Exploring Dharamshala, India

I went to India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip, about a year later.

The Dalai Lama’s throne on the temple’s verandah

Shantum gave us a walking tour of Dharamshala, or Macleod Ganj, as this mountain is called. In the bustling crowd — mostly pedestrians but also some white cars — we followed along, gawking at other pedestrians and the shops. At least I gawked; I’m sure everyone else was much more sophisticated than me, the youngest in the group.

We moved through the crowd, with Shantum showing us particular restaurants and hangouts. Store fronts mesmerized me, with displays of colorful shawls and other fabric; statues and ritual tools; thangkas and just about anything else. Someone wandered into a store and lagged behind us, so Jagdish stayed with him. We paused in the street, waiting for their return.

I noticed an elderly Tibetan woman selling yak wool shawls, so I bought a burgundy one for only 250 rupees, or five U. S. dollars. I finished up while the group started moving on. I hugged the folded-up shawl for the rest of the walk, with the wool against my face; it’s so warm and smells like a cow. A clean cow. I had a security blanket. Enid petted it and described it as double fleece.

We briefly stopped to look at merchandise, and merchants spoke to us, but we knew this wasn’t the…