GuerillaZ

The Pariah Dogs of India A new researcher has joined me here in Bodhgaya. As we walked back from a restaurant, the baking sun receding, night falling, Ana, a young Brazilian amateur dog researcher, observed that the Pariah dog had become almost completely a nocturnal animal. Disturbed by me in the darkness they barked and ran after us. In doing so they alerted dogs ahead of us that we were approaching. Immediately we were surrounded by ten howling hounds who still weren't quite sure what to do. As if they wanted to mete out some kind of revenge for their bleak existence but were still too docile  to step over the line. In Delhi Ana reported that she and some friends had been chased by a pack of howling pariahs for so long that they became afraid and it took a security guard on night shift to wave his night stick a la Sam Worthington in Avatar before they gave up and slunked off into the shadows of the city. The Mahabodhi Temple As I meditated briefly at the Mah...

Himalaya Darjeeling Has its own television station. Mostly it covers Ghorkha political rallies and speeches. There was much unrest here in the 1990s. Many properties were burnt or smashed as the ethnic Ghurkas tried for independence. It was not, is not, forthcoming. Businesses now write Ghorkhaland on their shopfronts to avoid similar attacks. Hindu temples are replaced by Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags. While radical politician Chavez has just died, outside my window is a rally of Ghorka radicals. A decade ago they were burning and looting shops here. The campaign is for the establishment of a separate Ghorkaland. Men and women and shout and chant with power, commitment. Easy to see how the Ghurka regiment was the most feared in WWII. Pretty awe-inspiring seen from just above them. Watching the flaming torches, listening. Got a coal fire going here. Not a sight I was anticipating in India. But out of season Darjeeling is numbingly cold. Last night the young wo...