MANTRAS AND MISDEMEANORS

Vanessa Walker went to the home of the Dalai Lama to explore her religion through the eyes of its people. She wasn't there looking for love, let alone a husband, and she certainly didn't plan on falling pregnant to a disrobed Tibetan monk. But sometimes karma works in mysterious ways ¿ Nestled in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, McLeod Ganj is a place of quiet beauty and surprising violence, where reality has the wide-open sense of a dream. It is a place where a government consults an ancient oracle for matters of importance, where monasteries flourish and people believe wholeheartedly in the truth of miracles. Full of contradictions, McLeod Ganj is also a place where monks wear the latest Nike trainers, where the Dalai Lama's brother struggles with his own inner demons, and where a divided town must choose between protesting the death sentence of a much-loved monk or joining a pelvis-thrusting gangsta-rapping Tibetan and his bevy of beauties at the Miss Tibet beauty pageant. Tumultuous and funny, insightful and poignant, Mantras and Misdemeanors is a compelling and lyrical journey to the heart of Tibetan Buddhism.