Nature: The First Teacher

Story Three

Shariq Ali
Valueversity

Children who grow up in Ladakh learn to grow up early.

If they do not learn to read the sky, the weather catches them by surprise.

If they do not understand the snow, the roads close before them.

If they do not learn the value of water, even spring can leave them thirsty.

I did not learn these lessons from a book.

The mountains taught them to me.

After arriving at SECMOL (Sonam Wangchuk’s educational institute in Ladakh), one morning I noticed something unusual. The sun had not yet fully risen, yet the walls of our classroom were not cold.

I placed my hand on the wall.

I was astonished.

Outside, the ground was covered with snow.

Inside, the children’s hands were warm.

I kept wondering.

How could this be possible?

Later that day, Sonam Wangchuk took us outside the building.

He gave no lecture.

He simply looked at the sun, then at the wall, and finally at all of us.

Then he said:

“Every place has its own textbook.

The textbook of Ladakh is the nature of Ladakh.”

For the first time, I looked carefully at the school building.

Its large windows faced the sun.

Its thick earthen walls absorbed heat throughout the day.

At night, that stored warmth slowly spread back into the rooms.

I was amazed.

We had not defeated the cold.

We had learned to live with it.

From that day onward, both my eyes and my mind began to see differently.

I realised that it was not only teachers who taught here.

The sun taught.

The wind taught.

The snow taught.

The water taught.

Here, every season arrived carrying a lesson.

And every mistake became preparation for the next season.

One evening, I was sitting on the hostel rooftop, watching the sun disappear behind the mountains.

Suddenly, I remembered my old report card.

The one with a single word written across it in red ink:

FAIL

I smiled.

That day, I had failed an examination.

But Ladakh…

Ladakh never failed me.

Every day, it taught me something new.

And for the first time, I realised that perhaps the world’s greatest teachers are not always human.

Sometimes…

Nature itself is a great teacher.

To be continued…