The sacred text finally arrive in Kolkata (or Calcutta as it used to be called). Two to three members of the distribution team travel to Kolkata, where they will assist shipping agents in clearing the texts through Indian customs. The ship carrying the containers of texts (last year’s shipment was twenty-five containers) is spotchecked by customs officials. A convoy of twenty-five 40 foot containers traveling across the rural, dusty, and pot-hole riddled roads of Bihar is an amazing sight to witness. You can feel a current of knowledge flowing toward the Tibetan people in exile. Although the journey from Kolkata by car takes only eight hours, by truck it can take forty-eight hours or more. Frequent delays due to traffic and the size of the trucks require the drivers to slow to a crawl. Sometimes it would seem faster to do the whole journey by elephant!
