The Home of the Dalai Lama

McLeod Ganj wraps itself around a steep spur of the southern Himalayan wall. As I described in the last post it seems to rise straight out of the valley, and from various perches in town one can sit and gaze at the tiny villages and sweeping green far below. Towering above, the first of the Himalayas proper peak from between their twisting lower ridges. All are higher than any mountain found in Australia, indeed I'm probably sitting at something like 5700ft as I type - high by our standards. Of course, McLeod Ganj (usually referred to by the name Dharamsala, the neighbouring hub a couple of thousand feet below) is best know as the home of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. These two factors combine to give the town a very different feel to that of Rishikesh, immediately apparent to the visitor. The town itself is certainly quite touristy. The pull of the Tibetan cause and the Dalai Lama himself mean that the place swarms with Westerners. From a research point of view, what is particularly interesting is the demographic shift - here the tourists are 'normal', as opposed to the slightly 'fringe' feel of most of those in Rishikesh (I use those terms with much hesitation). I was a little surprised by the number of Tibetan monks here (stupidly) - at times the streets are jammed with crimson robes, shaved heads, and prayer beads. I was also surprised by the amount of non-Buddhist spiritual practices on offer, such as Yoga and Ayurvedic courses. However, the dominant feel of the town is 'Tibetan'. In fact, now I think on it I feel that this place functions as Tibet for the rest of the world, in a spiritually literal sense and operatively figurative one. It is still India, but it could easily not be to the casual eye. The sense of purpose here is pointedly other than Indian, it is Tibetan.
Returning to the topic of the travellers here, you would say that McLeod Ganj attracts a more general tourist crowd, representing the full spectrum of foreign tourists in India (this wasn't the case in Rishikesh). Of course, this has much to do with the popularity of the Tibetan Independence movement and, most prominently, the Dalai Lama, whose pull or draw for tourists in town is palpable. Most people are here to see or hear him, even if they aren't at all interested in cultivating their spirituality. I have arrived at a time when he is giving teachings and the town (and its hotels) is packed with monks and tourists. The talk in the cafes around town reflects this pull; what the big D was saying today; how someone chanced a glimpse of him; how another can't stop giggling every time she hears him speak. It's nice to see a single person having such a broad-based positive effect on the people who encounter him, and I think that that is probably the heart (unconsciously) of the draw he has. Everyone wants to be 'touched' in some way, even if they're not spiritual.
But the town also has a dark side. Here one can easily purchase alcohol and meat. While not things I have a problem with at all, as many would attest, those products glow at me when I pass them in the street, and I know that their presence is symbolic of some deeper tensions and problems the town has. You feel it as soon as you arrive, something you can't quite grasp. It's not unfriendliness or aggression, nor tackiness or unease. It's just that you get the feeling of a deep sense of the unresolved, and people with stuff unresolved and held back tend to be angry at whatever is causing the situation. This anger comes out occasionally and for very brief periods; narrowed eyes at an arguing tourist, a shout at a person honking a horn (haven't seen that in 5 weeks in India), a more than necessary shove to get through a door. There are also clear tensions between the poorer local Hindus and the popular (hence often richer) Tibetans.
This is not to say I don't like the place. It is staggeringly beautiful. It's just that I see the buried tensions beneath surface and worry about how they might play given the wrong set of circumstances. As a spiritual destination this is a place you might come for inspiration and textual learning, or to be introduced to the practices of Tibetan Buddhism and (for some reason) Vipassana. But you also come to learn about Tibet and its terrible recent history.