Ancient futures

Before it was opened to the outside world in 1974, there was no threat to Leh’s traditional culture, evolved as it has over several centuries. People had little money but a lot of wealth and led happy, contented lives. Thoughincreased co-ntact with the Army after 1962 wr-ought some changes in lifestyle, it was the arrival of the Western to-urist in the seventies that threatened to change the pattern of life completely.

Images of a person who had endless time for leisure, ample money and hi-tech devices started playing on the minds of the average Ladakhi, and he pined for the Western way. The situation fortunately was retrieved considerably, with efforts by environmentalists like Helena Norberg-Hodge.

A linguist by training, Helena was the first westerner in modern times to master the Ladakhi language. For the past 24 years, she has spent half her time in Leh, working with the people to protect their culture and environment from the effects of rapid modernisation. Through her Ladakh Project, which she founded in 1978, and its parent organisation, the International Society for Ecology and Culture, Helena has been presenting a less idealised image of the West and providing support for ecologically sustainable development withinLadakh itself, based on its own resources and traditional values. To this end she started the Ladakh Ecological Development Group and wrote Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, which has been translated into 40 languages.

Unlike modern urban sprawls where the sense of community is lost and loneliness persists despite countless interaction, Leh retains its exotic, old-world charm. People here are part of a community that is spiritually, socially and economically interdependent. The emphasis is not on individualism but on human-scale structures which nurture intimate bonds with the soil, healthy families besides greater balance between the male and female. The close, reliable and lasting relationships foster a positive self-image and give the Ladakhis their unmatched joie de vivre.

A notable feature of Ladakhi society today is the virtual elimination of polyandry. A factor in reducing social friction at a time when resources were limited, poly-andry is now looked down upon by the youth. The practice hadbeen responsible for maintaining a relatively stable population in Ladakh over the centuries and in striking a balance with the environment.

But while polyandry may have died, traditions like monasticism of Tibetan Buddhism continue. Many among the youth in Leh feel a deep attraction towards monasteries. No wonder the place is called “more Tibetan than Tibet”.

With temperature touching minus 18 degrees centigrade during the night these days, Leh is not exactly a hospitable place for a visitor. Still many a researcher can be found here, delving into one or the other aspect of life in this ancient land. Tourists too continue to trickle in, aware that a chance to visit the moonland may not come again soon.