Journey to Bylakuppe and random observations

Hey all,

I haven't posted for a while because 1) I've gotten busy and 2) there is *so* much to talk about. However, I'm just going to buckle down and write this all down! Dad and I went to a Tibetan refugee camp called Bylakuppe this past weekend (though it has been there since the Dali Lama fled Tebet, so its not what I would typically think of as a refugee camp). The trip was *fantastic*, and I'll try to capture some of the highlights here.

Dad and I left Bangalore on Friday at about noon, taking a private taxi (it was fantastic having a private driver for the weekend!) that I hired through work. It was about a 4 hour drive down past Mysore to a town called Hunsore where I was to call Chosang (our contact at Bylakuppe, who is the brother-in-law of a friend of a friend of Dad's! Seems like a tenuous relationship, but we were treated almost like family while we were there, as you will see) for directions to Bylakuppe. The drive itself was amazing. We both brought books but didn't read at all, just marveled at the spectacle when we went through towns and at the beautiful landscape when we left them again. What was especially interesting about the drive was watching the land become more lush and verdant and the houses change in architecture and begin to look to be in better repair as we approached Bylakuppe. Another favorite for me was all the gigantic advertisements for cellphone companies and "The Fun Fort" on small and somewhat broken down houses.


After a stop at Hunsore to call Chosang and handing the phone off to our driver we quickly make it to the entrance to Bylakuppe where Chosang and his daughter Rinzin (who is in 9th grade) were waiting for us. After greeting us Chosang led our driver through the camp on his motorcycle to a Indian town called Kushalnagar on the other side of the camp. The camp itself is very large and it took us 20 or 30 minutes to drive through. It is also beautiful and has an incredible sense of peace, very different from the hectic frenzy of the Indian areas bordering the camp. Everyone was wearing western clothes (even the women, who were also out on the street and wandering around). When our driver make normal (for Bangalore) use of the horn our car received looks of disgust and incredulity. And there were monks, wearing robes colored a deep red, all over the place (it was neat seeing that monks are not necessarily solemn and stuffy. I saw groups of monks running about, playfully roughhousing and the like. Also, I saw monks on motorcycles!! This was extremely exiting to me, but unfortunately I didn't ever manage to get a picture :-( ). I don't know if the feeling of peace is some sort of personal bias, or some sort of more western feeling, but my Dad was also conscious of a greater sense of peace as we drove through the camp.

In Kushalnagar Chosang and Rinzin had arranged a hotel for us (we couldn't stay in the camp without risking arrest by the Indian police and 5 years in jail, as it is officially a refugee camp). After chatting with them for a while (they both speak OK English, but Rinzin's is much better. It is also the easiest to understand of any English that I have heard while in India, as Rinzin has a very very clean American accent) Dad and I wandered about Kushalnagar. Though it was not as peaceful as Bylakuppe it is certainly more peaceful than Bangalore and I felt like I received fewer and more friendly stares than I ever have in Bangalore. We also weren't hassled at all by shopkeepers, then came back to the hotel and had a nice dinner there. In conclusion, I really enjoyed it there.

After dinner Dad and I sat out on our 2nd floor balcony, read, watched people, and played around doing nighttime photography with our cameras which was really a lot of fun (all the while listening to beautiful music lilting from the distance). While sitting on the balcony I had a number of observations. I noticed a teenage/early-20s Tibetan woman walking around with a "Fuck on the first date" T-shirt that I thought would be fairly risky in the US, let along a traditional Indian town! I've also noticed that balding seems to be a very common thing for older Indian men, and wonder if that is an accurate statement. I also marvel at how deeply western clothing has penetrated into India, at least for men (apparently there is a definite perception that women who wear western clothes are, shall we say, "looser"). You still see lots of men wearing the traditional pants/skirt thing, but western button up shirts are pretty much the only thing you see guys wearing (younger people will wear T-shirts). I don't know why the clothing seems to be so viral, but I would be interested in seeing a country like China to see if such things have happened there as well. One final note along this line is that all school uniforms are very western, even for girls (though their uniform has a skirt, not pants).

India also seems to have a very strong culture of being outside. I could look out from my balcony and see at least half a dozen small groups of men hanging out in front of shops and chatting or buying things from a shopkeeper. This is in direct contrast to the US where you have to go inside to do almost anything (or bring 'inside' with you, like going to the drive-through of a fast food place in your car). Its not like the weather encourages people to be outside, especially in this rainy monsoon season, so I wonder why this tradition seems to be so strong.

Just a few more things I've noticed. Mustaches are *very* popular in Bangalore (I've heard 'you aren't a real man' if you don't have a mustache in the next state over, and that has some influence here too). Also, peeing on the side of the road seems to be completely accepted here (usually just by guys, but I did see a father holding up his 1-year-old daughter's skirt so that she so relieve herself by the side of the road while we were sitting on our balcony). Finally, I've noticed that while there is a huge variation in the skin tone of Indians (from very dark to essentially Caucasian), there is almost zero variation in hair color (though there are a few people who look like they have gotten red highlights in their hair, but other than that the only variation I see is when old people get gray in their hair!).

One last amusing anecdote about the hotel room we were staying: The bathroom did not have any towels, soap, or toilet paper (normal here, which is why I carry TP on trips with me now) so we requested towels and soap from the hotel. A guy brought up a single towel and a bar of soap to me, so I asked for another towel, to which he replied "No sir, only one towel per room." Dad and I got a good chuckle out of that one!

Ok, thats enough about Friday! The next post will be on Saturday and touring around Bylakuppe!

Cheers,
Jason