2 Days in Rumbuk

We arrived in Rumbuk around lunch time on Saturday after walking for three hours. Right after being served tea, cookies, and a lunch of yellow rice, we decided to get right outside in the wonderful weather to check out the village. Nora, Laura, and I left our house that was at the top of the hill and walked over an unplanted field to get to a tiny stream on the other side of the narrow valley. After realizing that beautiful rocks with crystal pieces lay along the side of the stream, I got addicted to walking with my head down next to it trying to find the best rocks. We decided that we thought some of the best rocks might be hiding so we plopped ourselves down in a pile and starting searching through them. After awhile searching for rocks just turned into sitting and enjoying the sun and the beautiful view of the village.
From where we sat we could see all of the houses of the village, all clumped together on one hill with little stone enclosures in between for the many cows, donkeys, goats, and sheep. Little dirt paths led between the enclosures and were like magical alleyways perfect for exploring. The narrow valley, with a few small fenced areas for the animals and fields that would soon be plowed and planted, lay between the houses and us. The fields seemed to disappear in between two mountains farther up the valley. Some of the mountains were brown with snow still in the crevaces and some were a deep purple color. We watched lambs graze on the grass in front of us and gigantic dzos (a cross between a yak and a a cow) pass by gracefully.
The next morning, the whole the VIS group, except for Pheylan, one Ladakhi SECMOL student, and me , departed down the road for the two hour walk back to SECMOL. The plan was for the two of us to stay one more night to get further information for our exhibition. We waved and said our goodbyes to the rest of the group. It was a strange experience having them leave without us. It felt like we were villagers ourselves, wishing the foreigners a safe journey back. We were alone in Rumbuk!
For my exhibition I am learning about the Ladakhi language. This includes learning how to speak more of the language, as well as the history of the language and how it is used today in comparison to Tibetan, Hindi, and English, the three other prominent languages in the area. To get information about the history and politics of the language I will speak with scholars in Leh, but staying in a village by myself was the perfect way to force me to speak Ladakhi!
I practiced saying phrases that I knew but wouldn’t have had to say if I wasn’t alone as well as learning new words through our little yellow Ladakhi book and through pointing or making gestures at things. The best part of my day alone in Rumbuk was when I passed a village woman working next to her green house. I asked her if she wanted help with her work, “nga nerang-a las yato choya?” She put me right to work shoveling! It was nice to be able to help her, and after a little while we both sat down and took a break together. While we were resting we sort of had a conversation that I think was understood by both of us which was really exciting! I told her that there were three cows at SECMOL plus a new baby calf that was born while we were away on our Changtang Trek.
Before I went to help the village woman, I had set my notebook with all my Ladakhi notes down on the steps to one of the houses. I returned to find it almost unrecognizable. Some goats or sheep decided that it was very tasty! At first I just thought it was very dirty, but then I realized that the only section that was missing was the one that I had taken ALL my notes in! Ah! It was a little upsetting but more just funny. Thankfully I hadn’t taken too many important notes yet.
I am really glad that I spent the night in Rumbuk by myself. It was a great way to start speaking in Ladakhi and prepared me for a longer homestay, which I hope to do in the next couple of weeks. I came back to SECMOL without a lot of notes (I won’t leave my notebook unattended again) but with a funny story, the feeling of accomplishment because I was able to have a conversation in Ladakhi, and a bunch of really cool rocks.
Ella Hayslett