Aug 22,2001 Somewhere Over the Rainbow-The Magic of Music

There is a peace here I have never felt.

This is my second day in Leh and I got up early this morning and went down for e-mail and breakfast and had a nice few hour stroll through Leh, bought a few things, came back to Hi-Life restaurant for lunch of pasta (!) and came back to the room to rest but wasn't sleepy. Did yoga for about an hour and now I am sitting out on the roof top terrace where it has turned quite wintry. I am all hooded up in my new coat and woolen sox. They tell me it is now snowing over the passes we got through just 2 days ago and they might even be closed. We were lucky. It would have been nice to see the snow but not very nice to get stuck there!

I am now listening to my 6o's music on the walkman and writing and feeling quite pleased with myself. The flowers downstairs in the garden are amazing and I hope to try out my photography skills photographing them one sunny day!

It is hard for me to say how I am feeling. It is a little frightening being so far from home and thinking about shlepping around again in the hot places. It is so nice to be here where it is cool and even cold. It is very unusual weather for me since it is completely dry. I drink 4 liters of water a day and I am always thirsty. My skin is peeling and cracking but the air is so pure, crisp and clean, I wish I could take it home with me in a bottle. I really wish I could stay in a place like this for a long time but very soon it will be snowed over and we must get out before then. It is actually quite warm during the day when the clouds go away the sun is brutally hot and close by.

I think perhaps sometime when I get to Dharamsala or perhaps at this course in Ayurvedic Massage in Vashist near Manali I will have to go off on my own. I have to think of a way to get rid of some of the stuff I have here. It is too much.. don’t' know what to get rid of but when we get back to delhi after manali I will have to do something. Can't lug it all around with me for the rest of the trip. Will find out how to send some home.

Being here in Leh is something different. We have no phone, no TV, see no newspapers and we don't even have electricity for most of the day. The stores each have a generator and when someone wants to come in to buy, they turn it on. We have hot water a few hours each day as does the whole city so it's OK. The whole town is "open" only 3-4 months of the year . Then it basically becomes a ghost town until the following summer season.

I have a dry cough which I can't seem to get rid of...but it is not painful or anything, just annoying, Not the kind that keeps you up at nite. I sleep beautifully. It is probably from the extreme change in weather conditions..and my nose doesn't stop running!!

There is a peace here I have never felt.

Judy Garland just started singing "somewhere over the rainbow" and maybe that is what this is like...I've gotten to that place where the clouds are far behind me..."where troubles melt like lemon drops"...that's what I feel like. I wish I could just be here forever. I've flown over the rainbow like the bluebirds...but I have to come back one day. Now I know what chanale felt like here. The tears are flowing now but it is a beautiful feeling of release. I haven't felt in a long time. You never know what music will do to you and what song will do it when!

Listening to it again and again and crying..the words are just perfect. But I've already woken up beyond the clouds.. what a perfect song for this place.

Now just listening and enjoying...looking around at the mountain tops which I keep trying to photograph but I think it is impossible to capture anything near what this place is. 
It really is like a dream place beyond the rainbow. A place you must BE in to know
During the journey here I also took very few pictures because they could in no way capture the essence of this magical place. It truly is a privilege and a blessing that I've gotten here.
Time here is also something that is nothing close to the concept I've had of it all my life. I really have to make an effort to know what day of the week it is and the hours just go by in a totally different dimension. It is truly like being in a new dimension...nothing works the same as we know it in our world. I can already see what a problem it is going to be to come home, and also why people keep coming back here. I am already thinking of ways to save money to come here next year but earlier in the season so I can stay longer.