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Ladakh, meaning "land of high mountain passes," is a high-altitude mountainous region in northern India. It is renowned for its remote beauty, Buddhist culture, and unique landscape. It's often called "Little Tibet" due to its strong cultural and geographical ties to Tibet.
Since the early eighties, Ladakh now declared a Union Territory has witnessed major lifestyle changes that has resulted in alarming environmental changes. Concern about the erosion of Ladakh's land based economy, Dr. Mohammed Deen, formed his non profit organization named LEHO, Ladakh environmental and health organization. Here is a conversation with Dr. Mohammed Deen where he talks about the reasons for the change and what lies ahead.

The Ladakh flux

Ladakh, India’s cold dessert and land of stark mountains with myriad passes spanning across Central and South Asia, carries deep secrets, not all, part of the history book narrative.
Once, it stood tall at the center of the Silk trade route, its passes, an artery network linking it to markets as far as Russia and eastern Europe. Today, that trade route is silent, but the stories, the anecdotes, many not part of the tourist itinerary, continue to unfold.
‘Ladakh is blessed with beautiful mountains and lakes, but the stories behind these mountains and lakes, remain untold. Anyone travelling to Leh, should understand and know the stories of people, of communities, that have made Ladakh possible”, says Adiba Jahan, a young Ladakhi entrepreneur. After five years at a wealth investment firm, Adiba dropped her job to adopt a model of tourism that speaks through stories to the influx of tourists in Ladakh. Starting 2024, her project Dastan – e- karwan, which means Caravan narratives, will be held each year with a new story unfolding each time.

The changing face of Ladakh

The numbers of Cancer cases in India are surpassing the global average. Soon the country will have the dubious distinction of becoming the cancer capital of the world. By the year 2025 a 12.8 % increase is expected in the number of annual cancer cases estimated at around 1.57 million.
In the face of a breakdown of government hospital services and the rising cost of private hospital care, non profit organizations like Can Support are pivotal in filling in the massive gap in free home based palliative care. This documentary on Can Support helps us understand the importance of keeping such organizations well funded.

Random thoughts ..poetry

Dark side of existence

Indian Oil Corp - Sumita Singh Conversation with Sunita Kaul

Ladakh, the land of passes, situated in the north east part of India, extends from the Karakoram range to the north to the main Great Himalayas to the south.
Climate change, impacting its glaciers, is a major threat to the region as it faces floods, droughts, and landslides.
Ladakhi's want more control over policy decisions; are not satisfied with their recently acquired status of Union Territory as it does not give them law making powers. The Hill Development Councils can decide on how to dispense developmental funds but are unable to form policy. Sonam Wangchuk has long fought for legal protections to the region’s fragile ecosystem and its life-giving glaciers. Currently he is on a climate march from Leh, Ladak to Delhi. Making his way through difficult mountain terrain in sub zero temperatures, he is raising awareness about the rapidly melting glaciers and overall environmental degradation in Ladakh. I caught up with him on September 9th. Here is a recording of the interview with Sonam Wangchuk

Wangchuk's fight for Ladakh

My conversation with Muhyiddin Atiku Balarabe, of Political Pop.
Political Pop is a team of youths dedicated to promoting government affairs, politics, youth & women inclusion and social development.
His organization is on a mission to bridge the gap of lack of government information and misinformation among grassroots communities

Reiki is now used by a growing number of people around the world, who believe it helps with relaxation, anxiety, pain management, and depression.
However it is still considered pseudo scientific. To get an overview of energy healing I spoke with Tami Folkenflik movement and energy specialist based in St Petersburg, Florida. I also spoke to Nicole Macina, a young Reiki believer.
For theosophists and natural healers, Therapeutic Touch (TT) use of the universal life force as healing energy is an alternate branch of medicine.
Developed in the early 1970s TT is taught and practiced in Theosophical Society lodges throughout the United States and the world. Though Reiki is different from Therapeutic Touch both techniques promote relaxation and boost a person's self-healing abilities physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Though Reiki is different from Therapeutic Touch both techniques promote relaxation and boost a person's self-healing

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As the night approaches its first preteen hour, I step out for a breath of fresh air. The thin silvery sliver in a well lit sky belies my dark mood. As is my wont, I try to find a dark corner to communicate. Difficult task- even the school playground is so well lit. There are so many lights everywhere, its difficult to hide. Yet I had to find a dark spot- just to mingle with the dark. Do you know why just an open school playground with a few lights would not do? Perhaps its my disdain of electronic prying eyes! Perhaps its the human shadows always wanting to know, leaving no stone unturned to prowl even the deep dark recesses of dingy mundane human existence. Strange that I should be writing this blog- Being a business journalist most of my life, I hate unfolding my personal thoughts except on scraps of paper tucked away in unkempt plastic bags in some dark corner of my house. By now you may have understood my relationship with the dark. The dark never betrays you or so I thought! Anyway, coming back to my story. Eventually I decided to brace a bit of light and trace my steps back and forth in the school playground. What the hell - I could always duck the standing posts reflecting their ugly yellow halo ! That's precisely what I did. I squatted on the grass - just so that I diminished my physical stature and evaded the circumference of artificial human light. Glued to my ears my faithful i-pod. Lethal combination of raw emotion, blocked senses and a gaze transfixed beyond the human world. I was safe now and could be myself- just myself and yes confident that I had evaded the relentless electronic eye. My dear reader I am the sorts who has always learnt what is the simplest lesson for others, the most difficult way. Call it naivety or a lack of faithful comprehension of the complexities of modern world - I have many times fallen with a thud. I am also getting convinced that there is the hunter and the hunted. The more you look and behave like a deer, the more hunted you are. Is it the deer's fault, I keep debating with myself? Never found the answer to that one. Yes, indeed Im going to take up this battle with the God's but first I have to go through this life. Ah! again I diverted. So coming back to my story. Suddenly, in- fact barely a few minutes into my squatting position I saw a helicopter hovering in the sky. I did not bother- why should I? Woe! I should have. In an instant the helicopter was descending and a flood of light from the front of the helicopter, seered the playground. It was as if a hundred thousand bulbs were flashing. I was mooted - thinking this must be a falling meteor. But just a minute back I thought I had seen the helicopter high up in the sky- how could it get converted to this ball of white light descending from the sky? I am normally brave but this was not normal. I ran for dear life and vow! the light followed me . Were these aliens ? Honest to God that flashed in my mind!!!! The other thought that flashed was perhaps it's a meteor or a huge star falling from the sky. It is difficult to explain how low the helicopter was flying, how powerful the lights were and how dedicated they were in following me across the field. I felt like a trapped deer running from a thousand traps. I ran up a steep hillock and down and up and down and thought it was my imagination that the helicopter was following me. I must be mad to think that someone would be following an inconsequential me - and that too in a well known school playground. After a minute I was convinced I was in Iraq and the horror of it all- that they may strike me from the sky !!! This could not be Edmonton. Some strange quirk of fate must have transposed me to Iraq or Afghanistan. All this was passing through my mind in those two minutes which seemed like an eternity. So many emotions and scenarios flashed in my mind and I realised what it must be for thousands and thousands of poeple being haunted day in and day out by the helicopters of powerful nations in their own homeland. This could not be happening to me. This was a public place and I was doing what I do everyday- visiting the school park - albeit this once not walking but sitting on the grass and listening to music. It was not even eleven in the night. I was wondering whether I should - instead of running, fall flat on the ground. All survival techniques flashed through my mind! I wasnt sure what to do. Suddenly I saw a similar flashlight on the ground and for a moment I thought it was another helicopter. However I realised it was a human being flashing a powerful beam of light on me. It took me sometime to realise it was perhaps the police and I was being told to lie down on the ground and show them both my hands. I was numb. I fell flat on the ground and showed up my hands. I was wondering if they would shoot me or perhaps taser me and once again my mind travelled to Iraq and Afghanistan and I thought of the humiliation of decent men and women who perhaps have to go through this many times over and sometimes many times over in the length and breadth of the same day. The police officer came close and asked me why I was running. I told her I was scared. She was young and humane and beautiful and so polite. I was glad she was kind to me and explained that the helicopter in the sky belonged to the police and they were on some errand. That I should not run the next time as they would get the wrong signal. I did not mind her doing her job. Is that what its come to! Monitoring well lit parks at ten in the night. How safe is our city? This in a part of the city that is one of the safest- or so they say. Im convinced no one can escape the electronic eye-its omnipresent! One day perhaps I'd have mastered it enough to give it the slip. Sorry I wont share that secret lest Im tracked down! Freedom, freedom, freedom. Ah freedom in a free land. Ah for an inch of truely free land. Is there any left? No wonder I seek the solace of darkness. But now I know better. Or do I? If its a choice between a dark solitary corner and a repeat of this experience, I'd rather choose the latter. To watch the sky from a dark corner of the earth is truly the essence of my freedom! So what if I have to squat! I told you I am naive or perhaps I love the freedom of defiance! But I promise you the next time I get into trouble, I will not ask for your sympathy. This once its surely mine.

Fact or Fiction? You Decide!

admin June 7, 2024

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