“The Impassioned Nomads”

 Pastoralists are one of their kinds, one of the pastoralist communities called “Changpas” in Indian Himalayas works in harsh climatic conditions with minimal sources. This is what I call Minimalism and self sustaining lives.

source: tribalstuff.in, hindustantimes.com, gulftoday.ae, news.yahoo.in, thetextileatlas.com, gaatha.com

Talking about the Changpas who are from Ladakh,  one of the extreme places. Nothing stops this community to produce the finest pashmina wool.  They experience a lot of icy winds and showers of snow migrating from one pasture to the other.  They mainly have fleet of sheep, goats as their cattle. Their possessions are all that their cattle can carry.  They are known to be settled somewhat in eighth century to build a market for butter, milk and wool. They have well organised spaces like their octagonal tents called Robu are warm.  They usually carry small worship places with them by that i mean relics of their beliefs (Dalai Lama) which shows their religious belongings towards Buddhism. Sustainability is their main key, they have chimneys that spouts out all the smog inside their tents. They don’t really use maps but they know the spots where they place their tents maybe through some references or maybe it is their cognitive knowledge of that place.  It is a different way of interacting and living with nature. It seems uncomfortable and difficult but nomads do it with ease as they have freedom of organizing a space in their own manner. As everybody has a spot, they also try to build one on their own.