Leaving Dehradun & Manduwalla

I had a wonderful time today with Sakya Trizin and the two Dungsay Rinpoches. We spent a lot of time talking about art and some other subjects. After that I left Rajpur and went back to Manduwalla to meet with Luding Khenchen Rinpoche. This meeting also went very well but it was a social call to meet one of my old teachers. We did not talk about art, only of the past and when we would meet again. He is basically retired now and travels very little.

We are up at 5:00 tomorrow morning to be on the road for 6:00 to try and beat the traffic, heat and dust, so that we can be in New Delhi early to enjoy the heat and mosquitoes. Apparently the temperature has been hovering around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Jamyang Lekdrub's mother insists that I get up early enough to go to the local stupa (see earlier blog about Gega Lama) and say prayers to the Padmasambhava statue inside before leaving. Tsedor, JL's older brother, has already booked rooms for us at the Tara Guest House in Majnukatilla. He is there now attending an annual Chu Shi Gang Drug meeting (Four Rivers Six Mountains). I have mentioned Tsedor before, he used to be a well known painter and his photograph along with his teacher (uncle) are in David Jackson's publication on Tibetan Tangka Painting, or some such title.

After two days of Delhi I may be desperate to get onto an air conditioned airplane. I have two appointments to keep and people to see. Delhi is a big place and I may not be able to do both in the same day but I will try and do as much as possible. There are also some bookstores worth checking out.

The image above is of the family dog named Jangsem. We became good friends during my stay in Manduwalla. During the day he is chained up so that he won't bite the Nepalese workers that make the vajras and bells, etc., and at night he is allowed to run free in the compound.