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One Year In Ladakh I never imagined myself to live for one year in the majestic beauty of Ladakh. To experience first snowfall of my life in an ancient cave in Ladakh. To call one of the oldest monasteries of India as home. To skate above a frozen lake in minus 25 degree Celsius. And most importantly to experience such an amazing culture. I was extremely happy on receiving scholarship to stay and study for one year in Ladakh. It gave me goose bumps to just imagine me living in the land of snowcapped mountains and the mighty Indus River looking above at the see of stars. I took a leap into the unknown. Without any experience or interest in entrepreneurship, I jumped on the plane to spend one year in Ladakh! I was going to Ladakh on my first flight ever. Ladakh welcomed me with hundreds of beautiful unexplored mountains, clearest skies, clouds within reach and breathlessness. I was exploding with excitement after reaching Hemis monastery, my home for the next year. I was jumping inside my room seeing a majestic range of mountains through my window. I was dying to explore this 1000 year old monastery. So I started my exploration but after climbing my first stairs, I felt a sudden rush in my head. My limbs got weak and my head dizzy. I just sat down on a bench nearby. Gasping for breath. All the advices to rest for 1 day were coming back to me. With a heavy head and breathlessness I retired back in my room. And spent my first day, as everyone shouldin Ladakh, sleeping. One year in Ladakh was a year of firsts. My first time in ladakh, first flight, first hike to an ancient cave for meditation, first snowfall and first sex. And the most amazing one of them was my first snowfall. It was raining cats and dogs in Hemis Monastery. I with my four friends decided to hike to ‘Gotsang’. Gotsang is a cave where a deity of Buddhist tradition used to meditate. It is situated in the mountains above the Hemis Monastery. So we started our journey up in this rainy weather. In the season of autumn, it was beautiful to see the trees with yellow wet leaves. As we went up and up, the rain droplets were decreasing. We reached a place where the rain droplets changed into snowflakes. I could not believe my eyes. I have never experienced this magic of nature before. As we reached the cave, everything was covered with snow. The trees, the stairs, the roof of monasteries, and the rocks everything was white. I had never seen something so beautiful! The best thing to experience in Ladakh is their culture, traditions and the community itself. I was lucky enough to visit numerous villages in Ladakh and get immersed in their culture. I visited Changthang, a remote region of Ladakh, for a week. Home to the Changpa tribe, one of the largest nomadic tribes of the world. It was one of the coldest and harshest region of Ladakh. I was overwhelmed with the hospitality and kind nature of the people there. A village resident on hearing that I could not travel to the astronomical observatory, came to take me there in his car. Unknown people invited me for dinner. They made me feel like at home! I can write on and on about Ladakh and my experiences there. But I think these stories explains the zest of my experience there. Majestic beauty with mountains so big that makes you look so small. Hospitality that makes you feel at home. And breathlessness that keeps you fighting for your life!