Crossing The Canyons

The Tribesmen Of Hor

The sun loomed down on the horizon; it tethered between the ridges and steadily and stiffly diminished.The tribesmen started laying their beds before the wolves came and devoured the sheep and dzo.

The change in weather was clear, it was icy cold, and the peonies growing in the meadows of Utpa had withered.The moon pushed up from the horizon alongside the glittering, sublime stars. And, just after a minute, the sky altered from clear to star-strewn.

The reflection of the star-strewn sky was visible in the waters of the Lake Mapam. Tenzin sat on the smooth slope near the prairie, on which the tribesmen lay, sleeping in their tents.Tenzin rose from his idle position and picked up a pebble lying near the waterfront, he swung his arm and thrust the pebble into the lake.

The waves formed by the pebble rippled inside the lake's surface. For a flash, Tenzin had an urge to plummet into the lake and start swimming.The migration season was impending, in which the tribe of Hor moves from western Tibet, and journeyed to Ladakh, which lay beyond the border of India.

The glacial shift in the weather was apparent. The cloud-touching mountains were covered in snow, and the sacred Lake Mapam was starting to freeze.Tenzin glanced at the washes of the freezing lake Mapam, he stood up from the gentle slope and took a dip in the waters of the lake Mapam.

Anyone who had taken a dip in the holy washes of the lake Mapam was cleared of all sins and they go to the Tusita Heavens which lay on a lily.He had taken numerous dips in the holy lake Mapam but didn't feel like that any development has happened on his spirit.

Tenzin was always inquisitive about spirits. He was unlike his tribe; he didn't like to migrate each winter and wanted to settle on the foot of the Himalayas.Tenzin started to feel drowsy, he slowly lowered his head and sprawled on the pastures of the gentle slope.

He gaped at the star-strewn sky; he had a hunch about constellations and galaxies once when his uncle visited him and gave him a volume about the universe.Slowly, Tenzin fell asleep.


The next day, Tenzin, who was sleeping on the slope was aroused by the drizzling. "Rain, and near Lake Mapam, impractical," said Tenzin, staring at the clouds.He stood up from his haunches.


He sauntered up to the meadows where the tribesmen were still sleeping peacefully in their tents. The sheep which were leashed to an encircling started shouting. He will have to shear them, they were overgrowing wool.

Then, after a second, the tribesmen scampered out of their tents, awakened by the drizzling, which had intensified over time. "It has not rained in a long time, here at Mapam"," I wonder, maybe the winters are approaching, We will have to migrate, I fear"

When Tenzin heard the word-'Migrate', his face transitioned from cheerful and energetic to dull and tame. The tribesmen started going on their daily errands, they washed themselves in the Lake Mapam, ate their breakfast and scurried out of the Tent Area.

Some went to watch over the sheep as they grazed, while some went to the other side of the Lake Mapam to catch fish. The women were sitting near the tents, cooking food for the husbandmen and plucking berries.

The daily diet was berries, fish, and pepper sauce. The sun lifted from between the mountains and the day dawned. The precipitation, which was steadily growing, intensified, but it was not enough to stop the husbandmen and the women from carrying out their daily tasks.

The working day was divided in two parts, the first part, in which the husbandmen return home to eat their lunch, they leave again and come back for their dinner, and then the workday ends.

Tenzin went to the tents to devour his lunch, he had forgotten to eat his dinner as he had gone to catch fish last night. Then, the husbandmen came, with passels of wool and fish, and wheat.