It has been a strange day today. The electricity disappeared about 8am. Daily blackouts are pretty regular, but rarely last for more than an hour. My laptop battery lasted till 11.30am and put an end to dissertation writing.
Heading into the village the streets are totally packed. Lots of travellists, including several familiar faces join the huge throng from the Taiwanese Buddhist society. These Taiwanese delegations are almost all over 60 years old, wearing very formal clothes and large laminated name-badges. They are clearly in love with the village, babbling and twittering enthusiastically like our local roosting mynah birds.
Security has reached new levels here, The Indian army stalk the fence around Dalai Lama´s residence and the Main Temple site. I guess this is the last set of teachings in Dharamsala for the season and a final chance for studies with The Main Man. Press are now only allowed to attend on Saturday´s session, and Lobsang now has to submit two photocopies of my passport and provide an additional two photos. He tells me that the regulations surrounding the press have been further tightened.
Photos can only be taken when classes are not in session. If I´m lucky I´ll have about 15 – 20 minutes to try and capture the essence of him. Making it more trick still is that Dalai Lama will be inside the temple itself and it can be quite dark. ISO ratings will need to be pushed and the final results become grainy. The class on Saturday are for advanced Buddhist practitioners and i know i´m not going to be able to follow very much.
Fortunately the electricity returned at about 7pm.
Ed. Adds: In classic Indian/Tibetan style the photo-shoot is now at Sunday´s Teachings.
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