Zanskar

“Here, Rosy and I remembered to be kids again,” Tanush says with emotion. He rolls down the window, and waves enthusiastically, “Joo-lay-jee!” The workers sitting on the side of the road look up surprised. When they see Tanush, they smile and wave back, “Jullay jee!”

“In Zanskar, everyone is friendly and says hello. The people maintain their traditional ways. They live in connection with Mother Nature,” Tanush explains. “Rosy and I were giddy here. When we arrived in Leh, people looked at us weird because we were smiling so much.”

“It just looks like an ancient kingdom, doesn’t it?” Tanush said moments after I fantasized about making a Kung Fu version of Lord of the Rings.

As we drove by a sandy beach along the river, Tanush pointed and said, “Rosy and I had a picnic there. Isn’t that a beautiful spot?” Tanush continued on, “When I first met Rosy, I just acted polite and thought I’d never see her again. She was very intense.”

“My friends scared me about dating a western woman. In our culture, divorce is taboo. She’s the best woman I’ve ever known. We could have conversations about our differences, and she would actually do the work to overcome them.”

“The intensity was good for me. I’m very carefree. You can be too carefree you know. Rosy gave me the perfect balance of discipline and fun.”

“Look at those caves! People used to walk from Leh to Zanskar on the frozen river in the winter to trade. Any time you see a cave with lots of vegetation, people used to sleep there. I watched a documentary called ‘The Last Ice Walkers of Zanskar.”

“Wait, what happened with Rosy?” I asked. “She flew home a week ago. I told her I’m not moving to London, and she interpreted that as a signal that I didn’t want to continue our relationship.”

“Was she heartbroken?” I asked. “I don’t know. I said it over the phone. She laughed, but I think to avoid making the conversation awkward… Now I’m rethinking everything. Maybe I would move to London. I want to repair things. That’s why we’ll take lots of photos to send to her on this trip.”

I became Tanush’s student. “So was Zanskar actually an ancient kingdom? Or does it just look like one?” “Yes, it has a rich history. There was a royal family who lived in the palace in Zangla. The kingdom wanted to be independent but traded hands several times over the course of its thousands of years of history. It was highly desired because the Silk Road passed through. The kingdom was last independent 200 years ago when it joined the Sikh empire. The Sikh Empire united all the northwest Himalayan kingdoms including Ladakh.”

We arrived at the confluence of the Zanskar and Indus rivers. “Look at how blue the Indus River is! Amazing, right!?!” I couldn’t help but agree that it looked pristine compared to the muddy Zanskar. “The Indus is very dear to me like my own mother. You know it’s the source of all Indian civilization. It originates from Mt Kailash, the holiest mountain in all the world.”

“Now we are in Ladakh! Last year I decided I wanted to sleep under the stars in Hanle[, Ladakh]. I planned it meticulously for months. Finally, one weekend, on a new moon, I drove to Hanle by myself and walked out in the dark. I laid in the grass, and a woman staying at the same homestay laid down next to me. She had followed me. In the grass, she had an allergic reaction, and I had to help her. As I helped her, we both found that we fancied each other. I lost my plans of staring at the stars.”

“This woman just started following you? How do you meet women so easily?”

“It wasn’t always like that. Growing up, every time I liked a girl, she went with someone else. I decided to work hard on myself so that I’d never have to fight for love again.”

“Did it work?”

“Pretty much. This place, Ladakh, made me the man I am today. These mountains heighten your confidence and inspire creativity. This place has its magic. It gives you courage to be bold. Even my family likes the way it changed me. I used to fight with my parents. Now we have peace.”

“The day after tomorrow is a new moon. In our culture, it’s auspicious to start a journey on a new moon. Can you stay in Leh one more day?”

“Of course.”

“Perfect, thank you. And when you start running the day after tomorrow, can you please make sure you look in the sky to see the moon?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent. You’re attempting to do something no one has ever done. Now you will go with blessings and the divine spirit.”