Falling In and Out of Love

I’m back in love with India (and travel). The honeymoon stage of travel ended with me thinking what the hell am I doing in the middle of nowhere, in India, alone, in the winter, totally off-season everywhere I go? But, then things turned around, as things usually do.

I’m in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, where it is absolutely fabulous. Sunny. Sidewalks. Amazing food–vegetable momos (steamed dumplings), thupkas (thick, hearty soups teeming with noodles and veggies), fresh, raw vegetables. Fruit. And perhaps my most favorite food of all–choco-balls!

I have a jaw-dropping view of Kanchenjunga out of my hotel room. I scored an opulent room in the Chumbi Residency, which was recommended by my favorite travel guide, DK Eyewitness Guide to India. (Lonely Planet is indispensible for how-to-get-around info., but its lodging recommendations suck. And when they don’t suck, everyone else traveling in India is staying there too.)

The best feature of my room is that I bargained down the price, by half. The manager told me no way he could give me a room for less than 1,600 rupees. I said, “C’mon, I’m the only tourist in town. You don’t have anything for 800 rupees?” I was prepared to leave when he offered me my room at my price ($18), including all taxes and breakfast. My bed is fluffy. The water pressure is pounding and I have all the hot water I could ever want. Heaven.

This morning at breakfast, Deep Forest played softly on the sound system. So what if I’m virtually the only guest in the hotel? I gazed at Kanchenjuna, watching the plume change directions.

Then I went out and made some friends.

I’m not shy, so this is not hard. I went up to the Himalayan Spiritual Healing Center and introduced myself to the owners–Tashi and Babyla, who are fluent in English and amazingly gracious and welcoming. Then I went to Rumtek Monastery.

Rumtek was built in the 1960s by the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa (equivalent to the Dalai Lama). It’s an exact replica of the eleventh-century monastery in Tibet that was partially destroyed in the 1950s when China invaded Tibet. (Monay, my guide at Rumtek, insisted I take notes on his lecture.) The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa is currently in Dharamsala with the Dalai Lama. Because of China, he can’t obtain a permit from Sikkim to inhabit his own monastery.

Since I’m an American I have no business passing judgment on other country’s atrocities. But, damn, the more time I spend in the Buddhist areas of India, the harder it is not to dislike China intensely. Too bad Tibet has no oil. Too bad some country other than China doesn’t make all of our American crap really cheaply. Maybe then we’d be willing to help Tibet out. Then again, considering the results of American “help,” perhaps Tibet would not be better off if we intervened.

The Dalai Lama claims the silver lining for the situation in Tibet is that Chinese occupation brought Tibet out of its isolation. And by forcing the Dalai Lama to leave Tibet, China unwittingly introduced Him to the rest of the world.

I happened to have a Tibetan scarf with me when I visited Rumtek. Madam Norgay of the Hotel Dekeling in Darjeeling gives one to all of her guests when they leave. The scarf is white and inscribed with symbols for good luck, health, prosperity and safe journeys. I left my scarf on an altar in the monastery.

Monay told me all my wishes would come true because he could see I was genuinely moved by the sacredness of Rumtek. When I told him I has headed to Kashmir next week, he screeched with delight, “Heaven. You are going to heaven!”

That’s what I keep hearing. Kashmir is the most beautiful place on earth. Quite a claim, considering what I’ve seen so far.

Photography inside the temples of Rumtek is prohibited. Before he’d let me leave, Monay insisted I take a gift from him. He presented me with a beautiful photograph—obtained legally because he’s a local and a devout Buddhist and, therefore, afforded certain privileges—of the interior of the wish-fulfilling temple.

Later that evening, Babyla phoned me at my hotel to make sure I wasn’t lonely. The solitary portion of my journeys is quickly coming to a close. Next week, ski school in Gulmarg, Kashmir. Then off to visit my friend Gurudharm Kaur Khalsa, nee Joan Ellen Adelsky. Gurudharm lives in Yogi Bhajan’s mansion in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab. Stay tuned. Gurudharm is one of the most colorful characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.