ca kha ka nga...

Those are the first sounds of the Tibetan alphabet, and they are part of my homework. I'll explain in a moment.

First, I want to answer Candy Kroupa's question about Valentine's Day, which she posted to the comments section of this blog. I don't know what the coverage has been like in the rest of the world, but BBC South Asia reported last night on troop callups and police barricades in cities across India to safeguard the public from occasional Valentine's Day violence....yes, violence. To many Hindus (80% of India) and Muslims (12%), the commerical aspects of Valentine's Day represent the worst in Western culture. They seem to see it as silly at best, and at worst an affront to modesty, traditional values (which include arranged marriages) and religious attitudes. On one hand, love is celebrated in India, but not the way it is in the US. Sexuality is different here too. While Bollywood films feature sexy stars who sometimes dance in provocative ways, only recently were they allowed to kiss on screen. Publc displays of affection are almost non-existent here, and on some bus and train lines there are "ladies only" cars. Sexuality and romantic love are intensely private, and it seems that to show them publicly is viewed as a way of cheapening them. Like all things in India, however, there is an interesting duality to this. The hip middle class, especially the young, seem ready to embrace the fun aspects of Valentine's Day, and so there is a lot of talk about it and some exchanging of flowers and candy, etc. This has caused a backlash among more conservative elements, which has erupted into street violence at times. Shops selling Valentine's cards can be burned, people holding hands or giving flowers can be chased down and flogged with bamboo canes.

These incidents do not seem to be the norm, but they do occur. Not here on the side of the mountain, though. Last night was pretty quiet except for the power outage, which inexplicably darkened Upper Dharamsala for about a half hour. Lucky for me I was "home" and eady to sleep anyway.

This morning I went next door for a boiled egg, toast and tea at the Tenyang coffee house, where I met the owner, Chompel, a Tibetan man who rides a very cool looking Royal Enfield 535 motorcycle with handmade leather split saddle seats and lots of chrome. We talked cycles for a little while, and then I delivered Rinchen's big bag of fruit to the family of beggars up the road. The little girl said "Please, sir!" and I just handed her the huge bag of food, said "Namaste" and walked on. Behind me I could hear the fruit being divided up among the hungry kids and adults.

It is 1:11pm and I just came from Rinchen Tsomo's apartment, which is a room a little smaller than my office at school. That's it. It is her kitchen, bedroom and living room. Two small beds are the only furniture, and they are separated by a coffee table. All food is cooked on two bottled-gas burners. Most of the time, Ngawang is at boarding school further up the mountain at the Tibetan Children's Village, but as I mentioned before she is on holiday.

When I arived there were two Tibetan monks there, along with Rinchen's cousin Tashi Dolma, a forty year-old woman. Little Ngawang was watching music videos on a tiny TV. I was offered black tea and khapse (a long pastry like a homemade donut rope), and we chatted for a while until the monks had to go. Then I gave Ngawang a "Dora the Explorer" coloring book, some crayons, a little purse and a bracelet that Mrs. Hays wanted her to have. I gave Rinchen an REI fleece jacket. Ngawang as especially excited and she set about coloring like mad. Rinchen and Tashi and I chatted for quite a while, and I was impressed with their English, which is pretty broken but understandable nonetheless. They work very hard at learning new vocabulary.

Before I knew it, they had decided I must learn Tibetan, and so Tashi Dolma pulled out the kind of lined paper one uses to write the alphabet in first grade. She wrote the Tibetan alphabet on it and made me start reciting: ca kha ka nga nka cha jya nyah, and so on. Suddenly I was in school, and Tashi made me recite over and over for a half hour, but then she let me return the favor by quizzing her in English conversation. It was pretty fun and we shared a lot of laughs. Rinchen wants me to learn the alphabet by tomorow so she can start teaching me words and how to write the letters.

As lunch time rolled around, Tashi Dolma offered to cook. She made us a homemade tenthuk (Tibetan veg-noodle soup) from absolute scratch, and it was delicious, especially with the big globs of Chinese chili paste she dropped into mine. We sipped more black tea and Ngawang read to me from her English primer. She reads like an eight or nine year-old. I was really impressed. I was sent away with homework, but I was also told I would be learning how to make several Tibetan dishes in the next few days, so I hope Mrs. Hays is ready for momos, tenthuk, Tibetan bread and Tibetan chowmein when I get home. I promised to take everyone out to dinner tonight for one last good meal before I start cooking. What a geat day this has been.

My next job today is to call the YMCA in Delhi to try to get a room for my return there before I fly home. Delhi will be in the upper 80's by then, and in a few more weeks temps will approach 100 degrees. I am not looking forward to the hot dirty air of Delhi next week, so I am savoring every cool mountain day here in Dharamsala. If I have time this afternoon, I will also visit the Environmental Education Centre to gather info for all you Green Seniors. Rinchen has also promised to let me interview her about her direct experience with the Tibetan ethnic stuggle against Chinese policies. Tashi Dolma is just visiting from Dege Tibet and in a couple months she will sneak back across the border to return home after visiting Rinchen. Her son is a monk in a gompa (monastery) in Tibet, so I hope to ask her more about his experience with the Chinese goverment's controls on religious expression.

Yesterday there was a local demonstration against Google for its agreement to work with the Chinese government to censor Internet content in China. Their signs read "Google=gulag" and "Google rejects truth". I am using the Firefox web browser at this moment for simlar reasons. Tibetans feel that Microsoft has been too cooperative with the Chinese government as well.

I look forward to my cooking lessons tomorrow, but I dread my Tibetan language quiz. Some of the sounds I have to pronounce are new to my mouth, and they take great concentation to remember and reproduce. I'd better go study...