O Rigzen! Julley
Really? What is it? I am excited.
No. How will I have any friends there?
oh wow! What has he written about?
Absolutely!
Julley Tashi!
I have interesting news to share with you today
Do you have friends in the city?
I received a letter from my pen-pal who lives in Mumbai. He has written a letter for all of us.
Would you like to read it yourself?
My dear friends of Spiti valley,
Hello everyone, how are you all doing?
I am writing this letter to tell you what I have learnt about the ghost of the mountains of Spiti or the Snow Leopard. I have learnt that Snow Leopard are amazing big cat species and they are so talented; they use their mind and eyes as GPS and they camouflage brilliantly in their habitat.
The ecosystem is fragile and there might be a lot of predicament in those areas especially pertaining vegetation - you all have less vegetation and the diet includes mostly meat. As much problem you all have for vegetation the conditions for animals is also the same. I assume sometimes the Snow leopard would have entered the human settlement for the food and killed several goats or sheep. The people in those areas might have suffered a huge loss.
If you all ever caught the snow leopard please don’t kill it because they also did it for their living. Else you all can use solutions like making bigger fences for the sheep or goats or send sheep in the mountains so that the leopard does not come to the human settlement, don't lose their hunting skills or they don't get dependent on it. I hope you will follow these solutions or find your own ways to protect it.
I have heard a lot about you all and will soon come to visit.
Yours lovingly,
Rahul
Truly agree with what he said. We live in a beautiful world amid mountains. It is precious and we should protect it.
I think Rahul must also wonder what it is like to live in the high mountain villages. Let's read Pasang Lhamo’s illustrative account about her village to know more about the mountain way of life. She is from Lalung village in Spiti.
My Village
By Pasang Lamo
Home
My village has only one house - my home. I can see mountains from my house. There is a lot of greenery around my house. The colour of my window is black. We dry grass on top of our roof. There is also a ladder, umbrella & a solar panel on top of our roof. There are walls in front of our house where we keep our sheep and goat.
Corral
We have a corral in our house where we keep our goats. There are two trees in front of our house. We have 9 goats. Around the walls of corral, grass and small flowers grow which are eaten by our goats. We rear goats because we depend on them for their milk, wool & meat.
Fields
We grow green peas in our fields. The pea that grows in our village is sweet. The pea plant has white colour flowers. I love to eat peas. The fields of my village are laden with greenery. There are also many flowers around the fields.
River
Near the fields is a river. There is a bridge to cross the river which is made of wood. The water is very cold. We wash our clothes in the river. The river water comes from the melting glaciers on top of the mountains. There is a lot of greenery and flowers on the other side of the river.
Forest/pastures
Kids go to the pastures early in the morning to graze the livestock and get the livestock back in the evening. Kids play and sleep under the tree in the pastures during the day. We also enjoy climbing trees. We love going to the forest and playing with each other.
I love my village and I love living here with my family and friends.
Activity
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Do you like writing letters? Write a letter to an anonymous friend and tell them about your hometown, what is it like living there, the natural surroundings and what you like most about it.
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Send your letter or mail it to us with your proper address and wait to hear from your new friend!
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Email: himkathaindia@gmail.com
Attributions:
Green Compass - Letter by Rahul
Let's Open A Book - Pasang Lamo's Short Story
Illustrations: Rohit Rao, Pasang Lamo