Delhi and a very special Man

Originally I wasn't planning to return to Delhi. I'd not overly enjoyed my brief time there previously - searching almost endlessly for a home for the night and then being in the not so lovely tourist area. But my mind was changed when I heard that His Holiness the Dalai Lama was doing a talk at the university there. I didn't have a ticket and had been told that the event was only for students, but thanks to the encouragement of a friend I decided to pay the university a visit and see if they would let me in. The person organising the event was a very friendly lady who kindly wrote me out my very own invitation to come and see the main man talk!!! I then spent the whole of the day exploring Delhi and feeling very very very excited. 

This time I discovered lots of nice things in Delhi. I found a hotel outside the tourist area, which overlooked a huge mosk. From the balcony next to my room, about four floors up, you could look down at the road below. It was only a little road but you could happily sit and watch all that was going on for hours. There were cars, rickshaws, motorbikes, people walking, sitting and standing, little stalls/bikes from which people were selling anything from watches and keys to mangos and small snacks (although they could be large snacks if you bought a lot). There was a young group of boys who were cycling up and down the road as fast as they could, over and over again. They didn't really have much control over their bikes though and it seemed also hadn't yet learnt that you need to look before pulling out in front traffic. So, I saw them hit people, other cyclists and parked cars, and I saw people, cyclists and moving cars very nearly hit them as they swerved across the road in front of them. I do hope they've learnt a bit more road awareness by now.

I visited to the beautifully kept garden where Gandhi was killed, and had a look around the museum in the house where he spent the last part of his life. It was in a very smart area with lots of huge buildings, mostly embassies, and all sots of pretty plants and flowers.

I explored markets, and shared delicious rice pudding from clay pots with people who were sat on the streets begging. I found a bird hospital which mostly looked after pigeons who lived in tiny cages, but also had some baby rabbits, a couple of particularly sad looking peacocks, and an overly friendly manager.

Finally the next day came and I set off on the metro to the university. The metro in Delhi is a good one. You and your bags have to go through ex-ray machines like at an airport before you're allowed down to the trains. I'm not really sure what the point of them is though. The first time I went through I had a big knife in my bag (which I use on food not people) so they must have seen that. I also had a sharp edged rock in my pocket, which the lady patting me down found after I made the machine beep. I've felt India to be the one place I've been where I don't feel overly safe all the time, and so I carry this rock for protection... just in case... When the lady found the rock she looked at me quizzically and so I explained why I was carrying it. She then let both me and my rock through. Once you get down to the platforms, well, as soon as you enter the stations, everything is almost sparkling it's so clean. Even inside the trains. It's far cleaning and smarter than the underground in London! There is a special place on the platforms where only ladies are allowed to wait, and when the trains arrive, the part of the train that stops there is also only for ladies. Often the general parts of the trains are packed so full of people and at the same time the ladies only section still has seats. I think I've said this before, but in a land such as this one having ladies only sections on things such as the tubes really is very nice indeed.

 Before the Dalai Lama arrived his security guards did an incredibly thorough security check. They looked on and under the table and chairs at the front, all around the blinds and curtains, and around the walls, windows and floor. They searched around each individual stem of the multi-stemmed plants that were in pots next to the stage, and shone blue lights on everything.

Once everywhere was considered safe the Dalai Lama came into the hall. He shook hands with all at the very front and greeted everyone so humbly with such a lovely smile and laugh. He spoke in English and everything he said made such sense. He didn't over complicate anything and there wasn't one boring moment, quite the opposite in fact as he's a really funny man. Evan when he doesn't say anything funny he just has to laugh and somehow it makes everyone else laugh too. He was nicely informal, at one point stopping to greet a friend he'd noticed in the audience and another time apologising as he stopped briefly to take his Tibetan medication.

He talked about the importance of compassion and non violence, of how education and knowledge are two of the most important things, with narrow mindedness potentially having many negative effects. He spoke of the effects of forming attachments to both objects and people, explaining how if you become attached to something you start to really want and desire it and then if it's something you can't have or something you lose it will make you unhappy. He discussed the negative effects of drugs on your mind and levels of happiness, and of the importance of gaining self confidence and fighting for the rights of yourself and other people and animals. He emphasised that what religion you identify with isn't important. He said how he himself is Buddhist because the place he is from has Buddhism as a part of it's culture, but that didn't mean that Buddhism was any better than other religions. All he teaches is for and can benefit both believers and non believers. He explained how anger and other negative emotions bring you nothing of use, leading just to unhappiness, and that you should fight these emotions by tackling them at their original cause. He informed us of how China spends more money on security within their own country than they do externally. Everyone laughed at how they clearly feel more threatened by people within their country than people from other places, but the laugh wasn't at all malicious. It's amazing that after all that's happened and is continuing to happen between China and Tibet, and how China has treated the Dalai Lama, he still has full compassion for China as a country, for it's people, and for it's government.

As if this experience wasn't wonderful enough already, afterwards everyone in the audience were given a free lunch including two different types of cakes along with lots of other tasty things. The Dalai Lama really is an incredibly amazing man!