What is Ladakh? Is it a range of barren mountains? Is it an exotic destination? Is it a place to seek refuge from city life? Is it an adventurous motorbike ride?
For me, Ladakh is a feeling — an emotion. One that I am unable to put into words (for all my capabilities as a writer). When I stepped into Ladakh, I was just another tourist who wanted to see what all the hype was about. When I left it on my last day, I had tears in my eyes — as if I was separating from my lover.
And all this was not because of the popular destinations the state is known for. It was a mix of what it means to genuinely feel for this land — its magnificence, serenity, solitude, massiveness, welcoming-ness, warmth (amidst the cold), and love. You wonder how someone can feel all this from ‘barren dry mountains’ as someone put it. Indeed, it’s the mountains that allure you, but it’s also the same mountains that endure while you keep passing by, one after another.
What is it about Ladakh that made me relinquish a part of my heart, you ask? The answer isn’t simple. It’s not just the valleys or the lakes or the rivers or the mountains. It’s the journey.
More than the time you spend at a place is the time you spend getting there — hours of painstakingly driving through extreme altitudes, rough roads, tiny passages, sharp turns, and scorching sun rays that are sure to leave you sunburnt or tanned.
But alongside, you’re rewarded with a fresh cold breeze, rivers flowing by you guiding you along, solitude amidst the gigantic mountainous ranges, and locals smiling, waving with a Julley (Ladakhi for Hello or Welcome). If you’re someone who’s only experienced city life, the mannerisms and openness of the Ladakhi people (especially beyond Leh city) are sure to stun you.
This is Ladakh. The experience of driving by massive mountains and rivers flowing for miles, realizing you’re just a tiny speck of matter in time, space, and galaxy. The experience of meeting strangers who welcome you as if you’re one of their own. The experience of waking up every day to a new journey, a new road, a new destination. The experience of finding something new each day and the thrill of not knowing what you’ll find along the way. This is Ladakh.
My heart yearns to go back to this unknown land that’s become so familiar to me. To revisit the place with a new, different feeling like I re-read my books over time. The longer you stay here, the more you get attached to inanimate mountains and rivers that can control your mind, heart, and soul and become the muse of your imagination. The more you detach, the more you wish your stay was longer.
One of the things I had assumed before visiting Ladakh is that all mountains are the same. How different can they be if they don’t have any greenery? Oh, how wrong I was. The landscape keeps changing every few miles. The mountains keep getting better and better, or maybe it’s my attachment that makes it better. No two roads will have the same mountain range. They grow on you, day after day, night after night, road after road, and season after season.
Depending on the time of the year you visit, you will witness a very different Ladakh. My visit was closer to the start of the winter season — the end of September. Not only did I see snow in parts, but the most spectacular aspect for me was the beautiful designs left on the mountains by glaciers melting at the beginning of the summer and gushing down to meet its sibling below. Watching those patterns made me imagine how the mountains would have looked with water flowing through those lines and into the rivers right underneath them. Oh, what a beauty to behold as well as to imagine.
Visit Ladakh if you want to hug open space, if you want the mountains to give you company, if you want to meet strangers who make you feel at home, if you want to change your perspective, if you’ve gone through a rough patch in life, if you’re looking for love. In short, the reason doesn’t matter. Just go if you can.
Ladakh is an experience that shouldn’t stay stranded in your mind as stories told by others or as social media videos that keep cropping up in your algorithmic feed or as a bucket list to be ticked off. It should be a lived experience that you snugly store in your mind, keep raving about to whoever’s willing to listen, and question yourself and your life’s priorities.
And that is Ladakh.
Disclaimer: All images are clicked and copyrighted by the owner/publisher Vishaka Chakrapani.
