First Lesson

For science class this morning, the whole bunch of us American students and teachers - 15 in total – were led through a detailed walking tour of the SECMOL Campus’s solar technologies. The purpose was to begin to understand and appreciate the energy and design principles that have been successfully implemented on the Campus over the past 15 years, so that perhaps during the course of our semester we (Americans) might be able to contribute to the massive ingenuity that already exists here. Our guide for the morning was Acho Norgay, the 25-year old former SECMOL student who now coordinates, engineers, and teaches the science and technology program on the campus. Norgay is one of those all around spontaneous, ingenious souls who intimately understands problems on the ground from a local perspective, yet can and does tackle them with new and innovative ideas and practices. He comes across as a careful contemplator of whole systems, and definitely not as one who is inclined to be wooed by foreigners and their dreams of progress. He understands the underlying dynamic of any development scheme whether it be indigenous or externally mandated; namely that building cooperative human relationships is the crucial foundation, the alpha and omega of any successful project.

Before setting out on the tour this morning, Norgay informed us quite succinctly that no matter what we attempt to do here – from the everyday chores and maintenance responsibiltities to the semester projects including the installation of a new solar water heater and insulated greenhouse – we must first develop our own capacity to relate. We must first put ourselves on common ground with the Ladakhis who have successfully invented and managed this place from scratch. To find that equal footing should not be difficult per se, but potentially it will require of some of us a fairly radical shift in style and approach. The main lesson I got out of Norgay’s introductory talk – clearly supported by my actual experience of the past week - was that essentially anything is possible here if we begin with the effort to understand and communicate our desire to help, and of course that the assertive, self-assured (American) approach should be dispensed with immediately. This all may sound quite obvious to someone who is not intensely personally and physically involved in the life of Ladakh, but for me it has indeed been the most fundamental of learnings thus far. And finally, I am starting to get it. First observe and then get involved on their terms and offer new ideas and innovation when possible. This could be summarized as active cooperation. The systems here are already highly developed, complex, and extraordinarily successful considering the extremes of life in Ladakh. The physical parameters of climate, resource availability, general remoteness, and exposure are enough to make me question at times why people decided to settle up here in the first place. Tenuous is the word. And with that thin thread of physical subsistence, people here are of course - as it has been said many times over - some of the most vibrant and happy in the world. It is an obvious irony and one that needs to be personally reconciled over time with an understanding of Ladakhis’ attitudes and philosophy toward life. Regardless of my own process of coming to terms with the culture I find myself in, our group's overall ability to blend and settle in with SECMOL students is uncanny. Right now, they’re all downstairs having a big Valentine’s Day dance party and there’s no way I can go on writing this and ignoring all the laughter and music. Plus the cake is coming out soon and I haven’t had a proper dessert in a month… so Happy Valentine’s day from Shangri La.