The Ladakh Series: The People

A place is often characterised by its people and infact play a pivotal role in distinguishing between a good destination and an average one. The Ladhaki population like a secular base consist of Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and Christian community. On a professional front, the community is divided further into Mons and Dards, which predominantly have survived on Agriculture and cattle raising activities. However with passage of time, the local population has slowly grabbed on the opportunity of tourism and moved to restaurants, taxis and other tourism professions.

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Ladhak may have a harsh climate for 9 months of the year, but the people of Ladhak are genuinely soft, simple and kind hearted. I could see this through multiple instances, may it be Lotus –our taxi driver who would not argue on the taxi fare and agree with most of our demand or be it Phanchuk family, our host at the Pangong Lake who took great care of us. I infact felt genuinely touched when a father of our taxi driver-Dorgi, paid for our breakfast money, which is so unlikely in most situation.

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Maybe this is attributed to the religion they preach and practice, where any kind of negative vibes are not encouraged. This non commercial psychic behaviour can also be due to Ladhak not being open to the rest of the world until the mid 1970’s. In this harsh climate, people would need to remain cooperative and bonded as a community to survive rather than live in a status quo. However I can see a change in this behaviour with the younger generation being exposed to the tourism and slowly being non tolerant specifically to our ever demanding Indian tourist. I can just wish that Ladhaki people stay bonded to their roots and culture. Amen.