GANGTOK NOV 16 7pm

Of course I left the CD with photos on it in Kolkata so I can't upload any more of them, and I've already deleted them from my camera because I'm a total nimrod. It's 45 degrees F out here in Gangtok, Sikkim. (Tomorrow when it's warm I'm going to the roof to play a scale or two, and then a couple bits from the Romanian Dances so I can say I played Bartok in Gangtok. That'll really impress the girls, gangs and bars. Ooo.) I just sent out some emails to people who may be in the know as far as teachers go, so we'll see what happens. In the mean time, I'm going to stay here until I can finish my dang book about Indian classical music because I would like to dump it from my luggage.

The roads around here are often suspect, so everybody does the long distance stuff in Jeeps--well, not real jeeps, but Marutis (Suzuki's foray into the Indian market) with 3L engines and stronger leaf springs. From New Jalpaiguri, the target of my sleeper ride from Kolkata, I caught one of these jeeps to Gangtok, and we sat FOUR-UP in the seat, of which there were three, not to mention a couple more seats crammed behind the last rank. All together, there were eleven people crammed into this SUV for the whole four-hour death-defying mountain road voyage. I paid rs.120, just under three dollars, for the ride. I heretofore claim that India is the home of the world's cheapest and most uncomfortable transport ever.

Today I woke up at five a.m. to see the sunrise, climbed to the roof of the building (ok to do) and looked out to realize that the whole city faces west. I saw the most scenic moonset of my life before going back to bed. At nine or so, I went to the jeep stand and caught a 60 cent hour-long ride to the Rumtek Gompa, a large Tibetan Buddhist monastery 22km from Gangtok. I took a few pictures, but largely just walked around. It was very quiet, ornately decorated, and every now and again a series of novices would dart across the courtyard in their maroon robes and playfight or jump around. Actually, it seemed like a heck of a cool childhood. There's an education involved (something that tens of millions of Indian children do not get), all of your chores take place in front of a breathtaking vista, and you get a bit of a respite from poverty. Sikkim is India's most affluent state, mostly by virtue of having so few inhabitants--although because China has never officially recognized India's claim to Sikkim, India is constantly pumping lots of rupees into its infrastructure, presumably trying to Indianize it as much as possible.

The whole city is on a steep hill, with open-water channels running downhill next to crazy staircases that go very far down. The city's water pipes jut out of the concrete at impossible angles, but seem to reach every building regardless of all the obstacles. My grandmother would take one look at Gangtok's unique beauty and declare it Hell. I'm going back to my hotel (50 rupees a night!) to eat my dinner now, probably vegetables and rice, perhaps some dumplings, and some Tibetan bread that tastes like the dough used in big pretzels, although with a far more pleasing texture and none of the excess oil. :)