Many years ago I read a book about Ladakh, a mostly Tibetan culture but the land belongs to the Indian state. It is a land of high mountains and plains, cold for much of the year. Well recently I came across the name of the author of the book I had read at the time Ancient Culture, written by Norberg-Hodge, and I wondered what had become of her.
It was such a long time ago, and I must have been aware and had read of the Chinese takeover of Tibet and the brutality that had gone with it in 1959. The Dalai Lama had escaped and has lived in exile ever since.
The landscapes fascinated me, the people self-sufficient and collectively working together. Clear fresh air and a community that worked. Norberg-Hodge traces the gradual infiltration of outside modern ways and the whole of the system becoming corrupted by the more modern world. Now whether this is good or bad I don't know. I would have dearly liked to go to Tibet, but then that was just part of the dream like going to Kathmandu, and yes I wasn't really a part of the hippy trail.
The video below seems old and dated and yet captures the spirit of place, the prayer barrels that you turn at the monasteries, reminding you of what I don't know.
It seems the author of the book went on to follow a career in good works.....
"Local Futures is a non-profit organization "dedicated to the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide."
Always a dilemma isn't it - modern life or maintaining the old way.
ReplyDeleteYes Pat, both ways of life eventually die out I suppose.
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