Yogin's Quest

May all beings have happiness and its causes. May all beings be spared suffering and its causes. May all beings abide in the state of joy that knows no sorrow. May all beings trascend attachment to friends and aversion to enemies. And live beleiving in the equality of all that lives.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Coaching
I went for almost a week to coach the Tibetan national soccer team to their training camp in Dharadun, which is about 12 hours drive from where I am staying, the bus ride was a experience and a half, the driving is like Mexico but scarier (if possible), so you basically close your eyes an hope for the best, passing in curves and all the other no no’s while driving are common occurrence here.
I shared the ride, with a young Jewish girl, that was traveling alone for another two weeks and then returning to Israel, she has jus finished her 3 year military service which al citizens have to do, she was very interested in Buddhism, so she was asking me many questions about it, this took my mind from the driving and the near misses.


TIBETAN NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM

So I arrived around 5.00am at the old bus station and waited for the team officials that were going to pick me up and take me to the training camp, which is about 30 minutes from town, in a great facility of the TCV (Tibetan Children Village), this particular facility has around 70 acres of well kept grounds and buildings, it actually continues to expand every year.


HAVING BREAKFAST WITH THE TEAM

This school (residential), has two sections, one for grades 1 to 10, mostly of Tibetan children refuges, some of them orphans and the rest with their parents in Tibet, unable to leave, the other section is for vocational training and have many different courses , such a cooking , hotel management, computers, house keeping, usually 2 years after grade 12.


COOKING/BAKING SCHOOL FACILITIES


HOUSE KEEPING STUDENTS CLEANING MY ROOM


MY MEALS COOKED BY STUDENTS, DELIVERED TO MY ROOM


Both sections are designed for high achievers, so the best of all the TCV schools in India is here, is a beautiful facility, that we don’t have even in Canada, all the cooking for all the students is done by the cooking students, the housekeeping also is done by the students etc, so the students take care of all the services, which give them an excellent practical training, there are soccer fields and basket ball courts.
This facility being so great is a perfect place to sequester the National soccer team so they can train without interruptions with all the facilities at their disposal.


FEMALE STUDENTS IN THEIR BIKE

So I did 2 training sessions and one classroom session a day, working mostly on the needs of the team to improve their technical abilities as well as their physical conditioning, they have 2 tournaments coming up, one in Seekim and the other one in cypress.
I am going to try to do my best to go with the team, but it requires many days away from my Buddhist teachings, so more likely I wont be able to go with them, so I will have to return here to their training camp, once more between tournaments so they get ready for Cypress.
The players and other coaches are extremely respectful, I never been called SIR so many times in my life, players do as they are told, no Prima Donas here just hard working players, all the players, and coaches do it as VOLUNTEERS as they don’t have any money to get pay, they take timeoff their regular jobs or teams to train and play together, so they need funds on a regular basis to pay for the team expenses including traveling, so if any of you know of any organization that may help, please let me know.
In the way back I got a tour of the Nehru Tibetan colony, which is superb, I was amazed by the beauty, size and cleanliness of this Tibetan colony, there is a central area with all the monasteries, centers stupas (Tibetan religious buildings), and a very big statue of Lord Buddha, the place was very impressive and as it was Sunday well visited by Tibetans and Indian families a like.


BUDDHA STATUE IN THE TIBETAN COLONY


STUPA AND CHENREZIG


NICE OLD MONK


MONASTERY IN THE TIBETAN COLONY


STUPA

After the visit to this center, it was time to take the 12 hour bus trip back to my loved mountains, so I returned with Kalsang-la the person in charge of the Tibetan team, I was ready for another 12 hours of fun filled bus ride, but I was not counting of being in a middle of a riot in the highway.
It was around 9pm, as we were passing by a town, predominantly of a specific faith which I will not mention, I live it to the reader to imagine which one, there were a few hundred of people on the road, shouting and fighting, there was armed police present but it was kind of an ugly seen, I put my shoes back on and grabbed my back pack, in case that I have to do some running to save limb and soul, fortunately the bus driver was convinced to turn around and go another way, so we turned back among chaos of traffic and fighting demonstrators and drove by another road.
After that the usual near misses for a few more hours and suddenly we were back in the lovely Himalayas around 6am, which is great to observe the sunrise by the high mountains, the trip was very full feeling and I was able to share some of my limited knowledge and learn much more from this land and its people, I arrived to my apartment, had breakfast, picked my books and went for my teachings, walking down the road to the Tibetan Library and Archives (which is were my teachings are held), I could only think, how lucky I am to be able to see/learn and witness so much in this far land, as I walked down, my usual road side companions, Tibetans, Indians, monkeys, cows, donkeys, were heading into their daily activities, and once again I felt part of this very different world.


HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET YOUR GAS DELIVERD LIKE THIS??, OR TO HAVE THIS JOB??




more pics to come soon