Caman The Enjaiment #1
Like I mentioned earlier, many Ladakhis are adherents of Tibetian Buddhism. It is a custom among Tibetian Buddhists that one of the younger children in every family enters a monastery and is ordained as a Lama. Children are taken to one of the many Tibetian settlements around India to be initiated into the monastic way of life.
We met a whole busload of children, accompanied by an elderly Lama, on their way to a settlement in Orissa. A life full of meditation, deep learning, chanting and philosophy lay ahead of them. One could hardly have thought that of the jolly, rosy-cheeked children who ran around and played in the freezing cold.
Future religious scholars, all of them. Well, except Ranga and Prashi!
More plains! More is pronounced mo-ray, it rhymes with essay.
When I reached here, I stopped and killed the engine. In an instant, all audible signs of the dominant species was lost. The whistling of the wind, the rustling of the grass and the occasional bleat of a sheep were all I heard. I closed my eyes, and in my head I could hear the distant strains of a piano:
"Cantata No. 208: Sheep may safely graze" - Johann Sebastian Bach.
Like the good book says…
- The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
- He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name' sake.
- Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
- Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
- Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
–Psalms 23