It is not McLeod Ganj; it is in the Clouds Ganj.

The rain here comes in gusts of water that carve through the mountains. After the clouds eventually clears aways rivers that have just been recently created on the nearby mountainside can be seen. There are days when everything in ones sight of vision has utterly disappears behind the mist. We can see in the distance the encroaching clouds as it swallows this densely pack hill station. During HHDL’s teachings there was a cloud that was engulfing the temple right before it unleashed it’s moist laden burden. An Italian woman who was sitting behind me asked me if that was smoke. I said “Nah, woman, that ain’t no smoke, that’s a straight up cloud coming up in here”. Shocked was she.

So living in the beginning of the monsoon is like living in the cloud. Some of the storms that have descended on here are extremely wrathful. Thunder and lightening like that I have never seen before. I had to walk to my tutor's pad in the rain one day. Where I lived one has to walk down a whole bunch of steps in get there and as I was walking up for home, as rivers of water were flowing down. All of the trash that had been chillin’ at the top of the stairs must have had a nice fun wet ride towards the bottom. All the sewer drains were working in overdrive as rivers of water rushed through it in great crashing noise. And what really pissed me off, after all this water, was that that night I turn on the faucet in my bathroom to brush my teeth, and guess what? NO WATER. I am like, “Shit, we done had tons of water pour out the sky just hours ago, and now there ain’t one drop to brush my teeth with, go figure”.

Now I am in a battle with the mildew that is invading my room. Many things that I own is being overran by mildew. Even my Amala don’t have no suggestions for me, and there is not really too much I can do. There ain’t no sun, how can stuff get dry without it. I will try to use some watered down bleach on the mildew to see if that helps since some of my clothes, like my coat I want to keep. Regardless, I am glad to be here experiencing is monsoon. In way I thought that it is not a true Indian experience with out experiencing monsoon. I do have some good rain gear, so that is good. I got really soaked one time and I said not again.

TC MEC is opening for business again, this time I am not teaching this time, which is fine with me; there are plenty of qualified teachers who are doing a great job. I am working in the office with the director, organizing incoming volunteers and writing letters to sponsors and editing stuff. I like this quite a lot as much as teaching.


I am not sure if whether everyone is aware of the bomb blast in Mumbai on the trains but it is quite a big deal in India plus it is always good to know what is happening one the other side of the globe, since we are sharing it anyways. One thing that I have thought about in retrospect was that India deals better with this stuff than the United States does. Think India is used to have terrorist attacks as compared to the US, where if our invisible defense bubble pops we become vulnerable because our bubble is not as strong as we were lead on the believe.

Today I had just finished having lunch with Nangkyi and her mother, we had such a wonderful time, well, at least I did. They are leaving soon, so this was our only chance to meet.
It was good to talk to Nangkyi since I have not seen her since I left Berea. We might be able to meet after was returns from her jaunt.

Well, I guess I will keep it short, not much going on, besides rain I guess. Much Love to all those out there, especially my friends and acquaintances in Berea, Kentucky who have been actively reading this blog, see you at the end of September. Hey, I need a place to crash when I get there. Holla at me if you know of somewhere cheap or free and a job too since I will need money to return here to Dharamsala next July 2007.

Pax