Peace, where art thou?

Think Dalai Lama. Think McLoed Gunj. Think Himalayas. And through all this, you think peace, serenity and spirituality, away from all the madness of the material world. But if you happen to be in McLoed Gunj now, you might hear only cars honking, some swearing, stressed out monks and peace?

The coming of the picturesque cricket stadium there has changed life, maybe for the better for some but mostly not so good. If earlier a limited number of people arrived, they were mostly the ‘spiritual’ kind, in search if themselves, hoping to find that in Dalai Lama, in the lap of the majestic Himalayas. There weren’t too many cars coming up but now, all that has changed. Tourists from all over North India, seeing the beautiful stadium on TV take this tour and come to McLoed Gunj. The cricket stadium has become a hot tourist spot, causing traffic jams in this very small town, which lasts for hours.

The sad part is that the monks are truly stressed out with all this noise, so many people and incessant honking. But as the learned one says, if you cannot endure even this in life, how can you find yourself?