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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

English heavens gate material

HEAVEN’S GATE
PICO IYER
Summary:
The author had been to Ladakhi capita of Leh. He has observed around snowfields, with ragged prayer flags and Indian soldiers shivering in their camps. They moved along Nubra Valley. They have seen Buddhist Diskit gompa or temple. The high, dry region Ladakh in northern India that borders Tibet and is called ‘the world’s last Shangri-La’ and also described as the “land of high passes”. Ladakh also borders Pakistan. In official terms, Ladakh takes in the Muslim region of Kargil, so almost half its population is Islamic.
The author’s first day in Leh, he has observed the faces that spoke Lhasa, Herat even Samarkand. He has observed a scramble of dusty, mud-coloured buildings a few blocks along, an abandoned palace and temples. According to author street lighting did not arrive in Leh until the third year of Clinton administration. Internet cafes on every corner were also existed. The author also witnessed the great events of Ladakhi calendar, the Tse-Chu festival at Hemis. 90 percent of the audience members were foreigners at Tse-Chu and it was told that the party for the tourists only. Indeed, many of Ladakhi’s festivals, traditionally held in the winter when they don’t have to work in the fields.
One of the first Europeans to settle in Leh, Helena Norberg-Hodge, arrived in 1975 and set up an ecology center. The lampposts of Leh saying “Say No to Polythene”. Ladakh is a way to retrieve something lost, sustaining within us that, which once experienced, comes to seem as contemporary, as invigorating, as tomorrow.

1. What animals and trees did the writer find in the Nubra Valley?
A: When Pico Iyer began to edge down along a single lane towards Nubra Valley, he found marmots scrambling across his path. He saw wild asses in a distance. In a few places, fortress like, two storey white buildings were clustered together in patches of green in the middle, he found apricot trees and willows. In the dunes the writer observed two humped bactarian camels foraging. The writer identified that the pastoral existence is still preserved in Ladakh. The writer enjoyed the tree lined walks out of Leh the most beautiful place.
2. How did writer’s observation match description he had read of the way people live in Ladakh?
A: The writer had read in Andrew Harvey’s radian “Journey in Ladakh” that people lived in Ladakh as they lived several centuries ago in the white washed houses in the middle of fields of barley and wheat irrigated by cool snowmelt. When he travelled across Ladakh the writer found the pastoral existence still preserved. Workers often boasted about 24 hours cold water but street lights arrived only in third year of Clinton’s administration.

3. What did the writer discover to his surprise on reaching Ladakh, which he had imagined to have had no contact with other parts of the world?
A: Pico Iyer felt that Ladakh is something a test case what good as well as bad can be brought by travelers. Writer found signs flying from the lampposts of Leh saying “say no to polythene”. Writer also observed that plastic bags were probhited in the town. As soon as Iyer arrived at the airport, he was instructed about mindful tourism. He was also given a pamphlet asking him not to buy products from multinational corporations. These discoveries made the writer surprise, which he had imagined to have had no contact other parts of the world.

4. What do you think Pico Iyer means when he says “I saw faces that spoke lhasa, heart, even Samarkand”?
A: The writer was at Leh, on his first day at Leh he happened to visit the noisy crowded streets of central dag, he found women selling vegetables. He found people who spoke Lahsa, Heart and even Samarkand. he also found people who spoke Heart, a province of Afghanistan. He found people converse the language of Samarkand a largest city of Uzbekistan.


5. How do travelers to the ‘other worldly and highly magical’ Ladahk effect the people who belong there?
A: According to Pico Iyer, Ladakh is a remote but unusually underdeveloped “Paradise” to which people have their own different images of paradise. Ladakh is a secret treasure which exhibits all the paradoxes of civilization and discontents. He finds Leh the most beautiful place. Yet the traveler of other worldly a new restlessness to the people of Ladakh, as the narrow streets were filled with construction cranes. They realize that their tradition and culture may be abandoned. Even many of ladakh’s festivals which were traditionally celebrated in winter, when they had no work in the fields, have been moved to summer, only to grab the foreign attraction.

6. what does the writer tell us to show that while young people in Ladakh’s town prefer western ways of entertainment, when people in rural areas continue to enjoy their old, local forms of music and sports?
A: when Pico Iyer drove out to Henis to witness one of the great events of the Ladakhi calendar, the Tse Chu festival, which exhaled the traditional culture, the young girls and boys were busy selling necklaces and statues of Bhudda and mystical scroll and Cd’s. their selling aimed the tourists rather than exhalation of tradition and culture. Inside the temples courtyard the elderly masked Lamas danced and meditative movements Buddhist reformer.
The elderly women of the alliance strove hard to protect the traditional Ladakhi food, by constructing the first restaurant which would serve only the traditional food. In the coffee house, in the open mike night, Ladakh’s fashion conscious teenagers were fluent in every verse of hotel California. In rustic lanes, however people were working in the fields in their ancient styles. The writer also found musicians conducting tradition archery competition in the midst of dance and music. Thus the teenagers preferred western ways of entertainment people of rural areas continued to enjoy the old and local form of music and sports.
Bits:
1. Ladakh is the capital of Leh
2. Marmots, wild asses, or kiang Bactrian camels, apricot trees and willows appeared toward the Nubra Valley.
3. Ladakh was the high, dry region in northern India that borders Tibet
4. Ladakh was often called the world’s last Shangri-La
5. Ladakh was one of the planet’s great centers of Himalayan Buddhism
6. ‘Journey in Ladakh’ written by Andrew Harvey
7. Ladakh is described as the “land of high passes”
8. Ladakh borders Pakistan
9. Ladakh takes in the Muslim region of Kargil
10. Half of Ladakh’s population is Islamic
11. In Leh people speaking Lhasa, Herat, Samarkand
12. The son of the last king of Ladakh, Choegyal Jigmed Wangchuk Namgyal
13. The writer witnessed Tse-Chu festival at Hemis
14. Ladakhi’s festivals traditionally held in the winter
15. One of the first Europeans to settle in Leh was Helena Norberg-Hodge, arrived in1975
16. Helena Norberg-Hodge setup an ecology center in 1975
17. The lampposts of Leh saying “Say No to Polythene”
18. Plastic bags are prohibited in Leh
19. The author’s account of Ladakh is based on his visit to the place
Preparing traditional Ladakhi food is not easy because the ingredients are expensive

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4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Thank u, This material will help me a lot in 1st internals.
    Sir, Please can u upload the question & answers of all the lessons, Or else only the important points of the lessons & even non-detail(Inspiring speaches & life).

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  3. thax for providing me this material

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  4. thank u for providings this miterial

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