Photo: Sarah Al-Bashtali
“Here at Moonpeak Espresso, we offered the first real espresso in McLeod Ganj”, Ashwini Bhatia tells with a little smile, “Now you can find it everywhere.”
Sixteen years ago, Mr. Bhatia, trekking in the region, arrived in McLeod Ganj and immediately felt it might be his place to settle down. He came from Delhi where he had been working as an automotive engineer for seven months, before deciding to completely change his profession and worked as publishing manager for HarperCollins Publishers for two years. “McLeod was such a charming small town, so laid back and relaxed”, he explains his instant fondness for this place. Especially the fact that one meets so many interesting and creative people: “Without the people here, it would be just another small town, right?”
After his decision was made, he applied for a job at the Tibetan Children’s Village school (TCV) where he taught mathematics and physics until 2001. “Sometimes I miss teaching, I really love to interact with children”, the studied engineer remarks. He still keeps in touch with many of his former students. Some of them work abroad now; two became doctors at Delek Hospital.
After his marriage in 1999, Mr. Bhatia opened Moonpeak Pictures, a photo lab with his Australian friend Angus McDonald. Soon afterwards, he had to quit his job at the TCV because the photo lab became a full time job. In 2005 they opened Moonpeak Espresso, next to the lab, where you can enjoy not only great cappuccino but also changing art exhibitions. “We just wanted to use the walls for something nice”, Mr. Bhatia tells. “We show everything that you can hang on the wall as long as it is interesting: photos, paintings and drawings.” Last year, he and his partner decided to close the photo lab and set up a restaurant next to the café where they serve interesting Indian food such as Himachali Thali or Apricot Mutton.
In fact, while Mr. Bhatia is cultivating local Indian tradition in his restaurant, his children are attending TCV and speak very little Hindi. “At home we speak English and in school they talk Tibetan”, Mr. Bhatia explains. “I want my children to be as open-minded as possible. In this town, they can meet interesting people from all over the world: artists from Montana or Lucerne, writers from California, filmmakers from Mumbai. I want them to be aware that the world is larger than Dharamshala.”
Besides running his café and restaurant, Mr. Bhatia still works as a photojournalist. He documents the Tibetan political situation in words and pictures for the Associated Press. He will photograph His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching in Dalhousie next week. Additionally, he often writes for the blog moonpeak.org where you can see some of his pictures, find out about the latest news in Dharamshala and enjoy travel reports from all around the world.
Although Mr. Bhatia seems to have a tight schedule, he described his life in McLeod Ganj as relaxed. He is especially drawn towards the area around the TCV: “I really enjoy walking around there, it is so quiet!” But with more and more tourists visiting McLeod Ganj, Mr. Bhatia hopes that this small town will not lose its charm. “Particularly since Dharamshala was in the media in 2008, this place is busier than ever. The infrastructure really has to follow up, for example the traffic at the main square can be terrible.”
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