Varada Effort: February 2015

A Brief Report on TCV Upper Dharamsala Winter Program 2014

Date:-From 10th Jan 2015‐‐ 17th Jan 2015

This tour was organized by TCV Upper Dharamsala village director Mr. Ngodup Wangdu. 50 students (35 boys and 15 girls) were chosen and together with the director and 3 staff they went on this exciting week long trip. The students came from class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

10th Jan 2015(Day 1)
Left the school at 4-00am in the morning with packed breakfast and lunch to embark on this long journey.
Arriving late in the afternoon, Mr. Lhakpa Dhondup, Director of VTC‐ Selakui and the staff members gave them a very warm welcome with traditional Tibetan scarfs. A delicious welcome dinner was given to them at 9.00 pm.

11th Jan 2015 (Day 2)
Tour of TCV and VTC:-
Began their day walking around TCV Selakui campus with the principal Mr. Duke Tsering and headmaster Mr.Tsultrium Kalsang from 9.00 am to 11.00am. The tour was very educative and particularly the unique cow project.
This was followed by the tour in VTC campus. The staff and students at VTC‐Selakui gave a hearty welcome, followed by the Director of the institution Mr. Lhakpa Dhondup's power point presentation of TCV VTC campus and all the different trades of the center. Tour of the campus followed.
The team of cookery and Food & Beverage students prepared and organized a grand lunch for all the visitors.
Tour of Clement Town from 2.30pm – 6.30pm:-
Mindroling monastery is one of the larger Buddhist monasteries in India.. The group was lucky to get an audience with KE Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche and HE Rigo Tulku Rinpoche in the Monastery .
The early evening was spent in Clement Town, circumambulating around the great Lhabab Chorten (Lhabab Stupa). After the tour of the Mendrolling monastery, the students had one hour free time to explore the Tibetan colony on their own.

13th Jan 2015 (Day 3)
Mussoorie Tour:
The group was welcomed by THF general secretary Col Penpa Tsering and he gave a very inspiring message to the students in his office. They had arranged school campus tour and a sumptuous lunch for the visitors.
The group also visited Central School for Tibetans Happy Valley. Mr.Ngodup briefed the students about the school, shared his experiences and advised the students to study hard and serve the community in future. After that, the children were given a two hours tour to Mussoorie town, which they have a wonderful time in this hill station. Returned VTC Selakui around 6.00pm.

14th Jan 2015 (Day 4)
Tour to Rajpur:
At 10.00am visited Sakya Dolma Phodrang and the group had a special audience with HE the Sakya Trizin and Rinpoche who blessed the group with special prayer.
This is followed by a visit to Jangchup Ling, another holy monastery where they took lunch with the monks.
In the afternoon, a friendly football match between VTC students and UTCV students was held.

15th Jan 2015 ( Day 5)
Tour to Hardiwar and Swami Ramdev Ashram:
The ancient Hindu’s holy city of Haridwar is located 75 km away from Dehradun and the place is regarded as one of the seven holiest places for Hindus. Every year millions of devotees come here to take a holy dip into the river Ganga, which originates from Tibet. The group spent about two hours at the holy Ganga site.
The group then proceeded to Swami Ramdev’s Ashram, which is 20 km away from Haridwar. Lunch was served in the Ashram. A tour for about 30 minutes of the Ashram followed after lunch.

16th Jan 2015 (Day 6)
Tour to Forest Research Institute of India(FIR):-
Spent tow hours there and visited six museums in FIR. The museums are all about forest and animals such as insects and wild mammals. FIR taught us how to preserve forest and how important role is being played by trees and the amazing animals in protecting our eco-system. It reminded all on how each one of us can do our own bits in saving our mother earth from deforestation and climate change.
Mr. Lhakpa Dhondup and the students of Secretarial trade arranged a farewell party for the guests with bonfire that night. The children enjoyed the last evening in VTC ‐Selakui and many of them sang till 10.30 pm.

17th Jan 2015 (Day 7)
Back home to TCV Upper Dharamsala from VTC Selakui (Dehradun)
It was again, up early in the morning at 4.00am, had breakfast, packed the belongings and left on bus. They had packed lunch on the way at 12.30pm and enjoyed the delicious chicken briyani with soup on a roadside field.
The way back, passing by Herbertpur, Pontashib, Nahan, via Simla road solan road, Hamirpur, Kangra , Kangra,Dharamsala Dal lake , and finally reaching Upper TCV around 11.00pm.