Balance With Nature

 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 of the westernized form of development on the once self - sufficient region of Ladakh. In the third part, the author moves on to describe a few ways of striking balance for a more sustainable tomorrow.

The book has touched me on various levels, may be more so because I could draw a lot of parallels from life in my village when I was a child and the life there now, and though it is difficult to be able to put, how I really feel in words, it is still worth an attempt. Quoting the author, “It may seem absurd that a primitive culture on the Tibetan Plateau could have anything to teach our industrial society. Yet we need a baseline from which to better understand our own complex culture.” 

The book opens with introducing its readers to the hostile geographical conditions in Ladakh and how it seems impossible for an almost self - reliant life to exist with such scarce resources. It, I feel, would be demeaning to call the Ladakhi way of life, simple. Being able to live a truly happy life in an area with winters for as long as 8 months a year, temperatures as low as – 40 degrees, thin soil, limited water and hardy animals, is nothing less than a highly specialized, intricately skillful, fundamentally sound and ecologically sustainable way of life. Life in Ladakh at that time, as the author calls it was based on ‘co evolution between human beings and the Earth’. It makes me question, why today even after so much ‘progress’ and ‘development’ we are unable to live in harmony with our environment. Is it because our idea of progress has always been based on easy short term profits, leaving behind not just pollution, but frustration, misery and anger? Has the western way of life made us accept that corruption, crime, depression and suffering will always be an integral part of every society? Is it not high time that we move back, to our roots, to a more sustainable way of life? A life, where there is balance between urban and rural, male and female, culture and nature and heal ourselves and our planet. An insight into the traditional Ladakhi life through this book brought back a lot of my childhood memories and gave me hope of being able to understand the root causes and underlying forces for this drastic change in our lifestyle.

In this article, I shall talk about things that I found fascinating about the traditional Ladakhi culture as mentioned in the book. In the first chapter, the author talks about the meticulous architecture and the carefully planned societal customs in the difficult terrain of Ladakh. She talks about how the fields are diligently carved out of the mountainside, the houses are built with locally available and produced materials, comfortable to live in, even during the winter months and how life is planned in co-ordination with the seasons. It seems that the Ladakhis are blessed with the ability to actively welcome and accept things as they are rather than complaining and clinging to an idea of how they should be. They live a highly self – disciplined and greed free life. An illustration of this would be the way they decide on the ownership of land. Most families own land in proportion to the number of family members. They measure the size of land in terms of days it takes to plough it, which would roughly be one acre per working member. They believe that there is no point possessing land you cannot work on. Their fundamental value system equated their wants with only how much is needed and not the other way round. And this probably is the reason they lived a satisfied life, which could be seen in their smiling faces everywhere.

While describing more about their farming cycle and techniques, the author describes Ladakhi’s love and reverence for their land and all forms of life around them. The important events of sowing and harvesting are occasions of festivities and are carried out following precisely outlined scientific procedures. However, what is surprising is all this is done with a lot of ease and in a joyous manner. People of each age group could be seen singing, chatting happily and helping each other in all walks of life. People work hard, with no rush, accompanied by laughter and play. The communities are very closely knit, leaving little or no room for disputes, jealousy, bitterness and self – pity. This does not mean that there was absolute absence of disagreements but the feeling that peace is better than conflict is so deeply ingrained that people had higher tolerance and would automatically turn to resolutions rather than arguments. When asked about why one would show no signs of anger or resentment if a neighbor behaved badly, the common answer would be, ‘What’s the point? Anyway we have to live together.’ Ladakhis valued their people and relationships more than materialistic possessions and believed strongly in coexistence.  Even while reading about it, I could feel a sense of warmth and comfort. The author writes and I agree, ‘Though no system of justice can be perfect, none is more effective than one based on small, close knit communities. When people settling disputes are intimately acquainted with parties involved, their judgement is not prejudiced; on the contrary, this very closeness helps them make fairer and sounder decisions.’ Being able to relate this to my childhood memories of watching my grandfather help people resolve their issues, I strongly believe that in close knit communities mutual aid, rather than competition, shapes the economy, thus providing a profound sense of belongingness and security, building a synergized society.

Our economists today talk about optimum utilization of resources as the path for sustainable development. For a traditional Ladakhi, it was their way of life. Nothing was wasted or thrown away; a use was found for everything. The author mentions frugality as being fundamental to people’s prosperity in Ladakh and defines it as, using limited resources in a careful way and not miserliness; thus the original meaning of frugality being fruitfulness: getting more out of little. The author describes how practically nothing was just discarded. They would even put weeds, animal dung and human excreta to use. To quote the author, “Ladakhis patch their homespun robes until they can be patched no more. When winter demands that they wear two or three on top of each other, they put the best one on the inside to keep it in good condition for special occasions. When no amount of stitching can sustain a worn out robe, it is packed with mud into a weak part of an irrigation channel to prevent leakage.” The reason this is truly remarkable is because despite the extreme climatic conditions and scarcity of resources, they were able to enjoy more than mere subsistence. They were able to be happy and live a stress free life. The pace of their lives was relaxed and easy with no well - defined distinction between work and play. They had pure air to breathe and locally grown, unrefined, organic whole foods to eat. They would get regular and prolonged exercise with virtually no environmental pollution, thus keeping problems like obesity and heart diseases at bay. They could attain what we now call, work life balance.

The author then moves on to talk about the relationship dynamics within a typical traditional Ladakhi family between husband and wife, children and mother, children and grandparents, etc. The societal setup, as I may call it was very progressive with an underlying feeling of harmony and oneness. People lived in joint families, caring for each other and providing each other a sense of social security. The roles of men and women are generally not clearly defined as in the west, and women enjoy a much important role in what the author calls ‘informal sector’. They are never forced to choose between being with their children and playing an active part in socio economic life and unlike in the West, they are given full recognition of everything they do. They apparently do not need to fight for their rights. Infact, balance between male and female plays a central role in their religious teachings. They believe that one cannot attain enlightenment unless wisdom is accompanied by compassion, the female being symbolic of wisdom and male of compassion. Although, small babies are usually taken care of the mother, the responsibility is shared by everyone in the family as the child grows up. Even young teenage boys do not shy away from taking care of their younger siblings or cousins. The Ladakhis believe that taking care of other children have profound effect on a young boy’s development. It brings out the ability for caring and nurturing, qualities that do not threaten but are actually considered desirable in a masculine identity.

Grandparents are an important part of children’s lives. Old people participate in all spheres of life and are valued for their experience and wisdom. A special bond between the oldest and the youngest in a family, is a very common sight. This in turn helps the elderly remain physically and mentally fit and healthy. One incident sighted in the book really touched my heart. A woman once slapped her three year old son as he tried to grab a hot teapot. At the same moment, almost instantly, she gave him a big hug. When asked, if her act would not leave the child confused, the woman answered, “I wanted to demonstrate my displeasure with the act, not with my child”.  Elders, even neighbors and relatives are immensely patient with and loving towards children.  

Being temperamental or irritable is considered one of the worst insults in the traditional Ladakhi setup. People are unbelievably balanced and calm. The author demonstrates these qualities with an incident. She once travelled with a sixty year old Ladakhi to Srinagar. People in Srinagar constantly teased and made fun of his clothes, boots and hat. Though, being perfectly aware of what was happening, he remained completely unaffected by it. When asked why he did not get angry, he simply replied, ‘What’s the point?’ To quote the author, ‘His equanimity was not unusual. Their sense of joy seems so firmly anchored within them that circumstances cannot shake it loose. I have never met people who seem so healthy emotionally, so secure, as the Ladakhis’.  

To conclude, I am aware that the present day Ladakh as well as our villages are a changed place, and the effect of industrialization on our ecological harmony cannot be reversed. It might still be a good idea for us to pick up a few traditional lifestyle habits and live a life more significant, emotionally balanced and fulfilling. In my next article, I shall talk about the remaining two parts of the book, depicting the impact of West which fuelled this transition into the present day Ladakh, and methods to help keep a check on factors leading to disturbance in the environmental harmony.