my thoughts

  In the last two articles, I discussed about evolution of Ladakh from a happy traditional society to a typical struggling rural area in a third world nation, as described in the book ‘Ancient Futures’ by Helena Norberg Hodge. In this article, I shall talk about third i.e last part of the book where the author writes of ways of striking balance. In this segment, which she calls ‘Learning from Ladakh’, Ms Hodge talks in intricate detail about what she feels went wrong, a few ideas on how we can try to make things right and various projects and activities she carried out. All the approaches she suggests have resulted from her personal experiences during the extensive work she undertook and the time she spent in close relation with Ladakh. Comparing the before and after scenarios in terms of a few major attributes, she says, “Many individual aspects of traditional culture were without a doubt far from ideal: there was lack of what we would consider basic comforts, like heating in th...

Mirage, in science is considered as an optical illusion; the appearance of water in desert at a distance even though it actually does not exist. A poetic definition of mirage would be, ‘an unrealistic hope or wish that cannot be achieved.’ The second part of Ancient Futures – Learning from Ladakh, by Helena Norberg Hodge compelled me to compare our life today to mirage; the illusion of existence of bliss in a society, which is detached from its core. As mentioned in my previous article, the second part of this book, describes the transition of a previously self – sustained and joyous Ladakh, to its current heart aching plight. Contemplation about the way of our life today has become all the more relevant in these difficult COVID times. It makes me wonder if we have been calling all this upon ourselves for a very long time now? Is it nature’s way of rubbing all our wrong doings in our faces? Are we not reaping what we sowed? Answers to these questions are not straight forward and migh...

  Change, we say, is inevitable and I agree. But do we ever take the time to stop and think about where we started from, where we are today and the place we are headed to? We often are too busy for that, and seldom when we have time, the most we do is complain about present and how the world was a better place when people our age were growing up. The book I last finished reading, ‘Ancient Futures – Learning from Ladakh’ by Helena Norberg Hodge, has compelled me to re-evaluate our current way of living and the general socio economic set up  as a whole. In the first part of the book, the author talks about life of people in Ladakh during the 1970’s, when the region was still uninfluenced by the western world. The author talks about almost all facets of life, including their societal setup, the ecological conditions, challenges and balances, the economic equilibrium and their rich and fulfilling culture. In the second part of the book, the author talks about the alarming effect o...