I didn't expect to actually have a holiday on Christmas. This is a non-Christian country and I'm also not a Christian. But the Volunteer Tibet organizer, Lobsang, gave every volunteer the day off because some of them are Christian.
After I woke up I started packing my things, determined to find a warmer room later that day. Then I decided to try and find a nice Christmas morning breakfast somewhere. And I don't mean a Western breakfast: instead I opted for a Tibetan one!
Tsetan Dolkar introduced me to a nice little chai and food shop on the Temple Road. The place also served breakfast and is cheap. They had a Western option, but I was intrigued by the Tibetan porridge and Tibetan cheese bread with butter tea. So I ordered it.
Turns out that Tibetan porridge is basically like a thinner, finer version of oatmeal. The bread is about three times the size of an English muffin but has a similar consistency: lots of yeast bubbles inside the bread.
After breakfast I went back to my room and met the land lady and told her I was leaving. I paid for four days, even though I only stayed three, because of the short notice. It was so cheap it didn't matter to me: one night cost only 170 rupees (about US$3.15).
The Volunteer Tibet organizer took me to a budget hotel across the street from the monastery I was teaching at. It's called Hotel Akash and is run by some friendly Kashmiris. Lobsang talked to the owner and she showed me a nice corner room that got a lot of sunshine throughout the day. It was located on the second floor and there was a balcony with chairs and a table facing the street. The well-worn room has "astro-turf" green floors (made of a thin, green carpet), an old dresser, two chairs, a coffee table and a huge king-size bed. Again: the bed was hard, the room wasn't heated and it was cheap. But it had a much larger and better hot water heater and a Western-style toilet. So I took it. Lobsang negotiated with the hotel owner to give me the room for only 250 rupees per night (about US$5).
The view from the room looks out directly onto the classroom I teach at, and the monastery's terrace where I hold conversation classes. I can't complain about the commute!
The first thing I did after unpacking was to take a nice hot shower, and have a shave. It felt great to be clean and warm again. This room upgrade is definately a good Christmas present to myself!
Next I headed up the hill to the Internet cafe to send some Christmas greetings to friends and family. After that, Lobsang gave myself and a U.S. journalism volunteer some "cultural orientation." He talked about Tibetan culture, and also some do's and don'ts around town. I already knew a lot about the Tibetan issue, but the local information was helpful.
When the orientation wrapped up, I ran into Amy, an American also volunteering to teach English at the monastery. She taught the beginner level, but no one showed up that day. So she asked me if I could help her with her adopted stray cat. I had nothing else to do, so I said OK.
A few weeks ago she found a tabby cat that couldn't move its two back legs very much. At the time she was renting a room at a nunnery, but she brought the cat inside anyway to nurse it back to health. But she couldn't keep it there forever because it was against the rules to have an animal in nunnery rooms. Also she had to go to Delhi for 10 days and needed a place to keep the cat.
So one of the volunteer organizations here runs a small animal clinic. Vets volunteer their free time and visit this clinic from time to time. (Remember, animals are respected here, and people have lots of compassion for them.) Amy put the cat in the clinic for a few days. When she returned from Delhi, the cat had diarrhea. She bought it some medicine and wondered if I would help her give it to the cat.
On a side note, the druggist was an interesting place. Without a doctor's note, you can simply buy antibiotics, painkillers, and even Valium! I bought some antibiotics in case the lung infection I had earlier this month returns. And just for the hell of it, I also bought some Valium (It'll help me relax during the long, bumpy and scary bus ride back to Delhi.)
I'm going to stock up on a few other medications for the cold and flu season in Japan. Japanese medicine is weak and due to the ever-present language barrier, it's a pain in the ass to get a doctor's prescription.
Back to the cat: After picking up the cat's medicine at the druggist, Amy and I walked down the steep hill to the vet clinic. The "clinic" is just a terrace in front of a building. The terrace has some dogs laying around and some cages where treated animals were recovering. But a few of the dogs were really friendly, and I enjoyed playing with them. Although they were strays, I got the impression that the animals knew they were being treated well by people, so they were happy to see us - much happier than I've ever seen animals at a vet clinic before.
Amy's cat was in a cage and the poor thing had diarrhea pretty bad. She took it out of the cage and I helped her clean off the cat's fur. Also the cat had a rash from lying in its own filth for so long. So we put some medicated cream on the rash. After finishing this, I cleaned out his cage and put a blanket down. His water dish and food dish were also refilled.
Meanwhile Amy did some physical therapy on the cat's legs, gently bending them up and down to strengthen the muscles. Amy said this was working and that he's regained some more movement since she's been doing this.
After the cat was safely put back into his clean cage, Amy jokingly asked, "Was this your ideal way to spend Christmas?" I laughed and said that taking care of another being is a lot more fulfilling than consumerist shopping, gorging myself with fatty foods and lounging around. So cleaning a cat's cage and being of service others feels a lot more worthwhile, I said.
As the sun started to go down, I headed to Tsetan Dolkar's house for dinner. It was nice to spend Christmas with someone, even though we're both Buddhists. I guess Christmas is now just a time when I gather with my family each year. For me, it's not about the birth of Jesus Christ (which didn't actually happen on Dec. 25th anyway). It's just "family time" with a collection of fond memories.
Although it would have been nice to be with my family on this day, I was happy to be in India, working for a good cause. The opportunity to give my talents and service to others is a pretty good Christmas present, I think. It's not selfish or materialistic, and a lot of people (and even cats!) can share in it.
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