Back when?

Suddenly I'm back home again. It was a long and tedious journey. A fat guy next to me floated into my chair too. We had to circle for an hour over Frankfurt. A large latte cost me USD 6 at Frankfurt Airport. Strangely my Airtel SIM-card worked all the way to Sweden. Soon all except Tenzin will be gone from House #5. I want to return but when?

Farmers on the Track

There is a continuing dispute going on between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu about the water rights to Cauvery River. Recently the Indian government tried to settle it but managed to negotiate a bad deal for Karnataka. As a result farmers, particularily from Mandya, started to block roads and railways in gandhian non-violent demonstrations. I thought their spirit would have faded away by now but the day before yesterday the case was admitted to the Supreme Court. It was thus with fear of long delays I entered the Shatabdi Express from Mysore to Bangalore at 2.20 pm. Well, the farmers were busy soemwhere else and we arrived on time. Got you there, didn't I? Bangalore is a dreadful city so I'm sticking to my room, surfing the internet. The hotel, Ramanashree Brunton, reminds me of 193 Golf Links in Delhi although this place is more expensive. St Marks, where we stayed last summer for a few days is better, though. In a few hours it's off to the airport and stand in line for three hours. Great way to spend the evening...

Not Quite Right at the Hotel

Good old Metropole is not functioning right. The construction of a new floor is going on, disturbing the guests and making the courtyard darker. The second building (where I stay) is off line. Sorry Sir, it's the rain. Besides, it's getting a bit frayed around the edges. Myabe it's time to find another place... Met with Subramanya after breakfast. Luckily he was at his best talking away as usual. Tenzin went off with his friend to play in the waters of Fantasy Land. He will turn up tonight as he left his robes in my room. To tell the truth it's pretty boring to sit around and wait. I should have stayed in Sera one more day.

Cheese and Luxury

No blogging yesterday, I'm afraid. Besides, Sera Lachi where I usually go was closed for renovation. I ended up going for lunch to Namgyal in "Little Swiss" (Purang Camp). It's called Little Swiss because of its beautiful location at the end of a dam. Thinley was also there. Magyal's mother had made fantastic momos with fresh cheese made on milk from the family cows. In the afternoon Tenzin and I searched both Sera, Namdroling and Kushalnagar for Panir (Indian cheese) but it was Sunday and all the shops where closed. The weather is turning worse with rain all night but at least it is a little cooler. Nyima Tsering drove me back to Mysore at lunch time. Tenzin came along since he needed to renew his Indian residence permit in Mysore. On the way we stopped at the police station so I could "sign out". It took only five minutes which was a surprise considering that it took five hours to sign me in when I arrived. Here in Mysore we are staying at Hotel Metropole. I think Tenzin feels a bit uncomfortable with the comparative luxury.

From High-Tech to Low-Fi

All except the odd cricket have moved out. So has all except the odd lama Tenzin and I. When Thupten and Lobsang were here the house transformed to a high tech communication center with "heavy" monks walking in and out, chatting on Messenger and constantly speaking on their mobile phones. Someone was always in the kitchen cooking meat or making tea. Now that Lobsang is on his way to Perth and Thupten has gone to Bangalore again we are back to low-fi sleepy veggie life again. It's amazing... All the left over meat seemed to rejuvenate Passang. In all the times I have been here I have never seen that dog react to anything but food. He is always flat out on his stomach, sleeping or staring into space. But today I could not believe my eyes when he started playing with Tenzin. Made my last visit to the Representative's office today and handed over all the scanned files on CD. Dorje took me for lunch and I had to eat meat momos again. Then he took me to Camp 5 and 6 to look at the Meddical Clinic. Every year the people in the camps have to raise Rs 110 000 to run it, and he wants me to do some fund raising too. I have revised my opinion about him a little bit after Thinley told me that Dorje had kept some of Thinley's legal fees for himself as a kind of commission for passing on birth certificate cases. Thinley takes the certificates to court to file for Indian citizenship (about 70 so far). Tenzin and I went for a long walk across the rolling ields behind Sera. It's such a beautiful and peaceful place, especially in the late afternoon when the Indian farming families are together outside their houses after a days work. Outside one of the houses a wedding ritual was going on, or rather a post-wedding ritual where the husband a wife wash each other (symbolically) before enetring their house. Later a thunderstorm broke but it was over in 45 minutes. In the paper I have read that rains are creating havoc in Mysore. I just hope it is over by MOnday afternoon!

Attack of the Crickets

Got to be fast today. The Internet place is swarming with crickets. They are even on the keyboard! I did not accomplish much today. Thupten staged a puja in the house for good luck to the travellers. In the afternoon Tenzin and I went to Kushalnagar to get some fresh grounded coffee. Must get out of herre before I accidentally eat one of them...

Kushal Chicken

Finished the scanning this morning. Later I went to interview the old Cooperative Secretary, Lobsang Ngodup together with Thinley. But unfortunately old Lobsang had forgotten many things. But he told me that one of the reasons that the settlers had turned down the sprinkler irrigation scheme was that they believed that all the water would kill a lot of insects which is against Buddhist beliefs. So it was the old modern science against religion story. Was caught in a thunder shower in the afternoon and had to spend an hour in a shop. But I didn't buy anything. In fact, I'm not sure if they ever sell anything but cold drinks. The rest of the stuff looked like it had been there for ages. But come to think of it I think Alice & Esbjorn got some things from it last summer. Had to wade through water to get to the toilet. For lucnch Thupten served the ***** Bangalore chicken but to be honest it tasted more like * Kushalnagar chicken. Passang, the dog, didn't care.

Buddhist Councelling

Went with Thupten to Kushalnagar. We had a couple of Masala Dosas and bought some electrical parts. At Fawaz supermarket the Meat Monk got sausages and chicken which he claim to be of the same brand as the ***** hotels in Bangalore serve. When we got back I fixed some broken plugs and sockets. A new career perhaps? We'll see if it works when the power returns. They say it's raining all over India today but here it has just been hot. In the evening we could see lightning in the distance but it's not coming our way (I hope). Water started flowing after 3 pm and we could do the dishes. Yesterday when Thupten and I went for a walk down through the Indian village towards the jungle I asked him what he is going to do in California. Teach? Mostly Buddhist councelling, he said. It means receiving persons who suffer from psychological problems like depression, pretty much like a regular psychologist. What? I said. Yes, most people come for that, he replied. The person pays the monk a "donation" which is like a fee, although a lot cheaper than that of a liceensed psychologist. That's pocket money for the monk. They don't have any particular training for this. What is councelling from a Buddhist point of view? I asked. But he didn't really have an answer to that. Thupten had actually been advised by a professional claivoyant (!) to indicate a high donation since the more people pay, the more value they feel that they get for their money. In any case, this is something new, and part of the latest development in Buddhist modernism.

Negative Energy and a Mystery

Yesterday it semd like some ngative energy field was descending on Bylakuppe. No power, no Internet, and finally no water. Nobody sems to know what's going on but it might be effects from the highway construction which is getting closer and closer. I also found a mystery in the old files. A grand scale water irrigation sprinkler schemme lifting water from the Cauvery river and pumping it in pipline to the settlement. One of the files were full of plans and maps, But the scheme nver took off. It took until 1995 before the first sprinkler was set up here by an individual setller and drawing its watr from a borewell. Further investigations are on their way. Thinley came aroumd and they took me for lunch, forcing me to eet the detestable meat momo. Yes, I faltered. Namgyal took me to show the very first borewell which is behinf his organic rice paddies. There is also a watertank back there. In the aftrnoon the meat monks were playing cricket in the yard outside the house, thereby violating yet another rul. If they are caught by the Lama Police they will be fined. But they lock the gate, and when the computer is on they locj the front door too. Today is a full-moon day so there was a full-moon puja early this morning. It turned out that the Dalai Lama had payed for a whole day puja so all the monks who do not work in an office or shop are commanded to participate. The meat monks can not roam free and have to hole up in the house until 4.30. Thupten is thinking about breaking out the back way in a Auto Rickshaw at 3 pm. We'll see what happens. There was no power in the office so I spent the morning going through documents to find an answer to the mystery. Finally I found a letter saying that the members of the Co-operative society had turned the scheme down. Unfortunately all the society minutes before 1984 have been lost but the present chairman told me that the Tibetans didn't think it was worth the troble and money since they planed on going back to Tibet shortly (this was in 1969). In fact it took until the 1990's until their attitude changed and peeople started investing in construction and farming. Ironically, in the 2000's the attitude is changing towards "why should I make an effort and invest here since I will soon be migrating to the West?"

Dead Internet and Meat Monks

I just wrote the entire post and lost it. Bugger, since it takes such a long time to load the page again. The broadband internet connection to Sera died earlier this evening and I'm writing this on Thuptens mobile internet. I missed the video chat at 7.30 but I called home on the phone and spoke to Alice. Today was hot and humid and I was crouched over the scanner most of the time. At lunchtime I borrowed Namgyal's TVS moped and drove back to Sera to eat lunch with Thupten. They refilled our gas can on the porch. Dangerous since one spark could blow the whole place to smithereens. Now they are cooking meat momos. They are truly the Meat Monks. House 5 must be infamous for it. They lock the gate to keep the Disciplinarian out.

Theft and Meat at the Monastery

Sunday. Spent most of the day reading and trying to finalize my article about Greater Ladakh. The deadline is tomorrow but the formatting instructions were a bit confusing. In the morning I washed my shirts. Tenzin came back from his cricket night and we made lunch. Somehow Thupten fixed a new gas can and a monk came around with it. Probably stolen from one of the big Khangtsens at Sera Je. In the afternoon a small monk tried to get some mangos from the tree in our yard, and climbed the wall. But Tenzin climbed the tree and gave him some instead. In the late afternoon Thupten, his brother and one more monk came back from Bangalore with a big chunk of meat. They are making Thintuk but I'm having veg. noodle. Suddenly the sleepy plave became a busy place with people going in and out. Thupten's brother Lobsang has secured his most wanted immigration visa to Australia and is going there in as soon as he has an air ticket. I don't think he will be back At sunset we went for a walk up to an empty plot above the monastery. It's a great spot to sit with good views over the landscape towards the Western Ghats and with a cool breeze.

Emergency Reading

Another hot day with the scanner. Finished the first file, around 150 documents. We had power all day so at least the fan was moving the air around a bit. But now it's been a power-cut since five. After it got dark I sat and read by the emergency light. Here in the computer place they have a back-up diesel generator. A lot of monks are sneaking out to watch the World Cup finals in Cricket tonight. It's against the rules but Tenzin left on a motorbike at 6. Won't come back until tomorrow. I think we are out of gas so I shall dine on potato chips or something.

Hardly Blue Cheese

I came back late from the Representative's office, and Tenzin and I went straight for a walk. Then I went to do my net business without passing "Go". The Representative is the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and his office runs the camp administration. Pretty feudal, really. It's been very hot day. I started scanning documents this morning. After lunch the lap-top was running so hot that I had to turn it off to let it cool down for an hour. The material is good, with many peronal and even confidential letters giving witness of various power struggles as well as difficult infrastructural projects. Thinley, my former field assistant came to the office. He is working in a nearby court now, claiming Indian citizenship for Tibetans who were born in India. We went together to look at the old house where the Swiss advisors used to live in the 60's and 70's. Later it was used as staff quarters for teachers at the Central Tibetan School. It's in a beautiful spot overlooking the fields but very run down. A group of young Tibetan artists were squatting there now. We have run out of gas in the house so we can't cook. Tenzin tried to get some from our neighbours today but failed. Better luck tomorrow. We had to go back to Anna's favourite again. Today the whole place smelled of blue cheese but it was a sewer problem. I hope I will survive )-:

One More Day

Stayed back in the house working on my Greater Ladakh article in the morning. I woke up by an alarm clock going off at 5.30. Some monk on kitchen duty. All night the mosque in the Indian village below had benn blaring out religious songs on high volume.

The Key Holder Herself, Mrs Dolma, was back at her desk after lunch so I went over to Camp 1 and the office to check out what was going on. On the street I met Namgyal who pulled me into a tea stall to discuss organic farming in Sweden, and as everybody knows I'm an expert on that. Mrs Dolma was very polite and there was not a sign of animosity. They know how to cover things up. But my intended working space was temporary occupied by some Indian officers so I still have to wait until tomorrow to get started.

I went back to Sera again and tried to hook up my lap-top to their internet network but it didn't work. So I talked with computer-Tenzin (is everyone called Tenzin?) about his home in Ladakh instead. He actually has a sponsor from Stockholm.

Later I went for a walk with Tenzin and Lobsang again. It's a long straight back-road that leads all the way to the end of the fields, to the jungle. Beyond that point the largest wildlife sanctuary in the world starts. Maybe some man-eaters were or elephants lurking in the bamboos?

Had dinner at Yiga Choeling Guest House where we stayed for a few days last year. Anna hated that restaurant, and it has not changed for the better.

Subramanya Takes the Blame

Went to the Representative's office this morning. It turned out to be the birthday of Panchen Lama, the high Tibetan Buddhist teacher and once the youngest political prisoner in the world. So the Representative himself, Mr Lakhpa, was at a function at Tashilunpo monastery and I had to sit down and wait. It was good to meet Dorje and Namgyal again, though. Thinley called me on the phone. He is now working in the court in Periyapatna, practising to be a lawyer. When the Representative arrived he gave me a long speech complaining about Thinley's previous presence in the office, and how that had cost them money (electricity, work space, computer, etc). Well, to cut a long story short he blamed Subramanya for everything which was convenient for me. He also complained a lot about his work overload in general to make sure I would not require any assistance. Anyway. he have me permission to do my work and I presented him with a multi-tool as a gift, but then I found out that the person with the key to the file cabinet was away for a workshop and would not return until Friday. I went back to the house and started reading about Shi'ites in Suru Valley instead. Quite ironic since I was sitting in the largest Tibetan Buddhist monestary in the world! In the late afternoon there was a thunder shower and the temperature came down a bit. I went for a long walk out across the fields with Tenzin and his friend Namgyal. It was dark when we came back. The old dog, Passang, is still lurking around the house hoping for food. Yesterday Thupten bought a meat dish and brough home, and I think Passang got at least half of it.

Cop Stop

A long day today although all I wanted to do was to register at the police station. This time they wanted 3 photographs instead of one. We had just come from town where we had breakfast so we had to go back to get some more photos taken. When we came back the Superintendent was gone and no-one else wanted to sign. They were all sitting idle watching TV. Then the guy in charge started talking to the other, discussing the possibilities of getting a few hundred rupees from me. But luckily another cop was decent and said that I had been there earlier and that they had sent me to get photos. So now I'm duly registered. I met Dorje in town this morning as he was on his way to Madhikeri. So no point in going to Lugsum's office until tomorrow.

Tuesday is the Sera monk's day off and the town was swarming of them. Tonight all the internet places have been packed and the connection extremely slow.

White walls are in

Well, I'm here again. The reconstruction of Mysore road goes beyond Peryiapatna now so it took just 1,5 hrs from Mysore. Subrmanya looked a bit worn with unkempt hair and a lost tooth but he seems to be doing fine, though. Got a new SIM-card in Camp 1. The house at Sera was refurbished inside with white-painted walls and good inner roofs. They also cut one of the big palm-trees down so now the house is quite bright and airy despite the neighbouring towers. Plastic mats on the concrete floors too. European style, Thupten told me. It's a trendsetter among the monks and now white walls are IN! Quite a difference from the muggy Tibetan monastic style rooms. Must eat now. More tomorrow.

Back to Bylakuppe

Tomorrow it's back to Bylakuppe again. I have packed a new coffee-maker, a good kitchen knife, a mosquito net, some tube cheese, and an Italian sausage. And four multi-tools as gifts. But my small bag is just half full! Think I'll pack a pillow too. I pray for a smooth ride. That should get me there by 3 pm on Monday.