying get onto the same train. We had a system: find the carriage, throw on all the bags, then get on. Howard was last and had to run to jump on as the train started moving. Again I was too lucky that I didn’t have to use the loo…

Day 13
Arrived in Delhi at 5:30am and into the hotel for a wash and rest. Paul from ATC found out His Holiness was in Delhi and arranged for us to present a khata to His Holiness as he left the India Habitat Centre. Got there in plenty of time to line up ready - we barely dared to hope that it would happen. However His Holiness came out, looked each one of us in the eye, and shook our hand. He stood with us for a photo, spoke to us earnestly and held my hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He asked what we thought the spirit of the Tibetans was like in Dharamsala. We said it was positive and strong, and he said the spirit of those in Tibet was even stronger. He said that the Tibetan were getting a little bit angry, and while as a spiritual practitioner he sees that as a negative emotion, in a political context, for a short time, a little bit of anger might be OK. What a way to end the trip!!!!!!!!!!!

Farewell dinner. Group off to the airport. Everyone in the group has become good friends. It’ll be weird not to see many of them again - but then again we’ll probably be in touch somehow. It was a good group and the tour did give us the insight we sought. I think a number of us will work together on assorted projects, or support them with funds. We agree that whatever anyone can do to support the Tibetans, and give them hope while they wait to return to Tibet, has to be done. The culture, the religion and the spirit of the people is just too too precious for this planet to lose.

Jill visited Dharamsala on an Insight Tour organised by ATC. The next Dharamsala Insight Tour is scheduled for November 2012. Click here for more details

Read Dharamsala Insight Tour Diary - Days 1-4
Read Dharamsala Insight Tour Diary - Days 6-8