All Good things must eventually end....

July 15^th

Unfortunately, today was our last full day in Leh. I was starting to actually enjoy this place, even though it was quite disconnected from the rest of the world (World War Three could have started and I wouldn’t have known). Something about the Ladakhi people’s attitude made me want to stay a bit longer. They are extremely hard-working and humble people, always ready to help a stranger. They greet everyone with smiles and cry out, “Ju Le,” which is hello in Ladakhi. And not everything was completely different. The food was the same, the music was the same, and perhaps less superficially, the values (regarding family, education, etc) were almost exactly (if not exactly) the same as mine.

Our first stop was the military museum of Leh. Although it described Ladakhi culture, it mostly focused on the military presence in Ladakh, and the offensives that they have launched in this region. Many of these offensives took place in the late 1990s, and were fought against the Pakistanis. Thankfully, India won these battles (hence retaining control of Jammu and Kashmir), but it was due to the sacrifices of the young soldiers that they won. As William Shakespeare once said, “Cowards die many times before their death; the valiant taste Death, but once.” The soldiers who fought were the epitome of courage. They fought in some of the highest, coldest places that wars have ever been fought (Siachen Glacier being one of these places), and showed extraordinary bravery in every assault they launched. Many of the soldiers received the Param Vir Chakra, the highest military award given. Many of them also received it posthumously. One of the letters on display was written by a soldier who knew he was going to die the next day, and he did. Being in this museum and seeing the courage displayed by various battalions really made me want to join the Army. I know that it is not as glamorous as seen in the movies, and that it is an extremely tough life, but something about serving your country is appealing.

Speaking of the army, one of my mother’s cousins was a Para-Commando. Each regiment in the Indian army has a different name, mostly based on the name of the state that regiment is from. However, there are some regiments, like regiment 9, which are for the Parachute Special Forces, or the Para-Commandos. The two most formidable regiments are the Gurkha regiment and the Punjab regiment. The Gurkhas are from Nepal, and they are supposed to be the toughest soldiers in the entire army. The Punjab regiment is supposed to be the fiercest, and they have a minimum height requirement of 6 feet. That being said, if I could join the Indian military, I would try to join regiment 9 (the Parachute special forces) or the Air Force (their motto is “we do the difficult, the impossible may take a bit longer”). My mother’s cousin was a Para-Commando, and he actually parachuted into the Golden Temple, the holiest place for the Sikhs (imagine parachuting into Jerusalem).

The rock with the impression of Guru Nanak

Our second stop was coincidentally a Gurudwara, which is the holy place for the followers of Sikhism, called Sikhs. The men wear turbans (unless they are Cut-Sardars, meaning that they cut their hair) and many of the women also have extremely long hair. Sikhism had 10 Gurus, who dictated the doctrines of the religion. The first was Guru Nanak, and the last one was Guru Gobind Singh, and all the Gurus lived during the time of the Moghul Empire, who’s most famous emperor, is Shah Jahan, as he built the Taj Mahal for his wife. It was because of Guru Nanak that this Gurudwara was built. He was sitting on a hill, meditating, when a demon appeared. The demon rolled a giant stone down the mountain in hopes of killing Guru Nanak. When the rock hit Guru Nanak, it turned to wax, and Guru Nanak’s body actually left an impression in the rock. When the demon saw that Guru Nanak wasn’t dead, he actually punched the rock in frustration, but his hand also left an impression in the rock. He realized that Guru Nanak was a truly holy person, a messenger of God, he prayed for forgiveness, and it was at that spot that a Gurudwara was built. In the Gurudwara, everyone had to cover their hair with a handkerchief, as a sign of respect. We saw the rock that truly founded this Gurudwara, and at the end, we had to climb up a set of stairs to a room where the “mantras” of Sikhism are read aloud. While climbing up the stairs, my mom explained more about values of Sikhism. Sikhs believe in the idea that all work is honorable, which is why you will never see a Sikh begging. They will do any work, be it sweeping the floor, cleaning the toilet, or driving a truck-they truly believe in dignity of labor. And if by chance they are unable to find work, they can stay in a Gurudwara until they find a job. While leaving the Gurudwara, we saw many military personnel sitting in the Gurudwara. It was then that Karma told us that this entire Gurudwara has been funded for by the military (the repair, renovations, etc).

After the Gurudwara we went to a place called the Magnetic Hill. A car in neutral is supposed to crawl up the hill. According to Karma, the magnetic field in this place is supposed to be greater than the force of gravity, which is why the car crawls up the hill. However, it didn’t happen for us, and honestly the entire place was a letdown. After the Hill we went to a place where the Zansakar River (with brown, muddy-colored water) merged with the Indus River (with clear colored water). The point of confluence could clearly be seen (we were sitting at the top of a hill); after this point, the river would be known as the Indus River.

After that we went to the Ai Chi monastery. It was an hour drive from the previous point, and we reached at 12:45 pm, 15 minutes before the monastery closed. And so in 15 minutes, we saw four temples. This is the way all monasteries should be seen (after visiting four monasteries, I didn’t feel the need to see another monastery-I would have much preferred to trek to the top of a mountain-but this was a monastery of archaeological importance, as it was the oldest monastery in the region, so we decided to visit). After that came lunch (vegetarian chowmein), during which Karma told us a bit about colleges in Ladakh. His chosen major, Tibetan medicine was a small major, with only 30 people in that department. Before college, he was studying in Dharmshala, a school in which most Tibetans go to study (in fact, all his siblings were studying there at the moment).

After that we went back to the hotel (to pack) and then visited to the bazaar, to do more shopping. We brought dried apricots and almonds for my grandmother and grandfather, and then went to buy a mandala painting (one of the two types of Tibetan paintings-the other being a thangka). A mandala is always in a circular shape, and in the middle is a picture of a God, be it Buddha or someone else. The first shop we went to was an actual shop (a room with air-conditioning), and we saw mandala paintings. However they were quite expensive and the women there didn’t seem to want to negotiate (they wanted 3600 rupees for an 8 inch by 8 inch painting). We then went to the Tibetan refugee market and looked for paintings there. We eventually bought two paintings (one mandala, one thangka) from the Tibetan man, paying 3100 Rupees for both. I think that part of the reason we bought the painting from the Tibetan man was because he was extremely humble in his work. While we were looking at the paintings, he was sitting, working on another painting. He was content with what he had gotten in life, and was content just painting for the rest of his life. Aaah simplicity.