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.