The word library implies a quiet kingdom of towering shelving guarded by an aged woman with a loose white bun and glasses behind a circular desk. Amid the maze of stacks usually stand several tables designed as a quiet space for hardworking students to escape from distractions and concentrate on their important school work. Every educational institution provides its students with this important space and SECMOL, a school in Ladakh, India, has an area for this purpose as well. In the late afternoon, with a pile of assignments of my own to complete, I head to the refuge of the library to get some much needed work done.              

Through the swinging doors and to the left is a central island of eye level shelves of worn books with stripped labels down the spine. A narrow corridor leads to an open room littered with styrofoam squares and sleeping students surrounded by windows on all three sides. No tables or chairs here, just a wooden floor and a sunny spot on a mat. The glass wall lets in all the warmth and light from the sun but blocks the whipping wind and the sounds of the pickup frisbee game and the banging of the pump in the far corner of the field. Through the open doors, leak the sound of female Ladakhi voices, and the beat of an itunes playlist but the only internal noise is the rhythmic heavy breaths of the siesta participants. It is a good environment to do work, facing row upon row of books away from the Himalayans somehow gets those juices flowing. On the other hand, the still warmth and bright rays cause quite the drowsy influence.              

It is hard to find a comfortable position in which to write and study in. Cross legged, and on my knees, I am constantly moving around. Restless in the late afternoon, the drug which has all of these slumbering students under its grasp is taking its hold on me as well. As I finally take position myself on my stomach, it is not long before I am fighting to keep my eyelids open. This library, though generally quiet and almost empty, appears to be the perfect place to get some work done. In fact it has one of the greatest distractions of all as displayed by the students choosing to spend their afternoon on the hard wooden floor in the sun. It is not long before I am overtaken in the warmth and transported to the land of dreams.