Our first morning in Dharamshala, Bennett and I hiked the steep incline down Chonor House Road, grabbed a vegetarian Canadian breakfast at the tourist cafe on Temple Road, and then headed to the Archive for our first day. We’ve only got five weeks, so every day counts.
The staff at Namgyal Audiovisual Archive has changed since last time I was here: Sonam Wangdue and Dhonyoe have both left—Dhonyoe just emigrated to Canada last month. Lobsang is still the Archive “in-charge,” and is now the only Namgyal monk working at the Archive since Phuntsok’s recent departure from the monastery. Passang is the newest staff member. He joined about three years ago after a stint at a TV station in Delhi. There is also a Taiwanese nun who translates Tibetan into Chinese subtitles.
