Mr M had a free saturday so we decided to go to Majnu-ka-tilla, the Tibetan refuge colony in the northern part of Delhi....it was quite the ride from Gurgaon even if traffic wasn't bad at all actually...
to be on the safe side I got a description from one of the swedish experts on how to find it...
that was good to have because this was dark narrow alleyways and they where leading everywhere....
the sun almost didn't shine in there because the houses where built so close.....you could easily jump from one rooftop to the other or from one window to another...I can actually see Jackie Chan flying across the rooftops in an action movie...anyhow
we found the yellow doorway leading into the colony...
walked along dark alleyways and reached the square with the temple....it was kind of cool and so different...and I could tell that I was in "Tibet".....people do look different from different parts of the world..
a tibetan woman outside the temple... you can also read the five demands..for a free Tibet...
a huge prayer wheel at the entrance to the temple and
smaller ones on the outside...did you know that these cylindrical prayer wheels always should be spun anti-clockwise ?
the Tibetan flag...the red and the blue symbolises the six different regions in Tibet....
and a region flag..
beautiful decorations....close up from the temple...
the prayer wheels are found throughout the colony...
I told you narrow alleyways....and monks everywhere...and vendors selling for instance Jak wool blankets...many restaurants and even small hotels...
outside the monastery...
Dalai Lama went into exil in 1959-1960 , soon after a small refugee camp was found along Yamuna river..today it's home to second-generation of Tibet refugees and is also known as Samyeling, Little Tibet...around 3500 homes....they have been given a formal assurance that they would be allowed to remain at the site until the international dispute over Tibet is settled...will it ever ?
........
walking around made us hungry and thirsty and since it was saturday we decided to treat ourself with lunch at Lodi restaurant...and a walk in Lodi garden...did get some pictures of beautiful spring flowers that I will share with you in my next post...
Hi Susanna, we are carrying an article on Majnu ka Tila in our newspaper, DNA, a reputed Indian. But don't have good photographs to go with it. I'd like to use some of your photos and will give you image credit for the same.
ReplyDeleteIf you're willing to share your photos (I plan to use just one or two), please mail me the original high resolution ones on dnaoftravel@gmail.com, with 'Majnu Ka Tila' as subject. Also do feel free to ask me about any queries.
I need these urgently, it will be great if you respond at the earliest.
Thank You
Regards,
Pooja Bhula
Feature Writer and Copy Editor
Zee Media Corporation