DHARAMSHALA, January 6: It is the first week of January and Mcleod Ganj wears a look of desolation.
The narrow congested lanes of the Tibetan exile headquarters, which are usually filled with a rush of cars honking past stray dogs, cows, and men, are now eerily quiet.
Apart from the occasional taxi that breezes past closed shutters and empty restaurants, there is not much rubber burning on the roads.
The fresh snowfall on the distant hills, which has brought in the first winter chill of the season, adds to its cold emptiness.
The 32nd Kalachakra teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya has attracted a large number of people out of Dharamshala. Tibetan offices here are half empty with most of the high-ranking officials, from ministers to secretaries, attending the teachings in official or personal capacities.
While most of the Tibetan shops in Mcleod Ganj are closed, the hotel association is reporting 60-80 per cent vacancy – a significant fall from the usual seasonal business.
Rakesh, a local taxi driver complains that business has been hard hit with “no Tibetans and large fall in tourism”.
“Mcleod Ganj ka ronak chala gaya (the glitter of Mcleod Ganj is gone),” Rakesh said.
After His Holiness the Dalai Lama set up his exile residence in the once sleepy town of Mcleod Ganj in the early 1960s, the small hill station found its place in the political, religious, and tourism map of the world.
Prominent politicians, Hollywood actors, world famous artistes, and tourists and backpackers from all over the world visit Dharamshala in their thousands every year to meet the Dalai Lama and listen to him.
“Now with the God (the Dalai Lama) not here, we are hoping for a divine intervention from the weather Gods to bring us some snowfall,” a local hotelier said in hope for a boost in tourism.
