The Hostels

Disclaimer: If you read this blog somewhat regularly you may or may not notice my recent attempts to add some style to my writing. This is not an attempt to be a writing snob, but an attempt to keep things interesting for you readers. Today’s attempt is to keep things short and simple, since most of my posts are so long. If it works, awesome. If it’s just obnoxious, let me know and I will stop.

Sunday, amazing. Julia and I saw Tong-Len’s hostels: homes for children while going to school.  Again, unsure of what to expect, thought Jamyang would show us around a bit. Maybe I would film him.

Not so.

Girls’ hostel was first. We were immediately surrounded. 20 girls, ages 7 – 17. We sat on a couch. They sat on the floor around us.

“Uhh, hi. Nice to meet you all.”

They responded one by one, standing for their turn, “my name is _______. I read in __ grade. I am ___ years old.” We followed their example and introduced ourselves.

Then all stood, “Sir. Madam. Come. Please.” They took our hands to show us around. Their dining room, a big table. Their bedroom, a room full of bunk beds. Their bags, their Russian polar bear dog. Their computer/dancing room. Here we stayed a while. The girls danced… Then we danced.  Tees Mar Khan and Barbie Girl. The girls danced great, including Julia. I moved around and bumped into things.

Boys’ hostel next. We received the same welcoming. But the boys didn’t dance. They did tricks. Hand tricks, sounds with mouths and armpits, and acrobatics. I can’t say we didn’t encourage it. In many cases we started it. “Sir. Madam. Show. Try. Again.”

Incredibly fun. exceptionally inspiring. These kids, the kindest, smartest, most polite, loving, and fun children I’ve met in my life, and coming from the lowest, poorest, slum communities. Futures for 40 children and counting. Just one of Jamyang’s accomplishments. 

The Streets of McLeod

Two words:” Jaldi” and “Chalo”.

These are the two Hindi words that I hear most frequently as I walk through the streets of McLeod Ganj. I didn’t know their meanings the first several times I heard them, but I have since looked them up. These two most common words mean “Hurry” and “Move”. 

And how fitting that these would be the two words to describe the streets of McLeod. The streets are about wide enough for one and a half cars or perhaps one car and one motorcycle, two motorcycles and one cow, or two cows and three people. And all of these, with exception of the cows, are trying to get somewhere. Thus, anytime someone gets in the way or slow things down, the words “jaldi” and “chalo” can be heard all around. Although many times a honk can be substituted for either of these.

Real life is much more plain.

When I went to the big court case,

the envisioned climax of a story,

I had everything played out in my head:

the drama, the tension, the excitement,

but real life was much more plain.

I waited in that plastic chair

my camera zipped tight inside its bag,

longing for a shot, just one, two or three,

but warned to keep it out of sight,

the morning passed on and my story stood still.

All the same, it didn’t matter

because my imagination was far from reality;

real life was much more plain.

I waited. Everyone waited.

A few people went into a room and came out.

And then it was over.

I asked for the verdict, there was none.

The case was suspended ‘til after I leave

“It’s a slow process,” said the lawyer

as much of life is.

I took the bus home.

I gave up for the day,

ate a handful of spicy Indian trail-mix.

How could I expect to tell an exciting story

When real life is so much more plain?

But that was yesterday.

Now it’s today.

I sat down and thought things over.

What have I learned from the people I’ve met,

and how could I teach that to others?

I’ve seen kindness, sacrifice, charity, love.

That when you serve from your heart

it melts the borders of the mind;

so that when you serve another

it’s not a black or white or brown,

it’s a person in need. That’s all.

Someone you can help.

Real life may be plain, in day to day events

but there’s so much it can teach you.

You just have to look through the right lens.

And as I see it, as I feel it,

that’s what a good story should do:

Teach, inspire, uplift.

Though I don’t know the way I’ll get there yet

that’s what I must create.

A Sound Triumph

When buying sound equipment to take to the field, I bought a digital sound recorder and a lav mic. The idea was to use the lav mic for interviews, plugging it into the recorder and clipping it to the interviewee. However, when I got the equipment and tested the lav mic with the recorder, it wouldn’t work. I went to the trusty internet in search of answers and read in a few different places that if I wanted to use an external mic, it had to have its own power source.

So, on the verge of leaving for India, I sent the lav mic back with the guarantee of at least getting my $20 back. I justified that the recorder itself would be enough by recording an interview with my nephew Connor (which is actually quite cute) and deciding that the quality was good enough.

However, once I got to India and started recording interviews and other events with the sound recorder, I realized how noisy India is! Everything is so close together, that from almost any room of any building you can hear people talking, dogs barking, or the always present cars honking. In addition to this, the concrete walls can make recording indoors very echoey at times. I don’t say any of this to put down India. Noise can actually be a beautiful thing at times; for instance, I love lying in bed in the mornings and listening to our next-door neighbor practice his Tibetan guitar. All I’m trying to say is that these noises can make it difficult when trying to record just one person talking.

We did it!

I know my last post was a big thank you, but here's an even bigger one: THANK YOU!
We had so many people contribute to the fundraiser and we reached our goal! So thank you all so much, to those who gave and also to those who spread the word. We wouldn't have made it without your combined efforts.

I'm very excited for this film and things have being going great. In half an hour I'm off to do an interview with Vinayak, my Indian lawyer friend, and then tomorrow I will be hanging around a courthouse to get the before and afters of a court hearing he will be serving in.

Later this week I will be going with Jamyang from Tong-Len to go see the hostel his organization has built to provide housing for less-fortunate children while they get an education. This I am also excited for.

So again, thank you to everyone for your help. The money raising part is over, but you can still support the film by following the blog and giving comments, questions, or feedback wherever you'd like. And when the film is finished I'll be looking for lots of people to help raise awareness of it and get it seen by as many people as possible, so stay in tune for that.

Thank you all. Thank you thank you thank you!

Thank You!

Wow! Thank you to everyone who has contributed! In just two days we’ve bumped our funding way up. Thank you all so much, we wouldn’t have been able to do this project if it wasn’t for all your help. 

An Activist, a Lawyer, a Minister of Parliament, and two NGO Directors

What do all these people have in common? They’re all willing to help me with my film!

Things have really taken off since my meeting with Tenzin Tsundue last week. Right away I started looking up the references he gave me, and so far everyone I have talked to has been very kind and willing to help me with the film. Tenzin is “the activist” I refer to in the title. Here are the other people I have talked to so far:

Vinayak, the lawyer

An Indian lawyer who takes 99% Tibetan cases. He’s learned the Tibetan language and dedicated himself to helping these people. He explained to me that because of Tibetans’ exiled state, they often believe they do not have the same rights as Indians, but they do, and this is most of his work, just helping the Tibetans to understand their rights and privileges in India. He shows true compassion in his dedication through his time and effort to the Tibetan people, and often charges little or nothing at all, based on the person’s ability to pay.

“The Space Between Us” – Finished

            I actually finished this book quite a while ago. There were some good twists towards the end of the book, certainly upping the stakes, but I think my overall view and recommendation of the book remains about the same as the last time I wrote about it.

            My wife, Julia has also recently finished the book (she reads about 20 times faster than I do), and we talked about it afterwards. We shared basically the same views on the book and its author, but especially the following: the author uses too many similes, and seems to carry a strong dislike and mistrust of all males. But we also agreed that it was a good read for being in India and learning more about its culture.

            So my recommendation remains the same: If you are going to India, or want to learn a little more about India, I would recommend the book. But if you’re just looking for a good book to read, I suggest you look somewhere else. Possibly The Poisonwood Bible, which I have recently started, and so far find very interesting and enjoyable.

            I know I have kind of wrapped up this book quite quickly, so if anyone has specific questions about it or would like to hear more, just let me know. However, if you haven’t read my first post about the book, I would start there because I covered it a lot more in depth.

I Am Excited

- Tenzin Tsundue

It’s intimidating being in a new place, not knowing many people or much of their language. But what’s more intimidating is knowing that while you’re in this new place, you have to complete this huge project which requires the help of the people you don’t know and can’t easily communicate with.
I believe this intimidation may be one of the main reasons that my film has not taken off quite as quickly as I had imagined. However, in the last couple days, a combination of things has gotten me excited about the project and given me the energy and determination to get things rolling. One of these things was realizing that we’ve already been gone for a month and only have two months left. Another was writing about the project to my mentors, friends and family and remembering that this film is not something I have been assigned to do; this is a film I truly want to make. Another was the simple act of meeting and talking to nice people. Being shy by nature, it’s not always easy for me to strike up a conversation with a stranger. But practically every time I have done so I have made a new friend, thus making it that much easier to say something to the next stranger. (For most people here, just knowing a phrase in their language is a great way to strike up a conversation).
The fear of time running out, remembering my passion for the film, and meeting these nice people was enough motivation to make me do something drastic: buy a cell phone.