Everyone has a reason for making the journey to Dharamsala, which translates as “spiritual dwelling.” For the British colonials, the reasons were mundane. This pretty hill station in India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh provided a misty, cool climate that reminded them of home. Here they built an army garrison, cottages, churches, tea estates and cricket fields.

In 1959, His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama arrived for more pressing reasons: He had fled Chinese troops in his homeland of Tibet. He made the hillside suburb of McLeod Ganj the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, where it remains to this day, providing a rallying point for displaced Tibetans. So many Tibetan refugees have made their home in Mcleod Ganj, it has become known as Little Lhasa.

From the 1960s onward, this picturesque corner of Dharamsala has been a major destination for hippies, backpackers and a ragtag of spiritual tourists. They continue to come, often with the intent of meeting the Dalai Lama himself.

He is a busy man with many demands on his precious time. Perhaps the most enlightened thing that visiting tourists can do is to immerse themselves in the special atmosphere of Mcleod Ganj while leaving the Dalai Lama alone.