Down the hill from McLeod Ganj lies the Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile and of course, the residence of his Holiness the Dalai Lama. Decorating the outer walls of the Library complex are these brightly coloured examples of Buddhist art. Directly above you can see a bhavacakra, a painted, symbolic representation of saṃsāra (cyclic existence)) and if you click on the link below you will also find some examples of the Buddhist Wheel of Life. Hopefully these will give you a little breather from all the Indian aesthetics I've been bombarding this blog with up until now, as well as a little taster of what is to come from Nepal where I shall be heading in just over a week!
Right now I'm sitting cooped up in a rather damp hotel room up in McLeod Gangj (location of the Dalai Lama in Exile), Northen India, Himachal Pradesh to be precise. Its cold, its ridiculously wet (it hasn't stopped raining for more than 30 minutes in 4 days) and quite frankly I need to think warm thoughts. Thankfully my savior has come in the form of Free People's new Indian Summerjewellery collection. Evidently this is exactly my kind of jewellery, its Indian inspired for starters and its tarnished silver-bronze finish seems to glint at me (yes even from my computer screen) like some ethnic treasure should. I would do anything to get my hands on some of these chunky stone set rings such as the signet topped, turquoise, coral, amber, agate and opal set Saldana Chunk Ring, but since I'm stuck in what feels like a cloud, I may just have to do with the Tibetan alternatives stocked at the markets up here in Mcleod.
