My thoughts and activities in Dharamsala

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Murder in the Ganj

In my last blog entry I mentioned how much I enjoyed being in Nepal and that Nepal had some serious political issues. Well, for those of you who are not in the know, Nepal has been suffering through some severe demonstrations and unrest lately. This happened about a week after I had left Nepal. I truly did not want to leave but now I am glad that I did. For more info on what is going now in Nepal please follow this link: Police Fire on Nepal Protestors. This turn of events truly saddens me for Nepal is such a nice country. Things have been busy for me now that I am back in McLeod Ganj. My work at the Multi-Education Centre has increased to the level of a full-time jobby job. I have been organizing classes, from English classes to Computer class. I have been organizing new volunteers over email, and also our current volunteers. I have been helping to write sections for the MEC website, because during the Tibetan New Year (Losar) some one had hacked through 150 Tibetan NGO’s websites with Tibet Charity Multi-Education Centre’s website being one of them. To say the least Jigme la (MEC Director) was not too happy about this. Thus I have been a bit busy. I am still studying Tibetan with my tutor, but she will be gone for a couple days this week. I am happy thus far for the way things are going at the school. Our current teachers will be able to stay throughout a full three-month term, which has not happened in the past. I think that the students will be able to learn so much this time around. For the must part I stay in the MEC office and I find that I have been able to help a lot. The school now has a computer class and a web design class. Changing topics... there has been a bit of a weird vibes going on in McLeod Ganj. There have been two murders and some rapes in the pass two weeks. Some of my female friends have been harassed by Tibetan and Indian men on the street a lot more than usual. One teenage western girl was found dead, totally naked by Dal Lake, which near the Tibetan Children’s Village. An Indian guy from Kerala that I knew was found naked in a gutter on Bhagsu Rd, in front of Nick's Italian Restaurant last Tuesday morning with his face bashed in. Someone or a group of someone had smashed his face in with a brick several times over. So bad that the police could not recognized his face, his dreadlocks provided clues towards his identity. I have spoken to this person in the pass. He is a rather obnoxious fellow. An instigator to say the least. I suspected him of being a cocaine addict by the way he acts. He could have pissed off the wrong dudes, or it could have been a drug deal gone wrong. I saw this man the day before he died, and he looked that he had just snorted a fat line of coke. I feel sad for what happened to him, but also with his attitude and lifestyle one can not expect to live too long. There are many rumors going around as to who might have killed him. It could have been some Israelis. It could have been some Indians, and it could have been some Tibetans. I think that this person could have easily pissed someone off from any one of these groups to have had his face smashed in so. But there will be no investigation. WHY? Because there is simply no interest by the police or the community to find out what had happened or who did it. Anyway, my life with the Tibetan family has been going well. I was finding myself getting annoyed with them for not helping me enough in learning Tibetan by speaking to me in Tibetan. So today I begged the family "Kuchi Kuchi Khyerang Kyi Nga la Bod Kad Lap ki re" please will you talk to me in Tibetan and I am hoping that it will stick. I am getting better, but I know that when Tibetans hear me speak Tibetan I must sound like I have severe mental retardation. Well that is all a have for now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

YO Hotfoot! I've been hearing about some of the troubles in Nepal and was glad to see that you are well! I enjoy your blog (it would be easier to read with some line breaks though). I Hope that you are still drumming when you get a chance! Peace

Nomad said...

I reccomend "Bhoe key lap ta" its more of a command form of "teach me tibetan" or "Bhoe key lap rog nang" "please teach me tibetan"