Letter from Almora

"Now Tibet is not so far"
Letter from Almora

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Now playing: Tenzin Dhondup - About the DraNyen
via FoxyTunes


Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue, a key figure in the Return March to Tibet, writes from their most recent stop in Almora, Uttarakhand. This letter was forwarded from the group Return March to Tibet.

(The photo was taken at last year's long life puja for His Holiness in Dharamsala.)


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Tenzin writes:

When I packed my sleeping bag that early morning before sunrise for this long journey, I placed a white (khatak) scarf at the alter of His Holiness and said I have decided, whatever happens, I will make my way through. Walking for almost 70 with 300 people covering more than 900 kilometers through Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, we reached Almora town yesterday in the Kumaon Mountains in the north Indian state of Uttrakhand. From here Tibet is not very far.

The March to Tibet began from Dharamsala on 10th March, the same day similar uprisings happened all around the world, organized by Tibetans and Tibet supporters, even in Tibet – a global Tibetan uprising. We started with 100 core marchers, on our way many more joined us. As we leave Almora tomorrow into the high mountain valleys towards Tibet, we are 300 marchers and eight support marchers who are foreigners from different countries, some of whom have been with us from Dharamsala.

All along the route the Indian people have welcomed us with warmth, cheered our spirit and in some places offered us water and shelter. At most places we spent our nights in Ashrams, Gurudwaras and schools, sometimes on empty grounds on the roadside....


The Marchers wake up at 4 am, after washing and packing sleeping bags, tents and mattresses, we have breakfast and start walking at 5 am. Usually walking for 6 to 7 hours a day we cover a distance of 20-25 kilometers, sometimes walking even 27 or 28 kilometers. The logistics and kitchen team move ahead in trucks and set up the camp. At many places water is luxury. .....
Most marchers are monks from the monasteries in south India; some old people who escaped from Tibet along with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1959, the eldest one being 78. The youngest are two 17 year old boys, born and brought up in India and have never seen Tibet. There are several young mothers who left behind their family in the care of their husbands. ... ongoing Tibetan protests in Kathmandu are highly appreciated understanding Nepalese police brutality.

We are now starting the last leg of the March. From Almora to the border is now barely 200 kilometers, and it will now be cold as we ascend higher into the Himalayas. I know returning to a homeland that is still under foreign occupation is not easy. Chinese military will of course guard the border with machine guns, even Indian police will find an excuse to stop us. Confrontation is inevitable, but we are not stopping. We may even have to camp at the border for a long time, might have to call for international support and participation. We march into uncertainty.

The March to Tibet is a process for us to return to our homeland and reclaim our right to be in our native land in freedom. Whatever happens, we have deep commitment to non-violence; we will not retaliate. We may be beaten, jailed or even shot at, but we are not giving up. And for me there is no other plan in life other than this March. For all of us marchers, this is our life commitment.

For daily updates and photos about the march and to read personal stories of the Marchers please visit: www.TibetanUprising.org

We have a number of non-Tibetan support Marchers who have been walking with us for a couple days or longer, and some right from the beginning.

If you are interested in joining please contact our coordinators: Sherab Woeser sherabwoeser@yahoo.com (cell phone: 0091-9418394426) and Lobsang Yeshi (cell phone: 0091-9410936742 / 9756969141).

If you are far away or can’t join us, you can help spread the word. Donations of sleeping bags, shoes and mattresses can be of great use. Your financial contribution can help feed the Marchers and give water to keep us going. I count for every Tibetan’s contribution towards this movement.

Bod Gyalo! (Victory to Tibet!)

Tenzin Tsundue, on the way to Tibet
May 13, 2008
Almora, Uttarakhand State, India

Two Embryos Hypothesis Loan

Fun with Chinese Spam
Still in Kathmandu

Recently I began receiving emails in Chinese script.

I was wondering if it was misplaced spam, or perhaps replies to some of the things I had written about Tibetans (according to the Sitemeter, I do have viewers in PRC).

The emails turned out to be a particularly dadaist kind of spam. (Even Britney Spears uses the word "surreal" now...someone has to stop.)

The latest one said this:

不動產二胎。缺錢找我。住宅貸款。二胎設定放款。代辦支客票貼現。 第一成功資融：０９３８-５８０-１０７ 企業週轉金。救急速撥。1胎借款。放款快速。企業週轉金。 第一成功資融：０９３８-５８０-１０７ 缺錢找我。代辦支票借款，公司戶支票。工商融.免保借款。建物所有權狀。誠信經營。

According to the AltaVista Babel Fish, this translates as:

Real estate two embryos. Is short of money looks for me. Housing loan. Two embryo hypotheses loan. Charge d'affaires passenger ticket discount. The first successful capital melts: 0938-580-107 enterprise circulating capital. Rescues dials rapidly. 1 embryo loan. Loans fast. Enterprise circulating capital. The first successful capital melts: 0938-580-107 are short of money looks for me. Charge d'affaires check loan, company household check. The industry and commerce melts. Exempts guarantees the loan. Building property rights shape. Good faith management.

- perhaps a Chinese version of the now-infamous African "Extremely urgent and confidential" scam.

Viewer Mail

A viewer named Per was nice enough to write in with the news that evidently, the Leh-Manali Highway is only "officially" open...not actually open.

(Those of you familiar with Indian travel will understand the difference.)

Evidently buses are not yet running up to Leh. (Per's message is under yesterday's Comments.)

Per also says the government bus is a good way to travel the Leh-Manali highway. My friend Dhami says the same. I guess the trick is to get a *tourist* government bus....not the budget government bus with wooden seats.

And as always on these trips, you absolutely must book early and get a seat in the front section of the bus, the farther forward, the better. Otherwise you will very likely not only be puking but literally flying up at every bump in the road, banging your head on the luggage rack (which is made extra low to accomodate Asian heights) and then slamming back down on the seat.

Of course, this (being in front) puts you within range of the deafening and constantly-employed horn. Take your pick!

You must also take your pick between sitting by the window (more fresh air, also more pollution, but if you are tall, knees will be wedged in the entire time) and sitting in the aisle (more leg-room, since Indian buses rarely accomodate people over 5'7").

Another subcontinental bus trip tip: Anti-nausea medicine is over the counter here. Get some.

Open for business

Head out on the highway
News from Ladakh

It's open! The Leh-Manali Highway, magical, dramatic and sometimes torturous route from Himachal to Ladakh, is now open after six months of Himalayan snow.

For those of you who don't know, travel to Ladakh means either a flight on Air India or Air Deccan (about $150 one way) or about 2 days in a jeep (or bus, god forbid) from Manali to Leh.
The fastest jeep trip I ever heard of was 18 hours almost nonstop. When you're not throwing up, the scenery is supposed to be breathtaking.

Ladakh, being out of the monsoon shadow, is one of the few places not affected by the heavy rains and high humidity so common in this season in the rest of India. (Lahaul, Spiti and Kinnaur in Himachal are others, I am told.)

Name game

Tapaiiko naam ke ho?
Kathmandu, Nepal


Someone needs to write "The Rules" for Nepal. Several spring to mind, but this one popped up first:

Rule #1: Every place is required to have more than one name, all of which must remain in use interchangeably.

All these synonyms reflect the diverse, multilingual and colourful history of the place. So many different communities have come through and given their own names to places and things.

(In its Indian form, the multi-name rule appears as: "We can't decide what to call this street - our national pride dictates that we give it an Indian name, but everyone uses the old colonial one anyway, damnit." So, all the signs say the new, "correct" name which does you absolutely no good since no one in the real world uses them.)

Nepal, like Thailand, was never a colony, and never faced that particular problem.

So, Kathmandu (which is actually spelt "Kathmandau" in Nepali script) is also known as Kasthamandap, Kantipur, and Catmando (attempted transliteration of the Nepali spelling).

According to the NY Times and the Economist, it's Katmandu - no H. However, in Nepali script the T is the dental TH. "Kathhmando." Someone needs to tell those guys they are misspelling our name.

Along the same lines, Patan ("PAT-ton," not "Pah-TAN" as foreigners are forever calling it) is also called Lalitpur and sometimes even referred to as Yala (its old Newar name).

Bhaktapur is often referred to as Bhadgaon or, by those really in the know, by its Newar name, Khwopa.

Thimi, the fourth largest city in the Valley, is equally recognizable by the name Madhyapur; sometimes even called Thimi-Madhyapur.

Nobody calls Swayambhunath, Boudhanath, Pashupatinath or any of the other -naths by their full name. They are commonly called "Swayambhu," "Boudha," etc. --Except on the maps and in all books, where they are referred to by their full names.

Oh, of course there is one exception - Muktinath. No one calls it "Mukti."

The mountain commonly known as Mount Everest is also Chomolungma (Tibetan) or Sagarmatha (Nepali).

Durbar Marg is more commonly called King's Way, and will be even if they get rid of the King. Or maybe the Maoists will call it the Shining Path.

If you ask directions to what the signs proclaim (in English) to be "Naya Sadak," you will be met with blank stares. Everyone calls it New Road.

The place commonly called "Buddhanilakanth" is evidently supposed to be Buranilakanth. These names have completely different meanings, but are used interchangeably.

Deities must also have more than one name. This gets really confusing because the same gods, or at least what appear to be the same forms of gods, are worshipped and respected by several communities, each having their own names for the deity.

So, for example, Seto Matsyendranath ("White Lord of the Fishes") who lives in the gorgeously ornamented courtyard at Jan Bahal, is also Jamali, and also Avalokiteshwara (Sanskrit), sometimes corrupted into Lokeshwar - who is also Chenresig (Tibetan).

Rule #2: At any given time, there must be a festival or religious or political holiday.
--This one is fun, and virtually guarantees that you never know when the bank will be open. Maybe next time.

Thanks to Eric for correcting my Nepali!

What does it mean?

Nepal nomenclature

Kathmandu

Often people in India ask me, "So what does the name Nepal mean, anyway?"

I always have to say, "They really don't know."

A., a friend from Berkeley, expressed disgust at this (with what I have come to regard as typical West Coast arrogance). "I don't really believe that they DON'T KNOW!"

Oh sorry, I guess I'm just really stupid....and the entire four years I've been travelling here all the things I have read are wrong. It's just ME that doesn't know...someone much smarter out there actually does know.

So the next time someone asked (Y., and Indian-American friend in Delhi), I gave two of the several theories: "Some believe it was derived from the Newar, the original inhabitants of the Valley [Of course, this raises the question - what does the name Newar mean?] .

Others say it is a Sanskritic word from 'Nepalaya' - that is, place where the traditions are observed."

Which it certainly is. This is a country in which the Prime Minister of the supposedly secular state now receives prasad (a blessed item - in this case, a sweaty sacred handkerchief) from the ancient god Bhim, instead of the King, who had traditionally received it.

"The place where traditions are followed," repeated Y. That seemed to satisfy him.

The fact is, though, they actually DON'T know for sure what the name Nepal means.

Here are just a few of the popular theories, according to Wikipedia.

The word Nepal is believed to derive from Nepa (नेपा:); the old name of Kathmandu valley was Nepa in Nepal Bhasa, the language of Newars, who were the early inhabitants of the valley, long before the unification of Nepal.

[Again, what does the name Nepa mean? Viewer mail welcome.]

Other toponym theories include: -
"

Nepal" may be derived from the Sanskrit nipalaya, which means "at the foot of the mountains" or "abode at the foot", a reference to its location in relation to the Himalayas. Thus, it may be an Eastern equivalent of the European toponym "Piedmont."

It has also been suggested that the name comes from the Tibetan niyampal, which means "holy land".

A third theory suggests that Nepal came from combounding the words NE, which means wool, and PAL, which means a tented house; long time ago, Nepal used to produce a lot of wool and the houses were used to store the wool - hence the word NE-PAL.

The name, Nepal, is also supposed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "NEP"(नेप), with the suffix "AL"(आलadded) to it; though still under controversy, NEP were the people who use to be cow herders - the GOPALS (गोपाल) - who came to the Nepal valley for the first time from the Ganges plain of India.

According to Nepali scholar Rishikesh Shaha, the ancient chronicles report that, a sage (muni) named Ne became the protector (pāla) of this land and the founder of its first ruling dynasty. The name of the country, Ne-pāla, therefore originally meant the land 'protected by Ne.'[1]

Everything I need to know I learned from a T-shirt

The popular 1970s Hippie etymology (which can still be found on t-shirts) was: "NEPAL stands for Never Ending Peace and Love."

My vote is for: "Never Ending Politics and Load-Shedding."