for the want of boots my feet did freeze.

if i close my eyes to the snow-capped mountains and my ears to the sound of Buddhist chanting, i could be back home, what with the rain dripping off soggy leaves and the mist and the rolling thunder... but no, i am in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, home to Tibetan Buddhism in exile. (i missed H. H the Dalai Lama by half a day). it is cold. really erally cold. so i am wearing all my clothes, along with a yak-wool bobble hat, yak-wool jumper and...sandles. it reminds me of John Cleese in that wonderful film Clockwise, shortly before he falls flat on his face in the mud: "this is how mankind has evolved from the primeval slime- by adapting to circumstances". back now to my cheap (50 Rs) if cold ( no heating! no hot water!) room.