My Bucket List

A student of mine in her morning talk, spoke of the influence movies have on her. She said when she saw “Erin Brokovich” she wanted to be a lawyer, “Mona Lisa Smile” she wanted to be a teacher… well, after I saw “Bucket List” I wanted to see the Himalayas… and this past week-end I did! It’s a good thing I didn’t want to have a tattoo!! So for the Diwali break, Kahlil and I went to Leh in the Kashmir State. So another WOA experience!! Where to start? “Let's start from the beginning… it’s a good place to start” Anyone wants to guess at the movie? ...“The Sound of Music”!
The preparations for the trip were a bit worrisome. First, we had an email form the Fulbright Staff in India not recommending any trip to the Jammu - Kashmir States because of unrest in the Pakistan/India border! So I pretended to either not know that Leh was in Kashmir ;-) (where is Miami again?... in Idaho or Oregon?!!!) or not having received that message so we could go on with our plans! Then, the travel agency who was supposed to arrange my trip was giving me the run around and pretending everything was done when they had not made the reservations at all!! So in my superstitious mind, I kept on thinking, maybe it is a sign that we should not go!! But the “Bucket List” wish was stronger, so finally when we got our tickets, I said we’ll go. Since I am back to tell the tale, we can say it’s a good thing!
So we left Indore on Thursday night late, spent the night at the airport in Delhi and 6AM on to Leh. Leh is straight north of Delhi, closer to the China border; it is 3500 m + above sea level. First we flew over the majestic white Himalayas “in a hair-raising flight that weaves between the peaks” (Lonely Planet)! What a sight!! Looking down you don’t really know if it is clouds you’re seeing or the white capped mountains. No really magnificent! Then suddenly no more snow! Just incredibly brown totally devoid of any life form mountains! And from time to time a little patch of green, yellow, red trees down in a valley alongside a river! And around there a little village. Truly impressive! The whole flight over was truly breathtaking.

Then you arrive in Leh and the military presence is overwhelming! In the Lonely Planet, the army’s job was described as mostly a road and bridges repairing Army and keeping the mountain passes clear of snow! Well from the massive number of Army personnel we saw, there must be lots of broken roads and bridges!! No really, I panicked when we landed and could have made a U-turn right then and there if it weren’t for the image of the cool and collected Mother to keep in front of Kahlil! And then we crossed the town to go to our Guest House! What a sight! The mud brick houses flanked all along the mountains, the prayer wheels, which are round structures filled with prayer flags that you rotate clockwise and all the prayers get sent up to God; the many Buddhist Stupas, which are mud bricks structures laid in geometric patterns along the roads in Ladakh. They used to be funeral mounds built in honor of an enlightened person or a great teacher. Some of them will hold the relics of the dead person, but now more and more they don’t. They are everywhere. Big ones, small ones, extremely ornate ones and very simple ones! A quote about what a stupa represents: “The visual impact of the stupa on the observer brings a direct experience of inherent wakefulness and dignity. Stupas continue to be built because of their ability to liberate one simply upon seeing their structure” - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. The Shanti Stupa was built to promote world peace.

We stayed at the Snow View Guest House. That was an experience of itself. The owners were incredibly kind and helpful. Their cook just amazing! We had the best vegetarian foods one could ever imagine. I thought of my cousin Stephane. What a joy that would have been for him to eat there! The hotel was already closed for the season, so we had their 100% attention! I tell you royal treatment all the way. All was not so well, though. Kahlil got sick because of the altitude. I talked about in my last blog what it costs to have him taken care of! Incredible!
We visited many of the monasteries of the region. Pictures of the trip and comments can be seen by clicking on the link. Pictures of Leh.
I mentioned in the beginning that we went during the Diwali break. Well, Diwali is a very special season for Hindus. It is a bit like our Christmas and New Year, when everyone wears new clothes, get together with families, and fire crackers are a major part of the holiday! Well, Buddhists don’t really celebrate Diwali. Leh being majority Buddhists, we missed the whole “crackers” (this is how they call fire crackers here!) part of the celebration. Must admit I didn’t miss it! It was peaceful and eerie. Now when you add to that the snow falls that we had the second day, the Fairy Tale had just begun! Kahlil was on cloud 9! First snow experience. How lucky does one get! Suddenly all the brown mountains were covered with snow. Magic! Everyone was amazed. First time it snows so early in the season! Ha! Ha! Lucky us.

As we travel around India, all of you back home are always very present in our minds and from time to time one of us will say, “this reminds me of Sole”, “Carol would love this”, “here is Nael, Mom”, “that’s pops alright!” "Mommy Yole would walk like this." Well, this trip for one reason or another, my brother-in-law, Jacques Cassagnol, was extremely present with us. From the moment we started flying over the mountains, it was as if his ghost was right there with us! Why? I have no idea. As we landed in Leh, I asked Kahlil, “who are you thinking of?” Immediately his response was “Jacques”. To tell you folks, we take you all along with us everywhere we go.