I finished off what was turning out to be my gap year by volunteering with

17000ft in Ladakh. The idea of it neither intimidated nor excited me- I was just
curious. When I first visited the office in Gurgaon, I was briefed about how
acclimatizing the physical self to another environmental extreme ought to be
taken seriously. Funnily, it didnt bother me as much as everybody around me
fretted- family, friends, and those who were helping me plan my experience. To
state it very matter-of-factly, I was feeling extremely open-minded, and therefore
my body felt like the most versatile tool. I neither bothered to read about Ladakh
nor asked anybody who had been there as to what it was like. In my mind, it was
just a place that I was going to visit that was going to help me glimpse, with
clarity, into a more complete world. Or rather, worldview. And in short, I was not
disappointed.
To start off with the people, I have never been privy to such genuine hospitality. I
have rarely been a houseguest, unless it has been in visiting a friend- in which
case it isnt too different from a college dorm of sorts, but here I was meeting
complete strangers whom I had only begun to communicate with, and who had
taken me into their homes without the slightest trace of mistrust or suspicionhow commonplace are such sentiments where I supposedly come from! Yet, the
level of intuition and warmth with which they understood my basic needs, and
the honest insistence with which they volunteered various little comforts was
simply heart-warming. As a collective people, they seem to form a strongly
aware, deeply spiritual community to me. And I am still understanding, as it
unfolds, as to how they are getting with the times, which they all state they are,
usually with a tinge of melancholy, but largely, much pragmatism.
During my trip I interacted with so many children within and without schools.
Quite a number of them were children of immigrants, i.e. non-Ladakhis, so to
speak. This was especially the case around the city of Leh. And other than their
own identification of this difference, I saw no other basis of and for
discrimination. What struck me was how well-behaved the children were. The
children knew how to interact with and treat other people- foreigner or not. With
respect, with interest, courtesy, and acceptance.
It is quite possible that these children werent the fastest readers or the quickest
in arithmetic calculations, but they were a joy to be around and interact with. In
all my time spent with them, I do not recall a single moment of irritation or
impatience. With my facilitator and friend- Stanzin Spalzom, I was delighted to
introduce concepts, perform and execute activities. I did not feel like a volunteer
who was putting up a show for the children, but instead I truly felt the pleasure of
being a member of the same team as we explored stories from the books in the
library, learnt about each other through conversations about hobbies and travels
(the latter, largely mine), and as we created pieces of art and spun memories
together.
I let myself wonder if the children will remember me. On several occasions I felt
dumbfounded by the fact that while taking leave, I couldnt ask them to add me
of Facebook or offer up any other mode of contact that is common to my reality

per se. And perhaps they were kind enough to overlook my awkwardness at the
moment of our saying goodbyes by only extending gratitude for the act of
participating in forging a thoughtful bond that generated joy; as did I try to. But I
only realize that if I try to understand the experience and these relationships in
terms that are most familiar to me, it will seem perplexing, but on the inside, it
was a month that moved me at my deepest, and has filled with a real sense of
gladness that will keep me going for as long as I can live out the lessons that it
has taught me.