'Stupa'ndous
Ancient stupas line up along the Leh-Manali Highway
Lighting up the Roof of the World
The humble lightbulb competing against the weak winter sun to light up the Leh market area.
Pagal Nala Redux
Senses are stunned when one comes up on miles of frozen marshland deep inside the unknown. Will they or won't they (bear one's weight that is) is the predominant question in one's mind as the heart races in nervous anticipation. Some good karma perhaps, this time one comes through unscathed...
So, Pangong Tso
Ice, water, blue skies, gravel - one gets all of it and more at the famed Pangong Tso as winter tightens its grip, slowly and steadily freezing everything on its way
Desolation is not such a bad thing...
Do you ever feel lonely, she asked. Only around people, he said A lonely stretch of dirt road connecting Pangong to Chushul.
Icy Graveyard
Ice forms in to slabs along the banks of Pangong Tso. While the temperature freezes the water, the wind carries all that is frozen and weak along with it to deposit on the shores.
Woolly Hare
I sit, frozen, taking advantage of the only cover of grass for miles and miles. Yet, you find me. Am I such relief from the startling blue and the stark white?
Serrations
Mountains, Ice, crisp air - everything in sharp contrast.
Defiance
The harbingers of a winter storm on the horizon add weight to a defiant performance against a weak sun.
Flame Red Fox
Fire streaks across loose scree, here a minute, there a minute. Its a fox and hare game this!
Tso Moriri - at long last
The journey is long and tiresome, through deep gorges and high passes. But every inconvenience is worth it when I finally lay eyes on your enormity, for where there is no pain, there is no gain.
The title practically writes itself...
No 2 minutes are the same on your ever-changing face. Your reflections are what force me to pause and reflect.
The all-seeing Eye
All that is frozen and all that will thaw...
Mesozoia...
A dinosaur struggles to break free from within the frozen lake bed....
Abstraction
You can see a shattered mosaic or a beautiful abstract which no human can design with such exquisite perfection. Frozen ice over Tso Moriri
All that glitters is not gold...
...some of it is even better!
Tundra Swordfish
Eruption
In Changthang, water and steam erupt in to the skies notwithstanding the freezing temperatures outside. The weather is so cold that at times they land back to form these blue, radiant ice towers that are a sight to behold. One could keep admiring these structures for hours together if not for the cold which threatens to engulf and freeze any stationary being. The only choice for a wayfarer is to keep moving and keep the circulation flowing. Body heat is the only succor!
Freedom
A lone shellduck takes flight in to crisp, cold mountain air. Is there a better feeling?