India’s Himalayan region of Ladakh , or Little Tibet, one of the highest regions of the world, was isolated from the outside world until opening to development and the global economy in the 1970s. Since then, high up on the Tibetan Plateau, I have come to know people who had never been colonised or ‘developed’; they were still living according to their own values and principles. Today, that has changed due to a global economy that fosters competition, and where consumerism is shaping cultures.
This is what I have learned. In yesteryear Ladakh, culture was so attuned to the needs of people and the environment that – with only scarce resources available locally – the Ladakhis managed to attain almost complete self-reliance: they were dependent on the outside world for just salt, tea and a few metals for cooking utensils and tools. Yet they enjoyed more than mere subsistence.
By adapting their activities to the difficulties of their natural environment and the rhythm of the seasons, the Ladakhis had a remarkably high standard of living. There was no poverty or hunger. They worked at a gentle pace and enjoyed a surprising amount of leisure time.
Despite a harsh and barren environment with extreme temperatures and almost no rain, the Ladakhis of the past were prospering; they were the freest, most peaceful and joyous people. Their happiness translated into a remarkable tolerance — an acceptance of difference and of adversity. The traditional way of life was based upon .