GhumakkadChoree: September 2013

I had pictured myself in Ladakh multiple number of times before I actually visited the place. Scenes of me hauling the raft towards the Zanskar as my friends gear up to face the new foundland with scenes of me readying to trek up across a snow clad landscape - I was the heroine of my story, fit and raring to go! Only in reality, the scene was quite different than the myriad thoughts the over fertile mind had strewn together. I was struggling to decide on between the ten day visit to Ladakh via Kargil whether I should really continue the journey, would I be able to have fun while nursing an injured leg and whether I was imagining the symptoms of AMS (acute mountain sickness) owing to the extensive research on the single most topic I had read about, before the trip actually commenced. I am glad I stayed! If not the best, the journey across Srinagar-Kargil-Ladakh-Lahaul-Delhi with the motley bunch of 4 has been one of the most fulfilling ones in my life.

Having visited Spiti earlier, the landscape of Ladakh did disappoint some of us a bit, however the varied experiences we had right from getting stuck in a landslide while passing Zoji La , to the special bond that is now made with our driver/guide/now friend Lopzang Tsering, to plucking the most delicious apricots from trees at Alchi , to the wildlife that we chanced upon - made everything worth the while. Be it sighting two wolves near the Pangong Tso, or tailing the Himalayan Red Fox across Chang La or chancing upon a land full of marmots, we got really lucky!Getting stuck at Keylong, Lahaul, while on the way back to Manali because of a rather different reason also needs a special mention here.

The ever helpful nature of the Ladakhi locals has had a lasting impression on all those who visited the mighty places with us. It has also reaffirmed my belief that people from the hills are much more in sync with nature as compared to us people from plains.

Time and again, traveling has made me realize, see my place as a mortal human in a more natural order. It is much more grand and functional than I could ever imagine. Stand in front of the daunting mountain, lie down facing the enormous sky, see the never ending ocean - it's the most humbling experience ever.

These words by Wendell Berry have never made more sense to me than today - "Always in big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into. You are undertaking the first experience of our essential loneliness, for nobody can discover the world for anybody else. It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves that it becomes a common ground and a common bond, and we cease to be alone."

You can view some videos of the different landscapes we came across the sojourn here - a collection of vine videos that i attempted. A ten day trip to Ladakh certainly doesn't do justice, neither to the place, nor to you. I plan to go back sometime, next year with more fitness packed and more time to explore the mountains, I hear the Zanskar calling me already.

Until next time - Julley :-)