Q J Med 2004; 97: 1
© Association of Physicians 2004; all rights reserved.
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Early morning, McLeod Ganj, India
Photograph by David Hallett
McLeod Ganj, in the Himachal Pradesh, was once a hill station of the British Raj. It is said to be named after a former British governor of the Punjab, and the nearby church of St John in the Wilderness, in every way a typical English country church apart from its location, is the resting place of Lord Elgin, the 8th Viceroy.
Since 1960, the town has been better known as the residence of the exiled 14th Dalai Lama, and of thousands of Tibetan refugees. They have created a ‘little Lhasa’ in this hilltop location, with several monasteries and nunneries, various temples and the Tibetan Library of Works and Archives. Its cosmopolitan population includes Buddhist monks and Tibetan language students from many parts of the world, as well as aid workers, tourists and pilgrims.
At the time of this photograph in the early 1990s, the town was a haven of tranquillity, albeit with a refuse disposal problem. In recent years, however, the continuing influx of refugees and the ever-increasing numbers of visitors have placed a heavy strain on the town's resources. Belated attempts are being made to regulate the construction of new buildings, to reduce traffic in the town centre, and to construct a proper sewage system, but visible (and olfactory) improvements are likely to be slow in coming.
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