Volcanoes, Cats and Candy

I just received a new batch of questions from the sixth grade, so here goes:


Have any of your friends experienced an earthquake? We are also studying volcanoes. We have sort of determined that your longitude might be 75 degrees East and latitude 30 degrees North. Are we close? We have been using longitude and latitude to find volcanoes throughout the world, so are there any close to where you are?

Earthquakes are a real danger here, and the conditions that made the earthquake in Pakistan so devastating exist in Dharamsala. The hillsides are unstable, especially in deforestd areas where erosion is a problem, most buildings are not built to withstand an earthquake because it is too expensive to do so, and since we are quite high up in the mountains and only accessible by a couple mountain roads, a sizeable eathquake would cause a lot of suffering. In fact, in 1905, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit here in Dharamsala (Latitude 32.10N, Longitude 76.40E). Around 19,800 people were killed here and in the valley below (with thousands more injured), making it the most deadly earthquake in modern Indian history. There is an effort to establish an earthquake prediction center here in Dharamsala. When the recent Pakistani earthquake occured, I emailed Rinchen Tsomo and she said that even though they felt it, it was not very strong here. I am unaware of any volcanoes in the area...

Sophie wants to know if dogs and cats just roam freely and if there are a lot of them.

My experience has been that wherever there are people, there are dogs hanging around nearby. I have seen very few dogs that are pets. Most roam freely and fend for themselves, and they can look really raggedy and sad. Some people do keep dogs as pets, though, and the other day I saw a nice old Tibetan woman feeding a bunch of local dogs from her doorstep. I have seen no cats anywhere, probably on account of all the hungry dogs!

Chris (who has lived in Singapore) wants to know if you have eaten any food with curry in it.

Well, Chris, that's kind of a trick question. "Curry" is a term that the British gave to Indian dishes, but it is not a term that means very much to Indian cooks, as near as I can tell. Intead, they describe dishes in terms of what is in them, and if they use a particular blend of spices, they name it after a region or just call it "masala" which I think literally just means "a mix". Different cooks use different blends, sometimes with as many as forty spices in one dish! I have eaten plenty of Indian food, including baingan bartha, daal makhani, aloo chaat, saag paneer and chaana daal. I challenge you to look those up on the Internet, or to go to a local Indian restaurant and order them. They are delicious!

Aron wants to know if done any activities other than visiting friends and learning the Tibetan alphabet?

Yes, Aron. Yesterday for example I took a morning walk on a forest path around the perimeter of the Dalai Lama's temple. I was not alone. It is an ancient custom in Buddhism, Hinduism and other very old religions to pay respect to a place by circumambulating it, or walking around it, usually in a clockwise fashion, and usually in a very reverent, meditative way. I was accompanied by many Tibetans who walked with their malas and prayer wheels (like the ones I showed you in class), reciting Tibet's national prayer, om mani peme hum, which translates loosely as "what a precious gift", referring to the gift of Buddhism. The path wound through tall pine trees and offered fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and many interesting birds. Just walking around here is an adventure, since the plants and animals are so different. Yesterday I met some very interesting people, whom I will talk about in my next post.


Jake wants to know if there is any candy there.

Sure, Jake, there is plenty of candy here. In fact, even though I am far from a big city, I can get a Twix, a Hershey bar, a bag of Lay's potato chips (masala flavor or "American style" which is sour cream and onion) a Diet Coke, or more exotic snacks like Kerala peanuts, fried chickpeas, mint soda, or, if I am hanging out with Tibetans, dried yak cheese on a string or some black sugar-cured dried turnip chunks.

Johnny wants to know if you have had any tea yet that has yak milk in it?

I have had tea made with yak butter, black tea leaves and salt, which is a typical offering to show hospitality in a Tibetan household. It is an acquired taste...that I have not full acquired yet, but I am polite so I drink it down and lick my lips and say "Tu je che!" which means thank you.

Thanks for the questions, everybody. Good luck finding my latitude and longitude on a map, and good luck with your volcano studies! If you see any near me, please warn me.