Leh’ed back and forth

Ladakh is breathtakingly beautiful. I mean every single word of it. The place takes your breath away. Quite literally. You experience mild asthmatic attacks even after doing something as banal as walking. Of course, the lack of oxygen at such a high altitude must be the culprit. But that’s not it. Your body often fails to fall in line with the laws of mountains which can result in headache, nausea, nose-bleeding, anxiety, vomiting, fever and weakness. There might be other effects as well but i experienced each of the above during the first two days of the ‘acclimatization’ process. What this term refers to is the period and precaution your system take to adapt to the weather up there. The usual tip handed to a tourist is “Lie on your bed as much as possible” and “Sip water/fluids as much as possible”. Guess what? Both tasks are impossibly boring in nature. Especially when you can see apples and apricots hanging onto the tree right outside your hotel window. Apparently, the trick is to curb excitement and channel one’s energy very wisely. I couldn’t. And by the time i was ‘acclimatized’ enough to call myself a Ladakhi, i was already flying to Mumbai via Delhi.