I decided to devote the third podcast of Tales of Urban Living to the sounds of McLeod Ganj. If you have ever visited McLeod Ganj, no doubt a few of these sounds and songs will be quite familiar to you as they are constantly played on the streets and in many shops. I hope you enjoy it, as I thoroughly enjoyed creating it and thinking about my time spent there with my new friends.

As you'll find in the three conversations that weave throughout this soundscape, conversations about God and spirituality are something that people speak of quite often in India. These conversations are not reserved for an hour or two on Sunday, such as in the west; they are a part of every day life. Whether you are Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist, a part of your daily life is designated to prayer. Perhaps it is the mystical quality of the land or perhaps it is just engrained in a culture that has produced saints, mystics, and holy men for milleniums.  

Mountains above McLeod Ganj.The first other-worldly sound you will hear after the opening song is the chanting of monks outside His Holiness, The Dalai Lama's Temple, in protest of the Chinese Government. Other things you will hear in this podcast include:

• Palla's thoughts on the day Osama Bin Laden was killed, as well as on President Obama
• Juliana, a Brazilian model and actress turned lawyer
• The Dharamkot waterfall
• Palla and Gasha discussing hospitality, girls, Kashmir, and Islam
• A candlelight vigil of monks and Tibetans praying for their fellow people 
• My 20-year-old friend who is teaching himself guitar
• Tibetan children's from the Tibetan Children's Village performing traditional songs
• Street sounds and street music
• Car horns and traffic, which there are a lot of in McLeod Ganj

Music: Lit Up by The National

"You don't teach curiosity, but you create the context in which it's important to show up. Because staying curious is the best way to learn, it's the best way for self-development, and curiosity is connected with compassion. When you judge people there's no compassion in it, but when you're curious about people there's a possibility of understanding who they are." – Ward Malliard

Today I got a chance to talk to Ward Malliard. Malliard is part teacher, part scholar, part general, part coach, and part subversive, all in the name of educating not just tomorrow’s students, but tomorrow’s citizens. Photo credit: Shmuel Thaler/Santa Cruz Sentinel

He is a teacher not just by profession, but perhaps by archetype; a learned man steeped in the theories and art of pedagogy. It’s my personal belief that a man of his mind and intellect should be in the upper echelons of the educational system, but instead he has chosen to affect change at the most leveraged part of the system, directly with the students.

Speaking of—his former students have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, educators, leading global scientists, and powerful change agents in various social arenas. In addition to his former students, one of hiscurrent students has become a Gates scholar, an academic grant that pays for college, graduate school, and a post-graduate degree.

Photo credit: Shmuel Thaler/Santa Cruz SentinelA few days ago I was privileged enough to tag along with Malliard and his senior high school class from Mount Madonna School in Santa Cruz, California, a class of just 15 students. Over the course of his career in teaching, Malliard’s students have interviewed leading global thinkers and world leaders across several continents, and during this trip alone, his class has interviewed Timothy Roemer, U.S. Ambassador to India, Mani Shankar Aiyar, a member of the upper house of parliament, Samdong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile, Rinchen Kandho, head of the Tibetan Nuns Project, and His Holiness, The 14^th Dalai Lama. His students were poised, intelligent, and mature, while at the same time they managed to retain the youth and innocence of adolescence. 

As the son of United States Congressman, he “went over the wall,” as he says, but never strayed too far from his upbringing. He is driven by political awareness and social service, yet at the root of it all is his desire to do good in the world and “to be on a journey that I don't know how it’s going to turn out.” Photo credit: Shmuel Thaler/ Santa Cruz Sentinel

Additional links:
Mount Madonna Center
Mount Madonna School
Values in World Thought Web site
Blogs from the students during their travels
Project Happiness
More Photos by Shmuel Thal

Music by:
Luna (I Love You Tracy)
Clem Snide (Chinese Baby)
Nick Drake (From the Morning)

About two years ago, before I was about to set out on Jack Will Travel 2.0, I posted a Facebook comment that said, "This is how I'm feeling right now," and the song was North American Scum by LCD Soundsystem. My cousin who I was just getting to know as an adult sent me a message about how I shouldn't think of myself that way, and that I should think of myself as an ambassador of the United States. 

It was an interesting lesson of feeling versus literalism. I feel music far more than I listen to the lyrics.  

Anyway, I have had this album on my iPod for a long time, and it came on random tonight. I have no idea what the lyrics are, but I'm going to share it, because I dig the vibe. 

I can not believe these skinny Seattle hipsters are already playing on Conan O'Brien. I guess that's what happens when you sign with SupPop Records. Crazy fast trajectory they are on. Only a few months back I was seeing them at small clubs in Seattle.

See them if you have the chance. Great live energy.