Of People and Places

At Kavayyi lake in Payannur .  The boatman silhouetted against the river and the inky blackness of the island trees.Would you like to see what I saw, that evening ? The sunset mellowed down... The colors faded into each other....became nothing The pale glimmering moon turned brighter... The colors washed away -the stains in the sky fading...  fading .... turning inky... while the boatman sat motionless... while darkness crept in.... and night descended. 

The roads to Camp 4 are lined with Prayer flags fluttering in the wind. Old, tattered, new, bright, faded; all kinds surround the trees, the electric poles, backyards and fences. It is a sultry afternoon in April, and a cuckoo calls out for rain with longing. Rows of Silver Oak trees flank the roads and narrow streets and the bougainvillea are in full bloom. Across the Paljor Dhargey Ling guest house where we are to stay is a vast open space, leading to narrower gullies. Camp 4 is a quaint place.  There are monks in maroon robes and yellow shirts walking on the streets and  old women with colorful banded aprons, clutching prayer beads.  Located to the west of Mysore in Coorg in Karnataka, Bylakuppe has been the home of Tibetan refugees since 1960 after the Chinese Occupation of their country led to a life in exile. After Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, the camps near Bylakuppe represent the second largest Tibetan settlements in India. Murky as the path to this ...