after long...

... sorry for the long hiatus... my grand mom was turning 80 (yup!) and it was awesome being with her for it. sahasrachandra darshana -- the lady who has seen a 1000 full moons... by the time you are eighty, that's how many full moons you'll have seen.

and i also just got back from tibet.
don't believe it? check this photo ;)

tsering dorjee (our lhasa guide's brother) showed us around and that got us into places normally out of bounds "too many indians come by." in the main monastery namdroling, we ran into Pema -- seen here with sanjana. he patiently explained the significance of the three dimensional mandala and other buddhist philosophy and was extremely interested in hearing how Lhasa was, how tibet was. "are the monks there free?" "are the people free?" he has never been there, never stepped out of Bylakuppe. Most of these monks are born and brought up in india and only dream of tibet. pema, however had a philosophical view of the tibet issue and of the world in general. his inner peace allowed him to make peace with the situation and just hearing him speak was reassuring.

bylakuppe itself is a little tibet, minus the snow mountains, altitude sickness and the nomads. these refugees have resignation in their eyes and some of them even seemed like they were right at home with being here. "india is our home now" hmmm. i am not elevated like Pema and my blood boils at the hopelessness and apathy of the world. i wished fervently that the "boycott chinese goods" signs posted everywhere created a dent and could change at least something.

back in mysore, i had a good time, visiting the market and walking around quite a bit (photos are here for your viewing pleasure;)). i love that little city. we pigged out at the chowpatty chat mela at the hotel metropole (the swankiest 5 star hotel in mysore) for just Rs.79 (<$2, all you can eat!) and then walked back home which was a great workout in gorgeous weather.

sanjana found a new playmate and friend in her cousin ashwin and i just enjoyed seeing them together. i miss sanjana. left her behind in mysore since her school has not yet begun. mr. rao is in budapest (the lucky dog!).

and as you can tell, i'm on my couch. ouch ;)