हम धरम्सला जा रहे हैं

We're leaving for Dharamsala early Tuesday morning, so I am doing the rest of my Shimla shopping before we leave. I bought a couple of pairs of shoes, one that will go particularly well with my red, green, and gold sari. After I'm done posting this, I'm going to walk to the lower bazaar to buy some fabric for my mom, maybe some more bangles, and I might not be able to resist getting ONE more shawl. They're so beautiful, I have decided to set a new trend in the US. Women in their 20's will ALL be wearing shawls soon!

We went to an ashram the other day. There they teach girls ages 6-14 from the poorest families in the local villages. The girls were very sweet, but I felt horrible offering them gifts of chocolate and markers. They were happy to receive them, but the truth of the matter is that most of them will be married by their parents as soon as they finish at the ashram. The girls were surprised to hear me speaking hindi to them...at least I could entertain.

Yesterday we didn't really do very much, I'm sorry to report. We were running around all week, plus watching movies for classes every night. So by yesterday we were all ready to relax.

I wrote a paper about dharma for my Indian and Tibetan Law and Philosophy class. I know I generally attempt to end these posts on a light note, but instead I'll leave you with this. The hindu concept of dharma is based on duty, righteousness, and virtue. Our professor asked us to contemplate our own dharma for the last part of our assignment. As the youngest daughter in a matriarchal family, I had plenty to say about my dharma. Now,I ask you: do you have a dharma? And how do you fulfill it? Just food for thought, you don't have to comment if you don't want to.

Soon I'll be posting from Dharamsala (the name of this post is "we're going to Dharamsala").

Love,
Elizabeth