whereswallytheresheis

“You have to come with me. It’s unreal!” my friend, appearing out of nowhere and in a frantic tone said. I was not perplexed. I am busy wringing out the last bit of water from my underwear so it could dry overnight. I stared at her with a blank expression. “Now!” she said. She’s adamant. I quickly hang my laundry in a makeshift clothesline.

We were in a small traditional village in the Himalayas, where the towering snow capped mountains imposes its presence every day, where I live in a wooden house designed in a unique way to whether any kind of storm and where the locals are garbed in a handmade woolen fleece from their own flock. For a girl who grew up in a city full of towering buildings, skies thick of smog, and have never seen a lick of snow, what could be more unreal?

Before I knew it, my friend was headlining back to where she came from. Attempting to make her steps bigger as she walks. I decided to follow. The path to wherever she wants to take me is becoming narrower and steeper as we trudge along, one wrong step and I can end up at the bottom.

Soon after, we stopped in front of a shepherd, beard covering his face, teeth stained red by chewing betel nut, nails dirty of soil, spooling yarns of wool using his traditional stick and standing near his flock. We buttered “Namaste!” in an effort to let our presence known, as if asking for a go signal that we are not intruding a private moment.

“Watch this,” said my friend. One of the sheep tried to leave the flock, slowly walking astray, until its not part of the group anymore. The shepherd, instinctively hollered, “baa-baa”. My mind tried to grasp the scenario, “wait, what’d he just do? Did he just speak in..” “Yep!” my friend cutting me off nodded. Imitating a tonal voice of a sheep, “baaa! baaa!” said the shepherd. This time, firmly, addressing the sheep to get back as soon as possible. The sheep heard his master.

In this little village where nature abounds and traditional life still pretty much evident, the sheep and the shepherd found a way to understand each other. I blinked, observing a once in a lifetime spectacle.

The shepherd put the wool he was spinning on the ground. He cupped his palms together, brought it closer to his mouth and started to hum. The magnificent mountains echoed the sound, reverberating what seems to me a melody that can only be orchestrated smoothly between nature and man. A simple yet complex nature melody that to this day, I will never forget.