Plenty of Nothing

Tibetan Musical Notation

This manuscript leaf comes from the Tibetan Collection of the US Library of Congress, and contains a passage of music notated in an evocative script that certainty looks like music even if you can't construe the sounds. Tibetan books usually take the form of a stack of long narrow unbound leaves between two wooden boards tied together with a scarf. A musician playing from this would likely need an assistant to turn the pages, but that's not much different from a Western score. Other Tibetan libraries are the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India; the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center; and the Tibetan Collection at the University of Virginia.

Mcleodganj

Since 1959 the residence of the exiled Dalai Lama has been at a place named Mcleodganj in Himalayan India.  The town started out as a hill station in the days of the British Raj and takes its name from David McLeod, Lieutenant Governor of Punjab. I'd like to hear how the locals pronounce it.  Douglas

[Correction: Donald Friell McLeod.] [Raja of Beg Borrow Steal pronounces it McClodganj at 0:45 in this video segment.]

Tibetan One Hundred Srang Note

This 100-srang note dating from the 1940s or '50s is a lovely example of Tibetan colour sense and graphic design.  It includes a clever security feature, too.  The obverse and reserve sides were printed on separate sheets and then mated around a slip of paper containing a motto that can be read by holding the note up to the light.  For more on Tibetan money see here and here.