Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass ...
Its about learning to dance in the rain!!!
There are many things in life that will catch your eye
but only a few will catch your heart... Pursue those

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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

An excerpt from my travel diary

As I flipped my travel entries of Ladakh, I stopped by an entry of an incident which had left me very touched. I realized I had a story to share with you all.

Apart from the mesmerizing Changla mountain range and vast Pangong Lake, my most memorable thing in Ladakh will be a small monastery and a little kid.
That day on our itinerary was a wonderful Monastery on top of a beautiful hill, which is known for its rich colorful culture and heritage. We were totally exhausted as me and hubs had trekked up to to reach our destination. Wonderful aroma of tea from the small Tea stall which was in the entrance of this monastery was the first thing we wanted to visit. We sat there sipping warm tea and wading away the exhaustion, There came a cute little boy clad in the robes of Buddhist monk. 

I was lost observing the innocence of that little boy who must be of age around 4 or 5. He came up to the stall asking for a pack of chips and the vendor bowed to him giving what the kid wanted.  I was so much in love with this kid and his innocence that I wanted to hold him and also take a picture with him. As I moved closer to the kid to talk to him, suddenly all the Monks who were around came running and stopped me from getting any closer to him. They instantly bowed to this little monk, discussed something among themselves in Ladakhi and took him away with them. I had no idea of what wrong I had done, we did speak to many monks on our trip till then and they were quite friendly but this behavior that to with a little kid left me perplexed.

As I settled in the chair and things calmed down, tea vendor hissed to us that the kid whom I wanted to talk was the next Rinpoche, meaning the one who will be the next leader of their community, and he was strictly observed 24hrs. This little kid’s day was only about learning and strictly no interaction with world outside what so ever. May be someday this little kid will be a very great spiritual leader but the loss of his childhood and all the beautiful moments of his innocence, made me realize how precious our life has been.
My eyes were filled with tears when I remembered how the little kid was crying when he was taken back and how everybody else kept bowing to him on his way back. My heart ached at the sight of the chips packet on ground and I could just not hold back my tears.  

P.S: Photo credit goes to the Blog The World Through My Eyes

22 comments:

Rahul Bhatia said...

These experiences are a great teacher of what we must value when we take so many things for granted, Ramya:)

Santhoshkumar LM said...

:( feeling sad for that kid.
while reading I observed one more thing. When we are not allowing a person to understand the normal life, How can he manage the things when he becomes next leader!!?

where are the people who fights for the human rights!!?

Gopinath said...

Superstition or belief have ruined the child life. People don't care about it. Heart touching story.

Dheeraj said...

there is somuch life teaches us right
in its own different ways

Dheeraj said...

there is somuch life teaches us right
in its own different ways

Valay said...

Incident is written very well here. Although feeling low as well after thinking on his childhood era.
Good one Ramya..

SuKupedia ™ :) :) said...

feel bad for that kid ya... putting up human beings on that high pedestal and worshipping them... I often wonder did that person even ask for it ????

SuKupedia ™ :) :) said...

My reader showed a post on Italy on your blog but when i click it .. it says page does not exist :(

Prashanth said...

In the name tradition/religion/what not, we humans do things which sometimes doesn't make sense, at least to me. Feel sad for that kid.

Ramya said...

@Rahul sir: Really true thats how we got to learn to value what we have seeing others who dont have all the luxury we have.

@Santhoshkumar: Santhu, houdu when there is criminal who has to be punished we see these human rights ppl fighting and in such cases where are they???? and yes one who dont know what worldly pressures and pleasures are how can he lead the others!!!!

Ramya said...

@Gopinath: Yes the reality is very hard out there!

@Dheeraj: Yes Yes life is a very great teacher only catch is how good a student we are!

@Valay: yeah Loss of childhood is one of the greatest loss of ones life, nothing can do justice to it!

Ramya said...

@SuKu: Yes seeing one as Leader, TEacher, Preacher is all ok but this one is complete injustice to any human being.

And about the post on Italy :D that was a trailer dear ;) wait for it :D
Actually I took out that post and posted this as I want to keep that post for end of this month :D please come back to read that too :D

Nuthan said...

Unquestioned beliefs are dangerous. Respect and being religious is one thing.. logical and sensible is another.
Wonder when will people realise.
Lil kid might have felt like a sealed pressure cooker.

BGT said...

I may be an odd man out here Ramya.. But here are my thoughts..

Maybe he's destined for greatness. And greatness comes at a cost - in this case, personal sacrifices of the child.. I agree with your concern Ramya. I too feel for the child and he has lost his biggest asset - childhood. I also feel there's a bigger reason why we all, inspite of our religion, respect the great Dalai Lama..

Nuthan said...

@Binu - that's a very good point and valid too.. agree.
But I also feel imposing on anyone, especially a child.. is a bit harsh.. unless the person is open and willing to tread that path.
May be we should give him time until he comes to an age when he can understand what the journey is all about.
P.S: sorry for the intruding comment : ) but just putting forward my thoughts.

Prashanth said...

Interesting story.. the actual fact behind, however, needs to be carefully analyzed.

Thanks for sharing, Ramya :o)

Ramya said...

@All: I completely accept that we all need leaders, we need someone to preach us But then at what cost?
Someone who has not seen world someone who don't know worldly pressures, difficulties and someone who was rather not given a choice of choosing or doing what he wanted instead insisted to do this! is what hurts me? Arent we being cruel for our needs we are sacrificing somebody's precious life?

I would have completely accepted if a person chooses this path, then yes he is interested and it is this way he likes to live. But some innocent kid picked up and named to be god!!! confuses me a lot.
I struggle to see divinity here all I see is loss of somebody's precious innocence.

:) Thanks all for wonderful comment and healthy debate :D

Ercotravels said...

Excellent story! written well.

Kusum said...

Lovely experience Ramya!

jahid said...

Nice travel post. Ladakh is a dream destination. Would have to plan it soon :)

Ramya said...

@Ercotravels: thanks

@Kusum: Thanks a lot for your appreciation :) Welcome to Chittrana

@Jahid: :) thanks, oh pls put Ladakh on must visit place its very very awesome :D

Rahul_Honeywell said...

Got goose bumps!! touched me to the core!!