Hills, not Hills, Mountains…
With hardly any vegetation on them.
Weather so harsh and extreme that there is comfort found only in the narrow valleys, close to water which turns to ice in the winter.
That is where we find most of the living beings in Ladakh.
In the valleys.
It is here where we find the homestays, the airport, the markets, towns, villages, armed forces, cafes and communities.
At a safe distance from all these we usually find the Monasteries and the Shrines.
A distance far enough to make the walk seem like an effort.
Roads have brought it down considerably, however the journey still demands of you some heavy breaths.
The quality of silence in this region has its unique vibe. It is loudest inside the many prayer chambers of these Monasteries.
There is prayer, there are monks, there are people and there is this loud presence of silence.
”The same silence can sometimes be felt in the presence of the people of this land.
The people of a land that has been demanding a lot from them in return for their survival.
They could not have created an atmosphere for human life to exist here if they did not love the land unconditionally.
We can feel that ‘unconditionality’ in the presence of these people.
Some may have suppressed it but no one seems to have lost it.
As a city dweller I am reminded of the unconditional love for the land which once the people from my region might have had. The love that they lost for the lust of comfort. A narrow sense of comfort. A kind of comfort that cared about the well being desired by a very narrow sense of self. While we, the city people, live in this sense of comfort, our eyes are filled with worry.
Our hearts and minds have a lot of noise in them.
Ladakh is like time travel. It is like a glimpse of what we could have been as people and how it might have felt.
However I see the signs of the trade between unconditional love for the land and the narrow comfort of the self happening here too.
Whatever is the destiny of this land and its people, I pray for the silence of this region to be undisturbed and the people’s love for this land be unconditional.
Om mani padme hum…
Skanda Subramanya
Author, Photographer
Skanda is the content curator and the founding member of Centre For Conversations.
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What a beautiful writing!
In search of that beautiful silence within…
KJP
Thank You K J Pavan