moving to Dharmsala, gulp help!!!

Shivani Skydancer

Namaste Camel girl :-)

As you know, it is never a good idea to assume anything! In fact, you are assuming that this young lady has illegal immigration in mind. You are also making quite a few assumptions about me - all of them incorrect.

Actually, I read the whole thread through very carefully before answering Sunsprit. I even read all her other threads and the replies. In her other thread, I advised Sunsprit to get a study visa and continue her education in Mcleodganj. A good and worthwhile way to experience the country!

The fact that Sunsprit's parents are approving of her trip, speak for themselves!

It's nice for all of us to keep a friendly attitude to all IMikers. No assumptions :-)

Om shanti

sunspirt

thank you, shivani, and you are right, I have no intention of illegal imigration. It seem that there is a confusion, the monk at the buddist temple is not speaking for the govt, he is offering his support for my decision to move out there at an early age. It seems that everyone has jump the gun and made negative assumptions involving me when i stated I wanted to leave after high school. Just becasue I am young does not mean I am unable to "vist" there. I am just as able as the rest of you. Most 17 year olds do not get to far on their plans after high school and i have. I am dedicated to my dreams and I will not let a simple matter such as the number of years I have been alive affect that. If i did then I would not be truely ready to make that move. I came here expecting support and help and I find people telling I won't make it because i am to young. Maybe I am looking at what you guys have said in the wrong light but that is what it registered to me. Thank you for your help. It has really pushed things forward for me!

skidmark

My first trip to India was when I was 18. If I could do it so can you.

__________________
Do you feel more like you do now, than you did when you first got here? ~Grace Slick

camelgirl

There is no misunderstanding by anyone beside Shivani. THE TITLE OF THIS THREAD IS "MOVING TO DHARMSALA" not to mention you again stating you will move there at any early age. Once again--you cannot move to India--that would be attempting illegal immigration! Sorry, that's just the rules of India, not me, not my opinion! Not "visiting". And why do you put "visiting" in quotes? That mean's you are not actually planning on visiting--or else you don't know how to use quotes!

No one has said a young person cannot go to India. It's done all the time and most have excellent experiences.

I think Nick might be correct in suggesting you could use some extra study in English! You don't seem to comprehend most of the really good advice you have been given & if you read it you would see there is no " wrong light" to look at it--it's really clear and unequivical!

You have been given tons of ADVICE along with a few opinions. Since you have decided we simply don't understand you & your spiritual quest, you should probably stick to talking with people who will only tell you what you want to hear and get your plane ticket & just follow your dream without letting any sort of facts and information enter into it.

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camelgirl

Care to elaborate? Did you go overland? Did you go with a school group? Did you hitchhike? Did you go on a motorcycle? Did you go with the Semester at Sea? Did you go alone? With family, with friends?

How does this actually matter to the OP who is MOVING (see title of thread) there on a spiritual quest?

99vineet

When i was 24 i went to US for cultural exchange programme was sponsored by rotary international.I stayed with many american families during my stay .We have many common things and many cotrasts .People here in india are very welcoming sometime and some time diffrent.You need to come to india before you decide any thing.Need any help you are most welcome.

dzibead

<Cross-posted with camelgirl, who makes many of the same points I do.>

You really have missed the point of what people have been telling you.

No one has told you you shouldn't visit India or that you're too young to do that. But you keep talking about moving there, and we have tried to point out to you that there simply is no realistic immigration program that allows foreigners to immigrate permanently to India (short of marrying an Indian citizen). Your age has little or nothing to do with the obstacles to permanent immigration -- a thirty-five-year-old would face the same obstacles -- and no one has told you that you won't "make it" because you're too young. You won't "make it" because India's immigration policy won't let you, and no amount of "dreaming" on your part is going to change that.

Start with a visit, and see if it's what you expected. Then if you like it, plan to visit again. Thinking you can plan long-term before you have spent even so much as five minutes in the country makes no sense whatsoever, no matter how much you think it's "calling" to you. What's calling to you is an image you have in your head, which may not match the reality at all -- it certainly didn't for a friend of mine who went to Dharamsala for the first time expecting something quite different from what's actually there, and consequently she had no desire to return. And believe me, I also know plenty of Tibetans who have no desire to live there, and some who were born and raised there there who couldn't wait to get out of the place. It can be quite claustrophobic.

Also, don't assume that just because you're a Buddhist that you'll "fit in" and be embraced by the Tibetan community. Many Tibetans have an ambivalent and somewhat bemused attitude toward Western Buddhists, and you may find that you are actually more comfortable pursuing your spiritual goals in a different setting. Apart from courses geared toward short-term visitors, you will find that serious Buddhist studies in Dharamasala are very different from what you're probably used to at a typical Western "dharma center" (places that, in the West, are generally not even frequented by actual Tibetans other than the teacher and his/her assistants). In Dharamsala, serious Buddhist studies are pursued at an extremely high level, requiring fluency in written and spoken Tibetan (classical and modern) and the ability to read and write Sanskrit. Moreover, the opportunities for women to pursue these studies at that level are pretty much limited to being affiliated with one of the nunneries. Someone earlier suggested that you try to do something at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, but I think the likelihood that they would allow enrollment by someone with only a U.S. high school degree is very small.

Finally, it seems that despite your accusations, you are the one who has jumped the gun and made many negative assumptions about the advice you have received. Perhaps if you actually read the advice people have been giving you, instead of immediately getting your back up and jumping to the conclusion that they are just cynically trying to quash your desire to visit (I repeat, visit) Dharamasala, you might get more out of the discussion.

__________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
"The perfect is the enemy of the good." - Voltaire

Paleface

That's a bit out of order really..

Moving, going, visiting, maybe a wrong word choice, we all do it but for sure no thing is permanent eh! And permanency is not the point of the trip really. One has to start somewhere and i would like to have heard more about the motivations you have, rather than the diversions we've undergone - and i might say you have shown excellent restraint in intimidating circumstances. Any chance you can start again?? If not that's understood!

__________________
Only a mediocre person is always at his best. Somerset Maugham.

sunspirt

now i think you are over anilizing my word choice. I did not mean moving in that type of sense, I ment it simply as I am leaving my parents house for the first time an dgoing to another country. Where I live that is considered moving out. So that is why I say it like that. If it pleases you i will word it as visting from now on.

Aupmanyav

And what business has he to want you in India. You are welcome to visit, meet Dalai Lama, know more about buddhism, that is OK. But then, get on with your life. Study or get experience in a job, whatever is your choice. You are too young to become a monk yourself and what do you think that would enable you to get. Be practical. Even Buddha waited till he was 29.

sunspirt

yes, i would love to. I am sorry for the things I have said, and the hurtful exchanges, I just wish to put it behind us, what do you say chamel girl and diz. can you forgive me for my ignorance. I would like to start over. I have so much to learn.

camelgirl

Yes, it probably is, but her spelling, grammer & vocabulary is atrocious! I find it easier to understand IMers who have English as a second language! You are not correct in thinking moving & visiting have remotely the same meaning and I've never heard anyone use it interchangably. I'd like to see what happens if that was put on a visa form

Anyway, I'm done, finished, kaput with this whole silly thread! I just hope things work out for the OP. India is full of dreamers from all over the world looking for something or other and there's certainly room for one more!

sunspirt

I have nothing worth persueing in my life besides this, if that makes much sense

Paleface

Bhaiya.. Conclusion jumping. You don't get anything! She is getting on with her life rather than dictating to others what they should be doing, a trap unfortunately set that you have also stumbled into

sunspirt

yes i cannot spell. It is one of my faults. namaste