Globalization and local lifestyles
http://www.mindruktrek.com/gallery.html
Photo: Samboon Chungprampree, Sept 2012
Ladakh (land of high passes) is a region of Jammu and Kashmir and lies between the Kunlun mountain
range in the north and the main Great Himalaya to the south inhabited by people of Indo- Aryan and Tibetan
descent. Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and culture. It is sometimes called "Little Tibet" as it
has been strongly influenced by Tibetan culture. The largest town in Ladakh is Leh.
In the past Ladakh gained importance from its strategic location at the crossroads of important trade
routes. Little Tibet" remained almost totally isolated from the forces of modernization, but since the Chinese
authorities closed the borders with Tibet and Central Asia in the 1960s, international trade has dwindled except
for tourism. Since 1974, the Government of India has successfully encouraged tourism in Ladakh. Today, about
18,000 tourists visit Ladakh every year.
A feature of Ladakhi society that distinguishes it from the rest of the state is the high status and relative
emancipation enjoyed by women compared to other rural parts of India. The architecture of Ladakh reflects a
deeply Buddhist approach. Many houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing south, and in
the past were made of rocks, earth and wood but are now more often concrete frames filled in with stones or
adobes. The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals often involves religious chanting in Tibetan or Sanskrit
as an integral part of the religion. Religious mask dances are an important part of Ladakh's cultural life. Weaving is
an important part of traditional life in eastern Ladakh. Both women and men weave, on different looms. Typical
costumes include gonchas of velvet, elaborately embroidered waistcoats and boots and hats. The Ladakh Festival
is held every year from September 1 to 15. Performers adorned with gold and silver ornaments and turquoise
headgear throng the streets. Monks wear colorful masks and dance to the rhythm of cymbals, flutes and
trumpets. Ladhk is one of the few remaining abodes of Buddhism in South Asia and majority of Ladakhis are
Tibetan Buddhists.
To all outward appearances, it is a wild and inhospitable place...Yet here, in one of the highest, driest, coldest inhabited places on
earth, the Ladakhis have for a thousand years not only survived but prospered. Out of barren desert they have carved verdant
oases terraced fields of barley, wheat, apples, apricots, and vegetables, irrigated with glacial meltwater brought many miles
through stone-lined channels. Using little more than Stone Age technologies and the scant resources at hand, the Ladakhis have
established a remarkably rich culture, one that has met not only their material wants but their psychological and spiritual needs
as well.
During almost two decades of close contact with the Ladakhi people, I have been able to observe almost as an insider
the effect of these changes on the Ladakhis' perception of themselves. Within little more than a decade, feelings of pride gave
way to what can best be described as a cultural inferiority complex. Today, most young Ladakhis teenage boys in particular are
ashamed of their cultural roots and desperate to appear modern. This new attitude contrasted dramatically with the Ladakhis'
earlier self-confidence. In 1975, I was shown around the remote village of Hemis Shukpachan by a young ladakhi named Tsewang.
It seemed to me that all the houses were especially large and beautiful. I asked Tsewang to show me where the poor people lived.
He looked perplexed for a moment, then responded, "We don't have any poor people here." Eight years later, I overheard
Tsewang talking to some tourists. "If you could only help us Ladakhis," he said. "We're so poor." (Helena Norberg-Hodge - an
analyst of the impact of the global economy on cultures and agriculture worldwide, a pioneer of the localisation movement, and
the articulator of the core ideas of Counter-development)
Above photos are in comparison of offering to Buddha and Dalai Lama. Hilariously even Buddha and Dalai Lama
have to enjoy the products of globalization in Ladakh. This is one of the images of changes in people’s value and
lifestyle when globalization touches them.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh
http://alanarchibald.homestead.com/ladakh.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Norberg-Hodge
More info at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI2lD5Nre08, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhtYMbs8mHw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOBiSSeR4sU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQyXIodW3uY