By Lhundup Gyalpo
A bunch of yellow and listless leaves rustled in a small eddy by the closed door. The wind blew in a melancholic whirl, whistling in a doleful hum. Nine thirty-two in the morning, the house was still dimly lit, bereft of light; a thick overcast kept the sun away in its sombre folds.
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Written by Tenzin Chonyi
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In the early summer of 2018, right after I had finished my Class 12 CBSE Board exams, I went with my family to the village of Malana. When I recall this time, I instinctively tell people “We went on a spiritual tour, like a pilgrimage.” Hardly, anyone believes that a group consisting of me, my sister, my mother, uncle and aunt, my cousin, her husband and her two kids travelled and trekked to Malana to pay our respects to the local god Jamlu.
Read more-Written and photographed by Rinchen Angmo
Pangong Tso is so much more than a water body, it is a living remnant of natural history.
Anyone who’s been to Pangong Tso will testify to it’s limitless beauty. Glittering amidst snow capped mountains, the water body is one of its kinds. Different hues of blue adorn it’s large expanse.
Pangong Tso is not only a beautiful water body but also a living remnant of natural history. According to geography, the Tethys sea was an ancient water body that existed in this part of the world. As the two continents collided to give rise to the Himalayas, the sea was subsumed, except some bits of it which remained as lakes. Other theories trace the origin of high altitude lakes to later tectonic activities. Either way, lakes like Pangong Tso in the Trans-Himalayas are living remnants of natural history.
-Written by Rinchen Angmo
Spid is the closest possible translation of spring in Ladakhi, yet the aura that the word carries is markedly different. The word spring has this feeling of freshness. Yet when I think of the word for spring in Ladakhi, that is spid, it reminds me of the windy days in April and of course apricot blossoms. According to my Abile (granny) spid aligns with the first three months of our traditional calendar. Typically, spid is characterised by strong winds known as spid lungs or spring winds. Hence, the Ladakhi image of spring is quite different from the one that is conjured by the English word.
Read more-Written by Rinchen Angmo
It’s been two years since my visit to Tashiding in Sikkim. Everytime I look back to that day, I feel grateful. And every now and then it’s important to reflect on all that one is grateful for.
Tashiding hill was visited and blessed by Guru Rinpoche in the 8th century A.D. The monastery itself was built on the site around the 17th century A.D. according to a few sources. Perched on a hilltop, Tashiding monastery is a blessed treasure. The road goes upto a certain extent, after which one has to walk on a beautiful stepped path leading to the monastery. On the day I visited, the sky was clear and beautiful. We made our prayers at the various lakhangs. Then, one of the monks conducted prayers for us and then we made kora (circumambulations) around the monastery premises. We also paid our respects to the rock where Yeshe Tsogyal, one of Guru Rinpoche’s primary students, had meditated.
Read moreWritten by Rinchen Angmo
Nas, the food associated root of my existence. The Ladakhi word for barley is nas. For centuries, the people of Ladakh, Tibet, Spiti, Lahaul and various places across the Trans-Himalayas have cultivated barley. In most parts of the aforementioned places, a barley based dish called kholak/tsampa has from time immemorial been a staple diet.
Though I don’t eat kholak as often as I would like to, the dish inevitably becomes a symbol of the root of my food associated existence. I say food associated specifically, because there are various other ways of quantifying roots of existence in different tangible and philosophical spheres.
Written by Nawang Chhoetso
A folktale from Spiti.
As I recall, it’s a story of five birds. But a friend of mine insisted that there were more than five birds, however even she wasn’t clear about the details. So this story will be about the tale of 5 birds.
Like all other folktales from Spiti, this too starts with the sentence ” yoyo metuk”- I don’t know what this means but every folktale starts with this sentence followed by “yul jaga chenmo na” -( in a big village). And then the story follows.
Read more-Written and photographed by Rinchen Angmo
Seasons, they come and go, just like the thoughts in my mind. Even feelings come and go, but they stay a while longer than thoughts do. Yellow leaves, do they make me think of different songs?
Somehow even when I’m not in my homeland, my mind invariably registers different months vis-à-vis the seasons of my homeland. May, there will be apricot blossoms in Ladakh; June, the weather in Ladakh will be pleasant; October, the leaves will turn yellow; December, it will be very cold in Ladakh. That’s why no matter where I am, my mind always understands different months through the lens of the different seasons of Ladakh.
Written and photographed by Rinchen Angmo
The pictures in this photo essay could possibly depict the myriad microcosms inhabited by different beings within the world of Leh Main Market area. Since I hadn’t taken these with the intention of later turning them into a photo essay, would it perhaps be okay to say that there is a somewhat natural element to the pictures’ composition? A somewhat natural element that wouldn’t have been captured if not for the mobility facilitated by new media.
Anyone who has been to Leh Main Market will know that the little kids who live in the area make the market their playground: playing football, cycling, skateboarding and roller skating. Skateboarding has really taken off in Leh. In a span of a few years, I have noticed an increasing number of skateboarders. This year, I also spotted many roller-skaters; could this be a convenient way to keep ice-skating skills intact? In Ladakh, during the winters, all water bodies get completely frozen: forming natural ice skating arenas. Hence, many take to the winter sport; however, since ice-skates are expensive, not many can afford the sport.
Read moreWritten by Rinchen Angmo.
‘Tibetan Caravans’ is a book by Abdul Wahid Radhu le from Ladakh. Reading Wahid le’s book made me realize the importance of recording one’s life accounts for future generations. Since ‘History’ is often manipulated by various powers, individual stories become increasingly important. After all, it is through these individual stories that one gets a glimpse into a world that would otherwise have been forgotten, fabricated or made foreign.
Wahid le’s book assumes great significance in terms of documenting the waning days of trans-Himalayan trade as well as eye-witness accounts of the systemic attempt of the destruction of Tibetan culture and Tibetan Buddhism by the Communist Party of China in its early days of occupation. Moreover, it provides a glimpse of life in the trans-Himalayas before ‘modernization’ reached its doors.
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