Decisions

Yesterday Simita and I gazed in wonder at the beauty of Amritsar’s Golden Temple, admiring the skilful architecture and relishing the serenity of this religious icon. Of course looking at photographs on Google Images isn’t the same as being there - we appreciate that. But following a decision not to go to Amritsar, Google Images was the next best thing.

There is a list of very valid reasons as to why we are not going. These involve health, climate, travel conditions, etc etc. But all of those reasons, as Tsewang aptly pointed out today, can be summed up in one word - laziness. (As I said before, very perceptive, is Tsewang.) Our desire to go is just outweighed by our reluctance to move.

In our defence, although the weather has improved here giving us the most stunning surroundings, we have been exhausted - probably because of health, loss of appetite, and an inordinate amount of walking. Yesterday as we struggled up the Yong Ling steps, Simita wondered out loud where our hotel manager walked down to the hotel because we knew he did it in a matter of seconds. I said that there was probably a secret lift or escalator that only locals knew about, and at the hilarity of my own joke had to sit down on a step because it was physically impossible to laugh and climb steps at the same time. This attracted quite a few looks as I sat and laughed, in pain, probably because it must have looked as if I had sat down and started crying.

And it has been hard work. I have declared that I no longer cared about having flabby thighs and I will never care again because I just don’t want this kind of exercise. A couple of days ago, as I panted heavily while walking through the nunnery, I thought that the nuns - who were inside at the time - must have been freaked out wondering who the heavy breather was outside their rooms. Even Sim is suffering badly, taking opportune moments to ‘admire the scenery’ to stop and have a break.

Yet anyone who has stayed here will also recognise the simplicity of our time here. The only worrying moment was when walking along the water pipe ridge, a large dog came bouncing up with unclear intentions and made for Simita. I quickly grabbed a stone and the dog hesitated. “Pick up a stone!” I yelled at Sim, who stood frozen. “Pick up a stone!” I yelled again. I shouted at the dog and showed it my stone so it backed off. Then when Sim picked up a stone and I shouted at it some more, it bounced off in the opposite direction. I have never thrown a stone at any animal here, nor seen a stone be thrown, but all of them - dogs, birds, monkeys - get out of the way if you pick one up. But with Rabies being a problem in India, dog bite is not something either of us wants to round off our holiday.

Apart from the general McLeod life of watching monks debate, walking and an awful lot of book-shopping, yesterday we went to the screening of a film based on the Chinese presentation of the ‘liberation’ of Tibet and events surrounding its 50th anniversary. The film, Distorted Propaganda, showed images of Tibet from Chinese media as well as other contemporary images. The discussion afterwards, for me, highlighted what feels like hopelessness for the situation. While the Tibetans live in hope that change will come, the rest of the world relies on China for cheap clothes, spoons, toys and anything else. Even souvenirs in many countries, supposedly symbols of those places, are made in China. And for as long as we decide to keep buying cheap stuff and do not care about how it is made, then nothing will change. Such a shame.

Now back to my room and a spot of TV because Indian television does not cease to amuse. While there are still the unnaturally white actors and actresses, and adverts that are filmed so that the models look as white as possible (they actually look more grey), a new development has been English subtitles on English programmes. So when watching a movie on HBO you can keep the volume down and read the subs instead - that is unless there is any filth in the script. Words like ‘sex’, ‘penis’, ‘rape’, breast’ are all banned; so that characters are shown as saying things like, ‘so we had last night’, ‘she didn’t marry you for your’, ‘ he me’, ‘did he you?’ or ‘so you want to improve your stroke’ (the latter sentence being about swimming). And in the move Music and Lyrics a joke mentioning the Dalai Lama was completely missed from the subs. Needless to say, it can get confusing. But there is always Tom and Jerry, and it is very hard to muck about with that.