Dreams in a Valley

There is a platform bearing a prayer wheel at the base of Diskit Monastery in Leh. It has ample space around it, where one can sit and relax before one begins the steep climb to the monastery up above.

I remember settling down by the prayer wheel, exhausted with all the heat and the uphill walking of the day.

A cool wind was blowing which instantly started working on my tired limbs, till I unconsciously slipped into a reclining position and drifted to a daytime reverie.

I was fully conscious of my shut eyes playing a kaleidoscope to the burning sun; the canvas a bright red pock-marked by specks of dusty light-flakes that moved about in a brownian motion and then fell down, strangely subservient to gravity.

I don’t know how long I lay reclining like that.

Finally when I opened my eyes, I was hypnotized by the sight that lay before me: The entire Nubra Valley lay spread out, the nearby town of Diskit, the Hunder beyond enclosed by mountains on all sides. There was the thread like river meandering its way across the valley, patches of miniature trees and houses that looked like blocks of colorful wood. I knew of the bustle of life that must be coursing through the valley, but from up above, it all looked so calm, so still and so… insignificant.

A part of my mind flew out to the valley, covering the entire stretch in giant circles, ascending in each round. The prayer wheel and the platform and my reclining figure kept getting smaller and smaller till it all was just a speck in the brown-green landscape, calm, still and so…insignificant.

I believe I dreamt then of a pale blue dot floating in a pool of infinity.