Midnight in Mussoorie

(Written Oct 28)
What an incredible night. The air is so clear here at 2000 meters, and the Harvest Moon so near and so bright, it hurts to look right at it. The lights of Mussoorie follow the mountain ridge as it runs mostly West to East, climbing to the highest point, Lal Tibba, where I stay in a cottage in the Professor's flower garden. His marigolds, cosmos, nasturtium and Mexican sage are all blooming wildly now, and his two dogs, Sita and Rushka protect the garden from the marauding monkeys.
Yup, monkeys.

It's been so nice to finally have access to a kitchen. I've been experimenting some, and it's very gratifying when I create the same smells that come out of the homes that I walk past at mealtimes. I've also had some pretty comic disasters with the pressure cooker. Let's just say, I'm glad I wasn't cooking beets in a newly painted kitchen!

Mussoorie has a long history of foreign missionary presence, especially up here in Landour. I'm the beneficiary of it I guess, as I've been studying Hindi at the Landour Language School, where they've been teaching Hindi as a second language since the 1800's. At Char Dukan, the little square (actually, it's a triangle) down the road from where I live, there are 4 cafes (char = 4, dukan = shops), and a little garden where there's laundry drying, children playing, and usually some foreigners sipping chai and studying their Hindi. It's also where the dudh wallahs (dairy men) stop to water down their milk on their way into town.

The shops make some western-style food, too. Initially I was very excited by the idea of pizza and waffles, but it's worn off, and I'm back to rice and dhal now. And rai when I can get it (another beloved GLV). There's also lots of Tibetan and Chinese food in town. It's interesting to think, I'm closer to those countries than I am to Andhra Pradesh at this point. We went to a Tibetan restaurant the other day and ordered one of practically everything on the menu because the names were so great -- Momos, Thukpa, ThenThuk, Chopsy, ThingThang. We sat there for about a half an hour, until someone came to tell us that there wouldn't be any food available for another 3 hours, when the boy gets back from the market!

The nights are COLD, and I'm sleeping under a blanket that's so thick, I think it might actually be a thin mattress. The best thing about Mussoorie, besides the vistas around every corner (yes, those are the Himalayas behind the monkey silhouette), is the walking I get to do. It's the first Indian town I've been in where I can walk without being harrassed (too much) by men and cars. When I first got here, I got altitude sickness for about 2 days, and walking up the hill to school put me into respiratory distress. Now I'm walking up and down the hills every day, and feeling much stronger. But I'm put to shame by the coolies that make the trip up and down the mountain multiple times every day, carrying loads for people like vegetables, or say, a REFRIDGERATOR on their back. They bear alot of the weight with a rope over the crown of their head, and I hate to think what they're C-spine films look like.

The Hindi language is pretty hard. There are about 38 letters in the alphabet, then a whole other set of combination letters. I wish I had more time to stay here and learn it, but I'm headed to Dharamsala soon. I'll be on a retreat for a couple of weeks and won't be able to blog, but hope to keep in touch as soon as I can.

Hope everyone got visits from the full moon fairy this month!