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My
Friends Here in Leh! |
Posted:
Jun 16, 2003 6:28 AM |
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3 or 4
“Storytelling” posts ago, I posted a story about people here in Leh, Ladakh
in Kashmir. These included the Ladakhi groups of Buddhists, Muslims and
Christians, as well as the Sikh, Nepali and military groups. I also would
like you to meet some of my friends and other individuals of which I have
become acquainted with during my year here. So, I will do so at this time.
Next week, I hope to post about the war between India and Pakistan, assisted
by a close friend who lived near the “line of control.”
ELIJAH GERGAN. I must mention Elijah first, as he is my principal at the
Moravian Mission School, and the man who invited me here to teach three
years ago. Elijah’s background itself is amazing. His great grandfather was
an important official in Tibet in the mid-1800’s. The Dalai Lama at that
time (the 12th) was assassinated, and Elijah’s great-grandfather was named
as guilty by the mystic oracle. He escaped ahead of the lynch mob and moved
to Ladakh. His son, Joseb (Elijah’s grandfather) converted to Christianity
and translated the Bible into Tibetan. If you read the book God Spoke
Tibetan, it tells this story. Anyway, Elijah is no less remarkable, and I
have more respect for him each time I talk to him. At the school, Elijah
shows his love for the children from age 3 all the way up through grade 11,
yet runs a disciplined school. He supports the teachers, and I’ve never had
a disagreement with him on any major issue. At the church, he draws a packed
congregation most weeks, so that they have plans to expand into a larger
building. His messages are good, Bible-based ones, and we have several
converts, especially among the Nepali community. Although the Christian
community here is very small in relation to all other groups, Elijah is well
respected. On Christmas Day, I spent the day at his house, and the parade of
people calling on Elijah was like a “who’s who” of Ladakh. One military
general, I found out later, had called on Elijah last year when Pakistan
tensions heated up to ask advice!
MEENA GERGAN. Elijah’s wife is Meena Gergan. She teaches grade 5 at the
school, and runs the Nepali service at the church, as she speaks that
language. She is originally from Shilliguri in northeast India. Meena was my
first keyboard service here, and is still one of the better students. She
has told funny jokes. My favorite is the one about missionaries and tea in
India: The 1st term missionary when a fly lands in the tea, throws away the
tea and pours a new cup. The 2nd term missionary takes the fly out of the
tea and drinks the same cup. The 3rd term missionary catches a fly in the
air and PUTS it into the tea!
ANDREAS GERGAN. Andy is the oldest son of Elijah and Meena. He is currently
attending college in the Moravian college in Pennsylvania. He is a good
artist, and is a well-balanced person that I love visiting with.
REUBEN GERGAN. Reuben is the second son, and just graduated from high school
in Mussorie near Dehra Dun. He is the musician in the family, and plays the
saxophone I brought over here for him last summer.
ISAAC GERGAN. Isaac is the third son, and is still in high school. I don’t
know much about him, other than that he is good with languages and speaks 4
or 5 languages.
DAVID SONAM. David is the dean of students here at the Mission School, and
an excellent person to run the school during the many times when Elijah is
out of town on school or church business. He is also very well connected in
Ladakh. In fact, more people know David up here than Elijah. Whenever I go
to remote villages and mention the Mission School, more often than not
people will bring up David’s name! His father was a doctor who saved the
people of the Zanskar area 50 years ago during a plague. He hiked into there
in winter with typhoid anti-bodies and immunized everyone. David organized
the ice hockey tournaments when they started here years ago, and knows
people everywhere. It is David who helped me with some of my treks,
including hooking me up with the porters and guide for my winter trek on the
Zanskar River chaddar route, as well as probably the best folk singer here
in Ladakh for my research project on traditional music. At the wedding I
attended last November, it was David who filled me in on everything that was
happening that evening, and enabled me to post that informed story back
then.
NAOMI SONAM. David’s wife. She is one of the administrators at the school,
and also teaches older students. She speaks fluent English, Ladakhi and
Urdu, and will be announcing my play next week for Parents’ Day at the
school. She is very pretty and is also doing quite well on the keyboard.
SHIVA KUMAR. Shiva is perhaps my closest friend here in Leh. He is from
Bangalore, and speaks 7 languages fluently, including Hindi, English,
Russian, and the state languages for 4 Indian states. He is the one who
showed me around Kerala and Tamil Nadu last January. Shiva’s specialty is
computers, and he is teaching the computer classes in the new lab at the
school. In the evenings, he is forever helping places like this internet
café troubleshoot and fix internet or equipment problems. He will be setting
up a computer repair shop. What I like best about Shiva is his common-sense
approach to everything. He is the most practical person I know here, except
when drinking. Shiv is also the best cook I know up here, and I will be
getting several recipes to take back to the states from him before I leave
(as well as pirated computer games). Shiv’s apartment is upstairs also and
two over from mine.
KIMA. Kima is gone now. He was a 4th grade teacher, as well as the assistant
pastor at the church. He had been here for 3 years and, in fact, I was
actually here when he was installed at church back then. While walking back
to Main Bazaar from the Shanti Stupa, I had checked out a new route that I
didn’t know. While on this route, I went past his house and he recognized me
from church and invited me in. He offered me tea, which I refused. He looked
at me and said “If you are going to consider living here for a year, you
will have to learn not to turn down tea.” So, I had tea! I liked that part
of town, and as it turns out, I ended up living right above Kima’s apartment
this year. Besides being a good speaker in Hindi and English, he also plays
guitar very well and had an excellent rapport with the kids in Sunday
School. He will be missed here.
KC. KC is one of the administrators at the school, and is in charge of
scheduling. He is from eastern India, and also teaches math. He is good, and
has many students at his apartment before and after school for math tuitions
every day. KC is in the end apartment downstairs, and has his wife and two
children here also. He is the only teacher in the staff quarters with a
family there. KC’s wife is a great cook, and it is a treat when she brings
up food.
SALIM. Salim is a Muslim friend of mine who has the downstairs apartment on
the far end from KC’s. He teaches history and geography at the school, and
runs the library. Talks with him about America’s wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq have been interesting. I tried to defend Afghanistan, and he simply
brought up the collateral damage. I said that we tried to keep it to a
minimum, but he simply asked me how few casualties is okay? He understood
America’s need to do SOMETHING about 9/11, but he thought we could have
taken a better course of action. We were on the same side of the Iraq issue.
But whereas my disagreement with the war was based on our lack of
justification, Salim was against it because he said America was being
hypocritical as we put him in power in the first place.
MRS. BASU. Like Salim, Mrs. Basu taught in Dehra Dun before coming up to Leh
to teach at my school. She lives in the apartment next to Salim, and has a
nice garden going outside. I helped her plant some wild Iris that was
growing out a ways. She is in charge of the English department at the
school, and under her guidance, the school has gone to a total immersion
program in English. This is actually working out okay, as the younger kids
are doing better with the language than the class 3 and 4 kids who started
out when the classes were taught in Hindi. It is remarkable considering that
with Ladakhi’s, Ladakhi is their first language, followed by Hindi/Urdu. And
with the others, (military kids), it is their state’s language followed by
Hindi/Urdu. In both cases, English is the THIRD language.
DORJAY NAMGYAL. This is our Bodhi teacher. He is the guy who has been
helping me translate the folk songs I’ve researched into English. And, he is
excellent. He is giving me background on things like articles of clothing
that most Ladakhi’s,even if they could read the word, wouldn’t be able to
tell me what it was. Dorjay is also coaching me in the Ladakhi (Tibetan)
alphabet. I’ve got the four vowels, and half the consonants memorized under
his guidance. My goal is to be able to read (Ladakhi, not English) a goodbye
message to the students in August. I won’t be speaking the language, but
think I will be able to at least read it, even if I don’t understand
everything I read. Dorjay plays guitar, and is always teaching the older
students Ladakhi pop songs.
ZILLA. This is an old Ladakhi lady at the church. She remembers ALL of the
hymns that were translated into Ladakhi before the missionaries were kicked
out of here in 1948 when Independence and Pakistan troubles began. She,
along with her nephew Phillip, are helping me fix errors in the organ music
and fill in missing gaps, so that by the time I leave, I will have a
complete 237-song songbook of the hymns with fingerings and chords that will
be playable by the 4 church adults and 2 youth that I have been teaching
keyboard this year. When I leave, at least 4 of the 6 students will be ready
to at least play the melodies of the hymns.
CHEMNET PALJOR. She is the nursery teach at the school, and a good friend of
mine, as well as one of my strongest supporters here. Chemnet’s two girls
are both in my music classes, and Julia is one of the 6 keyboard students
who I hope will take over when I leave. Angela is an excellent recorder
students, and has one of the singing solos in my Parents’ Day program.
WAPANG. Wapang is from Nagaland, and remembers me from 3 years ago when I
visited. He helps out at the school, and preaches when Elijah or Kima are
not here. He is also the best guitar player that I know here. But, he plays
by ear. I’ve been teaching him how to read notes, and he has been doing
pretty good at sight-singing songs now. After Shiva, he is probably my
closest friend right now. He has a very good Bible study that I attend.
NAWANG TSERING. Nawang is the caretaker at the school, as well as the night
watchman. He has the largest key ring I’ve seen, as all the rooms have
padlocks. Nawang helped me sew a cloth package for a parcel to America. In
India, parcels have to be sewn into white cloth to be sent overseas!
INSHA MOHAMMED. Insha has turned out to be my best keyboard student at the
school, and last week passed up the furthest adult student from the church.
She has been coming in 4 days a week lately to play and pass songs, as she
realizes my time here is limited. I wish all students were as dedicated.
UFRA AND ASRA SHOWKAT. Two more keyboard students who are sisters. Their
father owns the best Kashmiri restaurant here in Leh! They are both also
doing very well.
NAWANG LUNDUP. Nawang owns the internet shop that I use the most here. His
computers are usually pretty good, although the server is slow today
city-wide. On Friday this week, he will be getting married, and I’ve been
invited to his reception.
MASOOD. There are many Kashmiri shop owners here selling carpets, jewelry,
pashmina, and paper mache, among other things. But, Masood is one of the
honest ones, and my best friend among this group. His attitude is not one of
trying to pass off inferior products as the real thing in order to get as
many rupees as possible under the premise that he will never see the tourist
again. Instead, he says that if this is done, it degrades the items like
pashmina in the eyes of tourists. I visited Masood, as well as many other
shop owners while in Goa last January.
FAROOQ. Farooq is another Kashmiri shop-owner friend, and the one man I did
buy a carpet from here. His prices are reasonable, and he too is honest.
When I showed up last summer, this is the one man who remembered me from
2000 and was truly glad to meet me. In the middle of Main Bazaar, he ran up
to me and hugged me. And, this was 3 months before I bought that carpet! He
is interested in me and my family, and will listen to problems that are
happening with one family member back home and offer advice.
DIN. This the third shop owner who is my friend here. In 2000, he was able
to help me get small bills, when both banks wouldn’t. I did buy some small
items from him, but he isn’t after my money. While in Goa, he cooked me an
excellent dinner.
BASMATI. This is the fourth and final Kashmiri shop owner that I consider a
friend and trust. He, along with Masood, has excellent jewelry here, and I
bought four pieces with garnet and opal (7 stones each piece) 3 years ago
for $110. He is the one shop owner last summer that never complained, but
kept a positive attitude despite few tourists due to India-Pakistan
problems.
AHMED. Ahmed is another of the shop owners. He is a friend of mine, and I’ve
been at his shop many times for tea, as with the four above. But, with
Ahmed, I don’t always feel I can trust him. We will be having a friendly
conversation, and all of a sudden he will be trying to sell me something or
at least hinting at me possibly buying.
THE KEROSENE MAN. A nice man on Main Bazaar with a very small shop. His
supply is limited, but I get whatever I can from him when shopping for food.
3 years ago, it was his shop that we always bought kerosene from because we
knew it was clean and wouldn’t clog our MSR stove.
CHUN YEON. This Korean lady has been around here awhile, and plays excellent
flute. She has been here long enough that she knows how to speak some
Ladakhi. I will miss her, as well.
HENK THOMA. The person I most envy here. Henk is from Holland, and gave up
everything back home to move here. He has been here almost 10 years now just
freelancing whatever he wants to do. Whatever money he needs he makes by
organizing and/or leading treks. Although I’ve done more miles of treks than
almost all Ladakhi’s, Henk (along with David Sonam above) has done more than
I have. Henk has helped me out with the trekking class I have going at the
school, and is the one private individual who actually has topo maps of this
area.
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I Love the Mountains |
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