SavePlayGround:
One of the children of the Tibetan Children Village plays in front of a "Save Tibet" graffiti while Dalai Lama gives a 3 hour speach. Eventhough the speach is for the children of the TCV, almost everybody from the city has come to watch it from a big screen.
CandleTeamTibet:
A young Tibetan woman proctects in her palm the flame of the candle she carries for the praying, that takes place every Tuesday, in the Dalai Lama's temple, for the freedom of her country.
CheBuddha:
Eventhought Dalai Lama is loved and respected by all his people, there are Tibetans-especially young ones-who do not agree with his approach to Tibet's issue and the way he tries to compromise with China, people who can identify with Tibetan Dharma and also with symbolic figures of revolutioneries like Che Guevara. Now, i don't know where this young man in the picture stands for but i wonder what might spring from the meeting of the spirit of meditation and non-violence with that of the revolutionary ideology of Latin America.
SweetAsBuddha:
In the temple of Dalai Lama, the preyers leave sweets and candies by the feet of Buddha's statue. The atmosphere in the temple is very warm and gentle. Despite the big statues, there is no feeling of a higher power wich part is to govern and panish.
BuddhaPlayGround:
In Bhagsu village, a few kilometres from McLeod Ganj, a group of young monks that are taking some time out of their monastery, play football with a piece of rubber. Unlike what is happening with women monks, the monastic rules for men are more loose. Traditionally a big percentage of the men in the Tibetan society become monks. Dalai Lama once said that 80% of the monks doesn't deserve to be one. But the tradition is strong and becoming a monk is also a mean of surviving.
WishYoFlour:
Puja is a pray that takes part at dawn, every wednesday when Dalai Lama is in town and everyday when he is away travelling. This pray has to do with the well being and flourish of the community. At the end of it they throw weat flour on the air. In this way the cast away the bad spirits.
OhMyCellPhone!:
A Tibetan monk smiles while a photograph him photograph with his cell phonethe games of archery of the Tibetan Olympics at a wood outside of McLeod Ganj.
ExchangeTemple:
The small temple on the central square of McLeodGanj is surrounded by cell phone antenas, electric wires and exchange bureaus. The last two decades the town has become very popular as a touristic centre, mainly because of the Tibetan community and the glow of Dalai Lama. Me, not being a Buddhist, i see Buddhism as more than a religion, a sience of human know thy self and development. Despite my deepest respect for Buddhism i cannot help using this picture to make a comment about the relation between church and money.
SwiMonk:
The Tibetan Olympic's swim games take place in the local swimming pool where monks from the surrounding monasteries come to chill out and have fun. Whenever they have a chance they come, dispobe from their monastic cloths of identity and play in the water like children. Coming from a country deeply rooted in the sea it was amazing for me to connect with these mountain people and try to pass to them the way to swim. My amazing reward for that is this smile!
ChessMeditation:
In Bagshu village, a team of monks plays chess under the shade of a tree, close to the swimming pool where their fellow monks swim or play football or explore their new cell phones.
PrayingPass:
The praying wheels are cylinders of varying sizes, found in temples or by the side of paths. Passing people have to make a circle around it, moving it before they continue their path. This is considered a way of praying and getting good luck for the rest of the way.
PurpleSnow:
As the sun sets on the horizon of McLeod Ganj, it paints purple the top of the Dauladhary mountains that are a part of the Himalayan range.
SikkimMonkChild:
Not only Tibetan monks live in McLeodGanj. This 10 year old boy comes from Sikkim, a poor state of India near the borders with Nepal. The monastery in McLeodGanj where he stays, shelters from this state children that their families cannot afford to sustain. These children grow here learning not only the monkhood but also arts that might come useful when as grownups return to their homeland.
MotherTCVChild:
The Tibetan Olympic's track and field games took place in the TCV-Tibetan Children Village, in upper Dharamsala. One of the children of the village melts my lense with innocence. Many of the village's children are addopted by "westerners". These people every month send an amount of money, wich is nothing for the country in wich they live but it is quite something in India and can take care the needs of the child.
Bhagsu IndianPool:
The village of Bagshu owes it's being and it's richness in water in a myth where Lord Shiva fought and beat a demon. The village's swimming pool, wich is supplied with the crystal water of a nearby waterfall, attracts a lot of people. The whole region is a shelter of cool weather when the lower plains are boiling from the heat. And since the Indian middle class can afford bying automobiles and vacations, scenes like this on, where families of tourists from neiborhood Punjamb cool themselves in the pool, are very common.
McFog:
A typical dawn at the end of May in one of the main roads in McLeod ganj. Located in the wild wood slopes of Himalaya, the fog and rain are common things. And then, when the monsoons start, in the summer, the ombrela is a very usefull tool.
MonkJordan:
In a weekday afternoon in McLeodGanj's basketball terain, half of the players are monks. Sights like this one might cause surprise to someone at first hand. But as we get to now better the philosophy of these people we understand that the meaning wich they give to spirituality does not necessarily exclude the earthly and cosmic parts of life.
CandleMarch:
Every Tuesday a march in wich every person holds a candle in the hand, starts from McLeodGanj's main square and ends, after at Dalai Lama's temple. There a praying for Tibet takes place. The march wich i photographed had about 2000 people, Tibetans and Westerners, monks and civilians, young and old.
FingerBiliard:
Carrom-Bot seems to be the most loved tablegame of the Tibetans. It looks like something between the Greek Tavli-Backgammon (but without dice) and billiard. The table has 4 holes in the corners, it is played by two people (and a lot around watching and waiting their turn) that try by finger kicking a independent mark to throw their own marks in the holes. What makes an striking impression to me is that eventhought he table just outside the hotel where i stay, looks busy all day long, not for a moment did i hear loud voices or fighting arguments.
ΚnightRunner:
The Tibetan Olympics were organised with simple and cheap means. This may be far from the technically perfect but it was full of love and passion. For the games of long and high jump the athletes draw cards from a deck to determine the series in wich they will contest! In this picture, Dorji Tsering, 25 years old, college student and athlete, who has just drawn the Knight of hearts card, is the one who finally gathered the most points in the games and finished first in the man's category.
JumpPress:
Dawa Dakpa, 28 years old, trainer in Tibetan Children Village, flies in the long jump. Evethought only 23 athletes took part in the games (13 men and 10 women), a lot of Indian and especially foreign reporters were came to cover it. After all, one of the reasons of the games was to remind to the world the situation in Tibet, just before the Beijing Olympic games.
SpearOfTibet:
Kalsang Lobsang, student, 19 years old from Dharamsala, runs focused to throw his spear-javelin as far as he can. The athletes that take part in the Tibetan Olympic games, had to compete in 10m games (dekathlon-shooting, archery, long distance running, swimming, 100 meters, 400 metres, 100 meters hurdles, high jump, long jump, javellin). Those who gather the most points-3 men and 3 women-are the winners. Many of the athletes that participate had no previous experience in some of the games. But this can'nt stop them since tehy are driven by their love and high spirit for their country.
DalaiHi:
In McLeod Ganj it's easy to meet Dalai Lama from a relatevely close distance. The town is small and he is very open and reachable. In the situation were this photo is taken, he was giving a speech in the Tibetan Children Village. Because the speech was only to the children the rest of the people are waiting outside. After 3 hours he passes among us waving his hand and having a big and warm smile. We all feel that the waiting was really worth it, since it is like he spread joy and blessings on his pass.
3RunnersPortraits:
The long distance run had the Dalai Lama's temple as starting and finishing point. Just after their finishing, i photograph the athletes, on the top Dhondup, student, 19 years old from Dharamsala, in the middle Tenzin Dadon, student, 22 years old from Katmandu-Nepal and Wangla, 19 years old, student in McLeodGanj's Tibetan Children Village.
3SwimPortraits:
In the pool where the swimming of the Tibetan Olympics take place, i photograph an Esthonian volunteer, the woman from New Zealand that trains the athletes and which is permanently lives there and a Tibetan monk who was waiting for the games to finish so that he could have his swim.
