SPRINGING BACK TO LIFE
Feast for the Soul
By mid-April, the anticipation of spring peaks. Eyes begin to dart expectantly towards the naked trees, hoping to find relief from the imposing browns and reds of the barren Ladakhi landscape.
Apricot trees are the first to awaken from the winter slumber. Soft pink flower buds hug the branches before swelling and bursting with white and dark pink flower petals. The delicate apricot blossoms that laden the trees are a feast for the soul, casting a soft magical glow wherever they grow.
Bursts of Life
While the apricot blossoms herald the beginning of spring, it is the water that flows through this cold desert that infuses it with life.
Crests of waves that stood frozen through the long winter thaw and break, giving way to the gurgling rivers that wind through Ladakh. The winter’s snow atop ancient glaciers begins to melt, forming cold shallow streams that gush down to the villages.
Where water touches soil, there is a burst of life. Blades of grass turn green. Wildflowers bloom. Butterflies flap their iridescent wings. Grasshoppers sing.
Soar
As nature begins to burgeon with life, flocks of birds that had flown to warmer lands for the winter undertake extraordinary voyages.
The mighty bar-headed geese soar high above the towering Himalayas to reach the grasslands and crop fields of Ladakh.
The majestic black necked cranes glide into the land of high passes to breed and nest in its marshes and meadows.
Both are joined by diverse species of avifauna, all of them feasting on insects and plants that have come alive for spring.
Songs of the Fields
Once spring awakens the fields that lay patiently in the lap of the Himalayas, they quickly fill with the sounds of work, laughter and song.
Children jump eagerly on to the backs of donkeys, riding them between their home and the farm while balancing sacks filled with fertilizer from the Ladakhi dry compost toilet.
Adults work the fields, using cattle to plow and sow crops of golden wheat and barley. Their voices echo through the valleys as they sing to the seeds to take root, to the weather to stay true, and to the earth to be generous with its bounty.