Citizen Interviews

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Changa

Changa is a man full of smiles and laughter. He lives everyday of his life with the mantra of “Shanti, Shanti” which means peaceful. He’s shop keeper who has been coming to Leh for 8 years to sell the goods of his people back home in Kashmir. He learned his trade from his father who has been sharing the crafting skills of their people for over 55 years. Changa spends 3 and a half months of his year in Leh during the peek summer season when over 150,000 people from around the world visit Ladakh.

Sadly he only spends 1 month of his year back home with his family in Kashmir because of all the tension on the border between India and Pakistan. He doesn’t want to living in a place where people are always struggling to live peacefully. But he does desperately miss his mother, father and 3 sisters back home. Since his father is now retired Changa is the main financial support for his family and feels the burden of supporting them.

Being the Indian hippie that he is, Changa spends most of his year in Goa, a laid back, paradise of a beach town in southwest India. He sells his Kashmiri goods at two different shops there but, mostly loving life and taking it easy.

Bilal

Having met Bilal while shopping in his shop in Leh on Old Fort Road, we sat down at his glass counter showcase filled with chunky pieces of turquoise and silver jewelry. He is a tall man, with dark hair and an impressive grasp on the English language. Born and raised in Kashmir, Bilal is a shop keeper in both Leh and Dharmasala. He first visited Ladakh as a child with his father who was a traveling merchant. He visited Leh annually alongside his father, following the tourist season. Eventually Bilal became a trekking guide in Kashmir. This profession matched two of his greatest passions; nature and people. It was during his five years as a trekking guide that Bilal came to understand how much he values connecting with new people, while being able to create a significant change in their lives. As political tension rose in Kashmir, it became evident that it was no longer safe to work as a trekking guide in an increasingly dangerous land.

Bilal then moved to Dharmasala to become a merchant. His main residence is still in Dharmasala. Living in one of the most religious parts of the city, he cannot imagine a better place to live. In his father’s footsteps, Bilal now travels to Kashmir and Leh annually. He spends his summer in Leh at his two stores, then spends a month in Kashmir visiting family, and finally returns to Dharmasala for the majority of the year. His passion for connecting with people during trekking has translated into his life as a merchant. Being a jewelry maker, Bilal is able to not only sell his goods, but his personal investment in his products allows him to connect more intimately with his customers.

While happy with his life as is, Bilal has plans do to greater traveling with his jewelry. He is currently registered as an exhibitionist. This license allows him to gain visas with much greater ease than a tourist or worker. He plans on taking his crafts to Los Angeles and Rome this year to participate in international craft exhibitions. Bilal’s love of crafts and people has created opportunities that most local shop keepers may never see. As we finished our interview Bilal insisted that I return soon so that he may take some time to teach me some jewelry making techniques. Bilal’s spirit towards his customers is warm and welcoming. He prides himself on his craft and enjoys the simple pleasures of travel and friends.

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Karma

Karma works just down the block from the Yak Tail Hotel where we are staying during our stay in Leh India. Born and raised in India her family resides in a Tibetan refugee camp six hours outside Delhi in Derudune. There she resides in her little time off with her mother and father. However, much of her family still resides in Chinese occupied Tibet and even though it is just over the mountains she is unable to return or even visit due to the continued conflicts between Tibet and the Chinese government.

Sitting in the small shop she explains that she works here from morning to night for salary of just 2500 rupees a month. She sells refugee made goods that help support the Derudune refugee camp and other affiliated organizations. It is a wash of Tibetan prayer flags rolled with careful precision, a minimal jewelry display under glass, and an assortment of metal Buddhist deities.

She smiles when I ask if she will ever go back home. Apparently this is as close as she will ever get witho

ut a miracle that is a visa and or passport for an Indian Tibetan. Still she is surviving with her husband in Leh during the tourist season and in Delhi during the winter season selling clothes to tourist and locals. She explains how her and her husband must take a loan of units of clothing, usually around 25,000, to sell and hopefully make a profit. Currently though, the small shop has seen a significant decline in tourist money. She agrees with me when I mention the shaky internationally economy.

Finally diverting the conversation away from work I inquire about her life in Leh. A continuous cycle of work there is little time for her husband and her to venture outside the walls of the small refugee shop. At night she must return home each night outside of Leh to cook and eventually sleep. Still, her Tibetan Buddhist roots have led the couple to visit the many monasteries in the area during the full moon. Unbeknownst to me, is an important Buddhist event.

As our conversation winds down I tell her my reason for visiting Leh and as I ask to take her picture. However, when she discovers it will be on the internet she shakes and smiles. Apparently that is too far. Either way, picture or not, I thank her for her time, she thanks me for supporting the shop, and leave through the l

ow hung door.

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Tsering Rhutsak

Tsering Rhutsak is a 35 year old thanka artist from Ladakh. He was born in a Tibetan family of nomads, spending his early childhood living in a typical nomadic tent from the Ladakh area, called a “rebo”. His whole family consisted of artists, where he learned the skills of traditional painting and crafts. He left the insecure life of a nomad in his early twenties and moved to Choglamsar village near Leh, after being asked to paint the monasteries in t

he area. So far he has painted 48 monasteries in Ladakh, as well as wooden statues and stone stupas. In 2005 he founded a program to teach thanka painting to Tibetan youth, as well as to foreign exchange students.

As many Ladakhis, Tsering speaks several languages: Tibetan, Ladakhi, Hindi and English.

Tsering’s life

became even more interesting when a film crew came to Leh to make a movie about Ladakh, asking Tsering to be a part of it. This was just one of the many roles he has had in various movies. Here are just some of them: “Doskal Ladakh Film”; “Zonglu Ladakh Film”; “Life of Jesus” (in which he plays Jesus himself), “V

alley of Flowers” and “Seven Years in Tibet”, where he had a role of a mercenary. Tsering is currently working on an autobiographic documentary called “Tsering Rhutsak Documentary”, that should be in the Ladakhi theaters in fall 2009.

Besides being an artist, Tsering is a devoted family man. He married in his early twenties to a Tibetan teacher at DPKI; they have four children, three young boys and one 13 year old girl, who left Ladakh this year to pursue her studies in southern India.

Even though he is used to a static and more secure life close t

o the city, Tsering’s big wish is to return to the peaceful nomadic life when he turns 45

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Jigmet Palmo

Jigmet Palmo works at Dzomsa, an eco-friendly store located in the center of Leh, Ladakh. Dzomsa caters to trekkers and tourists, providing purified water and ecologically friendly laundry, among other services. Dzomsa means ‘meeting point’ in Ladakhi.

Jigmet is from Ladakh and is 23 years old. She grew up in Miru, a small town 60km from Leh on the road to Manali. She has been working at Dzomsa for two years. Jigmet started school at age six and finished up her schooling at age 21. She then started working at Dzomsa. Jigmet’s family is still in Miru. Her mother and father maintain a livelihood as farmers there. She has one older brother who works as a driver in Leh. She also has a younger brother who is still in school in Miru. Jigmet usually visits her family in Miru every few months.

By Timothy Cooke

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