echoes i heard in ladakh

the morning after i was left in ladakh to my own defences
i finally decided to buy a copy of the little prince
it's in every book store in leh, the official book of the leh trip, i joked,
but when i read it for the first time as an adult (last read at age 9 when i thought it was just another amusing fairy tale), i understood why it is the perfect book for ladakh
especially when i came across...

"...the little prince climbed a high mountain. the only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes, which came up to his knees. and he used the extinct volcano as a foot-stool. 'from a mountain as high as this one,' he said to himself, 'i shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance, and all the people...'

but he saw nothing save peaks of rocks that were sharpened like needles.

'good morning,' he said courteously.

'good morning--good morning-- good morning,' answered the echo.

'who are you?' said the little prince.

'who are you--who are you--who are you,' answered the echo.

'be my friends, i am all alone,' he said.

'i am all alone--all alone--all alone,' answered the echo."

the tibetan culture believes in shunya as the sum of all totals. if the little prince had known this, he'd know that the question 'who are you?' should never be asked in the mountains. and 'i am all alone' will only echo back at you from a hundred surfaces, each a different color and shape. welcome to ladakh, prince. where what is past gets left behind on its very own because you cannot carry much extra weight here. and what is to come is always hiding behind the endless peaks. the mountains will say to you what you say to them, so take care what you say to them.

excuse me while it all tumbles out in random order. it was just that kind of trip.