About Haven`s Gate

                  Pictures of India - Ladakh - the Maitreya Buddha (future Buddha) at Tikse

Introduction

Pico Iyer is one of the most respected travel writers alive today. He was born in England, raised in California, and educated at Eton, Oxford, and Harvard. His essays, reviews, and other writings have appeared in Time, Conde Nast Traveler, Harper’s, the New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, and Salon.com. His books include “Video Night in Kathmandu”, “The Lady and the Monk”, “Cuba and the Night”, “Falling off the Map”, “Tropical Classical” and “The Global Soul”. They have been translated into several languages and published in Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. His latest work is “Abandon”.

Iyer visited Ladakh in 2004 and more than four chapters in “Sandwiches Should NEVER Taste Like Cow Crap” are dedicated to Ladakh – and the place still remains today as one of the highlights of Asia – barren, dry, dusty, and breathless: the world’s highest roads are there, and standing at nearly 16,000 feet on some of the higher passes, gasping for air is something not easily forgotten.

Ladakh is located between India, Pakistan, and China. The eastern portion of Ladakh, which is part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, covers an area of 59,343 sq km, and has a population of around 233,000. Pakistan controls the western segment of Ladakh, principally Gilgit, Hunza, Skardu, and Baltistan. The extreme western portion of Ladakh, the plateau of Aksai Chin, is controlled by the Chinese. The towns

of Leh and Kargil, respectively, are the two administrative centres.

Topographically, Ladakh is a highly arid and mountainous region, the highest inhabited region on Earth. The Himalaya range acts as a natural barrier to the moisture-laden monsoon clouds. This topographical feature in large part explains the aridity of the region, which comprises five distinct valleys: Dras, Suru, Zanskar, Indus, and Nubra.

         Pictures of India - Ladakh - interior of a prayer room, Tikse

Summary of “Heaven’s Gate”

Pico Iyer has written about his experiences while traveling in Ladakh, a Buddhist kingdom perched high in the Himalayas, for the New York Times’ 2008 TMagazine. His observations on the life of Ladakh, people, animals and landscape, and the uniqueness of the place are very interesting, and in particular the comparisons to Bhutan and Tibet are very interesting. He describes the marmots scrambling across their path and spots kiang – or wild asses at a distance – as he proceeds along his way to Nubra Valley. He also observes the unique two-humped Bactrian camels foraging in the dunes in the backdrop of milky white landscape. There were also seen white two storied buildings amid apricot and willow trees.
Iyer was stuck by the sudden and majestic appearance of Diskit Gompa – a Buudhist manostery – rising high into the heavens on his way to Ladakh, a traditional Buddhist city called “the world’s last Shangri La” – an imaginary and remote paradise. The author had gathered some interesting information on the place and its life through books like “Journey on Ladakh” by Andrew Harvey. Through his wide travels he had also learnt that the pastoral life still exists there untouched by any trace of modernity. During his visit to the place he found that the place is full of Indian soldiers because of the border disputes with Pakistan and that the place is also cosmopolitan in nature due to the international trade activity there. He was surprised by these because he had expected this place to have had no contacts with the outside world. He also saw men and women resembling the people of various neighboring nations.
Iyer discovered the true paradoxical nature of the place. He found at the place young people who were on the verge of forgetting their roots in an attempt to catch up with the so called modernization hanging out in the pubs and neglecting their culture and traditions. And, on the other hand he also found people, just 10 km away from Ladakh, celebrating the traditional Ladakhi festivals and sports with all the zeal and fervor. The author also observes some developmental work taking place here there on the streets of Ladakh – mainly to develop the tourism. He was also amused by the sight of the shopping malls and pizza huts. The author laments the fact that the Ladakhis these days are not only abandoning their past but also packaging their culture in an effort to attract more and more foreign tourists.
The author also describes with admiration the efforts of people like Helena Norberg-Hodge, a foreigner settled in Ladakh, to preserve the uniqueness and the purity of the place by creating environmental awareness in the locals as well as in the visiting tourists. The members of the women’s alliance set up by her were also actively taking part in the campaign started by this foreign lady.
Iyer passionately declares in a nostalgic tone that for him and many others Ladakh presents a way of retrieving the childhood ecstasy experienced by all of us and concludes saying that it truly represents the lost paradise on the earth.