not complaining. Sharma came looking for work from Rajasthan and learnt to cook while working for a visiting German. Today, he runs the amazingly christened Sharmaji’s Family Pizzeria, a steep climb away from the main streets of Mcleodganj. His hordes of visitors (from monks to software engineers) do no blink at the sight of a platoon of women in deep ghunghats rolling out pizza dough and baking German tortes.
Other oddities will point you to the floating population of the little town. Ordinary looking shops double as movie theatres, where films left behind by passing travellers are screened. Hand over a tiny sum and the shopkeeper will slide aside a basket of potatoes. A trapdoor in the floor leads to a miniature movie hall that may screen anything from the worst of Hollywood to a documentary on breathing and the consciousness.
AT THE bargain-basement prices for accommodation and food, many visits slide into months. Surjit is from Shimla and many of his cousins have worked in the guesthouses in Mcleodganj. He likes the easy vibe and is inclined to be mildly snobbish about Bhagsu, a few kilometers away, slipping and sliding into Mcleodganj. “That’s where the crowd from Ludhiana and Jalandhar stay. They are noisy.” Surjit likes that guests at the downmarket Kaelwood Guesthouse, where he is the manager, are a far more eclectic and ‘cool’ crowd. Joon, a 27-year-old Korean has been staying in Kaelwood for six months now and has no intention of going back soon. The man in the room next door has not been seen outside for two weeks, he says. “Perhaps he is finding peace,” he laughs.
Shopkeepers know that it is the Free Tibet movement which has put Mcleodganj on the map but they have mixed feelings about what the movement means on a day to day basis. Like businesspeople everywhere they worry that politics is bad for the till. “Last year business was down because of all the demonstrations. This year it is better,” says Dorjee. He
