Buddha Darma and fresh orange juice

Peak café was not considered as an option because, Yarphel explains, “if you call your place Peak Café it is like you are above all the other places in town and they will feel badly,” other ideas are proposed “yak café, yak coffee, goat tea shop” none of these names were appealing, owners Yarphel and Tashi decided to call their new shop “Rose Café.” Tashi said, “yeah it is a little too romantic for two guys, but the sound is nice.” With that Rose Café was painted on the side of the building and above the door, and Dharamshala had a new restaurant.

There are approximately 145,150 Tibetan exiles worldwide, and 101,242 in India, there are 35 refugee settlements in India, the home department for the Tibetan Government in Exile says that the refugee settlements in India “are based either on agriculture, agribusiness or handicrafts.” Agriculture and handicraft workshops can’t fully employ the 101,242 Tibetan immigrants living in India. Of the approximately 6,000 immigrants that arrive over the Himalayas from Tibet each year, a majority of them are young men from Eastern Tibet, a region called Amdo.

Rose Café’s two owners are both from Amdo, the eastern region of Tibet. “Amdo boys have a reputation,” Tenzin Tseyang said, “they are here, without their families, they are single, and they have free time, when something happens in Dharamshala they are usually involved.”

Tashi’s mother in Tibet is aware of the realities facing her son in exile, when he called his mother in Tibet to tell her that he opened a café in Dharamshala, “my mom was shocked since I didn’t even tell her that I had left school,” he said “she asked me if I had stolen the money or if I was involved in bad business, when I reassured her that I had honestly earned the money, then she said ‘well then good’ and she was very happy.”

Rose café is a meeting place for Yarphel and Tashi’s friends who order Amdo tea, (tea boiled in milk) and talk about their plans for the future. Jamyang, a young man also from Amdo, says “this is a big success for my friends, they have been very lucky to open this café; it is not easy here for guys like us.”

They have tried for a long time to rent space for a café but it was difficult to find a landlord who would rent to them, “I think this must be the sixth or seventh place we seriously considered, it is small and off the street, but at least we have it.” Tashi said, and he added “I am happy, but I am not satisfied, if business improves then I will be satisfied, then I will have a life and a business here.”

Yarphel doesn’t worry about business being slow “I am just worried about my cakes, if my cakes are delicious then people will come.”

One Day's Notice

We were evicted from our apartment. Although the details are not necessarily important or interesting really, our moving day was an adventure. May 1 at 6am we were awake, sweeping, packing our clothes and blankets into hobo bundles, attempting to fix the curtains that “inexplicably" fell down. At 8am we made our escape, first carrying everything and our propane tank up the hill then loading it into an Indian Jones jeep. The five of us climbed on top and we were off, laughing and joking about the curtain that certainly fell down as soon as we closed the door.

We drove up the hill in our rickety jeep the boys hopped out half a dozen times to put rocks behind the back wheel so the driver could shift gears without rolling backward. Ridding on top of the propane tank through the morning air I was surprised when a European man took a picture of us, then I looked around at my roommates, our jeep full of blankets, prayer flags, pots, and our rice cooker, and I understood his perspective, we are an unlikely—if not motley crew.

Our new house is wonderful, very homey, and I am happy to live in town and not have the ever present danger of falling down the stairs/hill while carrying the groceries. Last night when Rikden and I were cooking dinner the monks at the monastery next door were debating I the courtyard clapping their hands as they made their points. In the morning and the afternoon they chant prayers in the room just outside our window. HHDL’s residence is 500m from our front door and we can see his windows from our courtyard. Daily there are moments, like the European snapping our photo, or the monks chanting that wakes me up in the morning, when I am reminded how special it is to live in D/shala.

love from the Himalayas
rah

Just back from a fab. vacation with Mom and Dad. I promise there are tales of intrigue and danger (averted danger but still)to come... Hugs and kisses to Mom and Dad for coming to India and being such great troopers and momo makers!

Home for now and so happy

Thank You India

When I began working here I decided that I would not feel embarrassed when I make huge blunders- and find myself verbally incapable of asking the right/appropriate questions. I gleefully report that while I have made a fool of myself working here I have done so with pride and the conviction that I am learning. Bolstered by my novice status, and simultaneously weighed down by the voluminous Lonely Planet INDIA, I agreed to make the 14 hour red-eye bus ride to Delhi to report on the Thank You India activities.

March 31 marked the 50th anniversary of His Holinesses arrival in India. To commemorate the event he undertook a pilgrimage to 8 holy sights belonging to various religious traditions through Delhi. There was a small window of time between his visit to each sight, and although this is India and things typically don’t happen on time, I have learned that HHDL keeps a very punctual schedule. So, I resolved myself to the fact that because I would be traveling to each of the venues by auto-rickshaw (all the other journalists have PRESS cars with lights flashing and efficient drivers) I would make it to every other venue. As I was leaving the first venue and gearing up for the ever- enthralling auto-rickshaw ride a journalist asked me if I had the address of the next event--- I did, I had an overly official press release in my hand (and I had mapped all the sights the day before) he asked if I wanted to share a ride with him. For the remainder of the morning we tailed hhdl all over Delhi and it was absolutely the best way to see the city, zooming here and there yelling things like follow that BUS!

We were the only two crazys who made it to all the sights, honking and laughing we made our way through the city. All the while I was thinking India must be the very best place to learn journalism survival skills, here there is no such thing as a definitive answer or start time, this is a country where space invasion is a national past time, and a place where overreacting is a rule. The “India” factor coupled with the realities of being, what I like to call a “camera jockey” have really got me jazzed about my work.

Anyway, later the same afternoon there was a PC and, as my boss has taught me, I arrived ridiculously early (before all the chairs are set up) and sat in the front row center. When HHDL arrived I was no more than 5 feet from him. As he was standing to go he walked to the edge of the stage and put out his hand, stunned the only thing I could think was---MUST NOT leave HHDL hanging! So I shook his hand and he said thank you for coming, today.

From there I jammed to the final destination, the “MAJOR” event of the day, where hhdl addressed India’s bigwigs. I took some photos, recorded some statements ,then I was gone, into the Delhi darkness to catch my bus home to the Himalayas. I was happy I had escaped Delhi in such fine fashion.

A wonderful 3 days.

Current score, o I don’t know but I feel like I netted a 3pointer