Tweet Are you planning to visit Ladakh and drive to its various attractions? Here is a guide based on my personal journeys in Ladakh. Enjoy the drive on Kunzum Route K12. The route takes covers the following circuit (not necessarily in this order): Delhi – Kullu – Manali – Jispa – Sarchu – Leh – Pangong Tso – Tso Moriri – [...]
Tweet High quality, archival prints of this image are for sale. Ordering info is given at the end of the post.
Tweet If you walk up the mountains from Hemis monastery, you’ll reach Gotsang cave, about 2 km away. Buddhist monk Gyalwa Gotsangpa meditated there in the 13th century. Monks do so even today. Anyone will tell you this. But Tashi, a local cabbie, has more to tell. These lamas, called Tubas according to him, meditate for years on end, wearing [...]
Tweet Many monasteries in Ladakh were plundered by invaders over the centuries. The one at Chemde, or Chemrey stayed safe. How? A tale worth telling. Seems the Mongols laid siege on Chemde in the late 17th century. He was outnumbered but that didn’t stop the head lama from outsmarting the outsiders. From afar, he shot the Mongol king’s tea cup [...]
Tweet This shot of Buddhist nuns was captured during the annual festival of the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh. Click on the image for a larger view. You can view and order more such images at the Kunzum Gallery.
Tweet This photograph of the masked dancer was taken at the annual festival of the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh. It has also been selected for a permanent display at the Museum of Cannes, France. Click on the image for a larger view. You can view and order more such images at the Kunzum Gallery.
Tweet Click on any images for a larger view It’s rare to see nuns conduct prayers at a Buddhist set-up. At Shey’s Naropa Palace, you’ll find this rarity. About 50 nuns live in and manage the palace built just before the Ornaments of Naropa ceremony in 2004. This event, held every 12 years, was till then celebrated at Hemis but [...]
Tweet Click on image for a larger view For 800 years, the Drukpa lineage has been the most popular Buddhist sect. But now, it’s transcending its traditional role. It’s engaging with society. It’s telling people to “Live to Love”. Its spiritual leader, His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, says: “Tibetan Buddhist masters have been perceived as a closed community, removed [...]
Tweet Click on any images for a larger view Faith moves mountains, they say. And if you’re a follower of His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, you’ll probably scale mountains, following him on an overwhelmingly arduous 400-km, six-week trek. This year, the pad yatra (walk by foot) on the world’s rooftop started at Manali in end-May to culminate in Hemis [...]
Tweet When a seven year old lama cries for his family, how do the senior lamas handle it? They give him a sweet to pacify him. If that does not work, a little whack behind the ear certainly does. [Click on the images for a larger view] Jigmet and the other lamas, all in their late teens to the early [...]
Tweet It is not very often that one gets an opportunity to meet someone of the stature of His Holiness, the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, head of the 800 year old Drukpa lineage. I did for an exclusive one-on-one chat on the eve of his pad yatra from Manali to Leh starting on May 23, 2009. Click here to know more [...]
Tweet Running a marathon can be a challenge under the best of conditions. Imagine doing so at over 11,000 feet. I had heard of the annual marathon in Ladakh but I was not sure if they ran the full distance of 26 miles 385 yards or did they give concessions to the runners. So I decided to personally attend the [...]
TweetThis image was taken by me at Hemis Monastery near Leh in Ladakh on the occasion of their annual festival in June 2008. It had started raining on the day – totally unseasonal in this cold desert area, and despite the Lamas (Buddhist monks) being sure it never rains on the festival weekend – and everyone was waiting for the [...]
TweetSpare the rod and spoil and child. Heard this? Likewise, the lamas (Buddhist monks) seem to believe in the power of the whip to maintain discipline at the monasteries. But it does not come with just the fear factor: it is a way to get a blessing too. At the annual festival of the Hemis Monastery located near Leh in [...]
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