Momo Land

The rain on the green New England hills reminded me, in an odd sort of a way, of Himachal Pradesh and the cute little town of Mcleodganj - the land which is a fascinating mix of people from different cultures - Tibetans, Himachalis, Israeli tourists in search of ganja, more spiritual tourists in search of Buddhism, the bizarre clan of german (?) origin Sikhs.. And ofcourse as importantly (at least for this blogger!) an exciting potpourri of cuisines - momos, thukpas, carrotcakes and authentic Italian pastas!

My first memory of Mcleodganj is muddled with those of Dharamsala. For the amateur traveler the two might be the same - but for a seasoned (well, I claim to be a super seasoned one!) the two are poles apart. For those who are familiar with Manali - the difference is as pronounced as that between New Manali (the Karol Bagh of HP with a few Sher-e-Punjabs thrown in to give the hill station touch) and Old (cross the bridge and you are in Surreal -land, where there are no cops, no honeymooners only babajis, felafal and smoke-filled moonlight cafes!).But I am digressing - this post is about Mcleod not Manali...

Oh ya, so the only thing I remember from our first trip with Baba was the ziliion momos we consumed and the Tibetan Children's village that had such cute kids that it got even P to start feeling maternal (hee haa haha)!

Flashback 2: P and I are in M'ganj on our own this time. We decided to stay at Green Hotel - of the carrot cake fame. The days were spent pretty much the same way everyday - getting up and sitting in the small balcony facing what looked like a hostel for monks with a honey lemon tea and sutta. Early morning was spent watching monks of different shapes and sizes, in varying degrees of undress(!) walk by, hear some Nyom myoho renge kyo echo around, do some ooh aahing over the Dhauladhar range AND the most imporatnt task of planning the menu for the rest of the day. The big dilemmas used to be "Should be stuff our faces with the Farmer's breakfast (a mish mash of potatoes cheese and egg) and risk not being able to hike or share some slices of carrot and chocolate cakes and risk not being able to hike?!", "should we eat our usual Thukpas at Tibet Hotel or try Italian", "should we waste money on a hard cider or save up for another piece of carrot cake as a mid-morning snack!"... Ahhh those were TOUGH questions!

Apart from stuffing our faces, I do remember that we hiked to this semi-mountain-top and sat hidden by the trees looking down at the valley and a river full of women trying to wash carpets and children. strangely it was a really amazing sight - the fact that I still remember it so well(this was 11 years back) goes to show how cool it must have been. It was like watching a movie - sitting in the most perfect movie theatre! Then the walk to the neighboring town's Ashram, snuggled between forests. About an hours walk from M'ganj is this Ashram where people go for meditation camps. The reason why I remember this is cos once you approach the place there are big signs saying "NO TALKING BEYOND THIS POINT". And ofcourse P and I being the way we are - our attempts at silence sent us off into fits of hysterical giggling. We'll never make it past a minute in the Ashram.

This was also the trip where we encountered the clan of German Sikhs - where even the women religiously follow the 3 K rule - wearing a kara (a steel bangle), kirpan (a sword or knife) and kachcha (special breeches). Imagine this group of blue-eyed blondes and cute looking goras with turbans and swords wondering around in a remote hill station in India. Quite radical huh! I wonder what their history is.

Flashback 3: Mcleodganj with Ma. I had just returned from a surreal trip to the land of wierd relatives in Allahabad - I was forced to take the TEST FOR SPOKEN ENGLISH - incidentally the most bizarre test in the world where they ask you to give directions in english! And Ma announced that we are going to m'ganj! So, without even getting the time ti unpack, Ma and I boarded HPT rattly bus early in the evening. I was quite sure Ma would be all achy and cranky with the 13 hour bus ride but being an even more seasoned travelor - she was not! For some wierd reason - whole of M'ganj was teeming with people and Ma and I had to run from one hotel to the other before we atlast got a tiny room but with a big window facing the Dhauladhar in Green hotel.

mmm, thinking about it - mostly what we did again was get up in the morning in the little balcony facing the monks' hostel, with a tea and sutta (just me this time - hehehe) and plan the menu for the day! I forced Ma to try some tibetan food (which she hated as it tasted like raw meat to her!) and to get revenge she forced me to have Butter chicken at night (how sacrilegous is that - to be eating mughlai in momo-land!). We took long walks thru' the town, meandering thru back lanes and discovered some amazing places, a pine-lined walk (where Ma took a tumble cos she was so busy admiring the view and screaming "ki Apoorbo" and Rabindro Sangeet's at the trees!). We ventured up the hill one day and pretended to be intersted in renting rooms in some snazzy and very expy huts! Ofocurse we just giggled, sat on their cushy sofas and came running back to our cheapy room! Oh ya, teh walks around the monastery (the circle walk through woods) was quite pretty as well... Somehow, I can't remeber much else? Maybe Ma remembers more??