Shimla

In the beginning of June 1997, according the plan, our team left Buntar and went to the state’s capital Shimla. We traveled about 8 hours by bus and arrived there at evening, extremely tired physically and psychically. Our bus tickets were for sitting forehead seats, but as usual, in India people don’t care about these details and we were forced to sit on the last seats, where the jogging is biggest. Right over our heads was set the only speaker in the whole bus and from it all the time, with high volume sounded Indian songs, which cause us headache. The base of YWAM in Shimla was something, which amazed us with its extreme cleanness, arrangement and comfort, quite unbelievable for India. We remembered how and in what conditions we lived in Buntar and now we felt like we are in 5 star hotel. They gave us two days for rest, so we had enough time to walk around the city. The population of Shimla is about 200 000 people and since the time of the British rule is called “Summer capital of India”, due to the cool and nice climate during the extreme hot weather at summer. The city is built at 2200 m above sea level and we could see mountain peaks under us. The houses were very strange and interesting built on the slopes, like our houses in Veliko Tarnovo. There was something aristocratic in this city. Many of the buildings were in English style, and there was a big building of the Anglican Church in the center. Very near to Shimla was built a little village, called Mashobra. There every summer the Indian premier and president rest, because there was built their summer residences. Himalaya itself, in this part of Himachal Pradesh, were extremely beautiful - splendid peaks, deep forests and many monkeys and birds. I mention this village Mashobra, because we had to stay there 6 days, to work with people dependent from drugs.

While we relaxed in Shimla and prepared for our work with the drug-addicted, our team leaders told me that I must cut my hair. At that time my hair was quite long and almost reached my shoulders, and of course, I kept my hair, I liked such hair and I was very unpleasantly surprised, that if I want to work with drug-addicted I have to change my hair style. Actually, this requirement was absolutely right, because in Indian’s mind, especially Indian drug-addicted, everyone from the white tourists, who has long hair, is a hippie who takes drugs, drinks alcohol until collapse, and practices free sex. In other words - very corrupted guy. And I had to avoid such wrong impression. So, I went to a barber in the center of Shimla. When I sat down on the barber’s chair, the Indian who had to cut my hair, seeing my long hair understood that it must become very short, he exclaimed and wondered how to begin. Maybe I was the first man, who wanted from him, to make such a long hair short. I wasn’t impressed at all from his talent, because he left me with hair that later my wife had to fix. In India is usual, when the barber finish the work with the hair, to make an energetic massage on the scalp, during which your head feel very comfortable and relaxing. In this matter Indian barbers are masters.

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