Dharamsala

In a small little town in foothills of the Himalayas is the seat of the Tibetan Government in Exile, and home of the Dalai Lama, also known as the city of Dharamsala. There are a number of things misleading about the above sentence.

First of all, even though everyone calls it the city of Dharamsala, everything of interest actually happens in a former hillstation 10 km away called McLeod Ganj. McLeod Ganj is not a city. Its is three streets on a ridge which come together in a bus stand around which a network of squat, square garage-looking buildings are erected. The buildings are mostly stores, residences, restaurants or hotels. The population, given what I saw wandering the streets is about 60% Tibetan and 40% backpacker. The Dalai Lama’s house and the seat of government is a 10 and 20 minute walk respectively from the bus stand.

The kicker about the Dharamsala area is that there is NOTHING to SEE in any of these places. The center of Tibetan Buddhism is a drab concrete building with a small room in which a colorful if unassuming alter has been set up. The Tibetan government is an even more austere place, a few small concrete buildings which look like dorms next to a Buddhist monestary. True there are a few short hikes with pretty scenary, but they are not all that impressive. The bottom line is that all the sites to see, from the Dalhi Lama’s residence to the pretty vistas of the mountains and nearby waterfalls, can all be seen in one day without the burden of a camera, because there’s not much to photograph. The picture I’m posting is one of the few I took in Dharamsala before I realized how unphotogenic it is.

But strangely enough, even though there was nothing to see there, I found Dharamsala and Mcleod Ganj oddly compelling. The point is no to see things but to experience things. There are constantly various classes being taught throughout the area, on subjects ranging from Buddhist philosophy to Tibetan cooking to mediation, Yoga and massage. Classes are cheap, usually 100 to 300 rupees for a course of 8 to 10 lessons, which usually takes about two weeks.

So, if you’re going to just visit there, don’t plan on more than a day. You’ll be bored. But if you have the time to stay there, consider being there at least two weeks, stay in one of the cheap 100 rupee a night hotels, take classes during the day and hang out with dispossessed westerners at night. I’m not saying you’ll find enlightenment, or even understand Tibetan cooking by the end, but at least you’ll have a sense of bettering yourself and have had an Indian experience which is different than the standard tourist’s.

Dharamsala: It is a great place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit there. Yeah, you read that right.