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What a beautiful world ! #1 – Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan
India’s neighbor, and erstwhile inseparable part of the family is no different when it comes to being blessed with an abundance of natural beauty. How naive it is though, to be a tiny part of a massive universe and see more of the differences between us than the similarities. In his series of photo essays from the magical land of Skardu-Baltistan (geographically contiguous with Ladakh and the Tibetan plateau), Bukhari gives us a glimpse of the treasures that his country, Pakistan, has been blessed with. After going through it, there lingers a romantic hope that someday, there will be no borders. “I was walking on a narrow strip, when a window of a nearby home…
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Leh market – An ode to the ancient silk road
A walk through Leh's main market is like taking a walk back in time, when Leh served as an important meeting point for traders on the ancient Silk Road and those from the Indian sub continent.
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The flight to Leh
Prologue The early hours of a Sunday in June. Delhi Airport. The 37 degree heat outside doesn’t seem capable of penetrating Terminal 1D though. Pretty soon a considerable queue builds up for a domestic flight. It consists of a motley group of Irish and Australian teenagers, Indians of all age groups of course, a few Europeans as well as a handful of Tibetan monks in their scarlet and brown robes. In no time, the flight is up in the skies, watching dawn break across India from 30,000 feet. For much of the 1 hour flight, a contiguous cloud cover prevents anyone from making out the landscape below. It is only a few minutes before landing is…
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Dreams of snow – a getaway to Himachal Pradesh
The mercury has touched the higher 30s here in Bangalore and there has only been a slight respite in the form of short drizzles. With very few destinations in south India that offer an escape from this heat (even the Nilgiris record temperatures in the high 30s during summers), the mind wanders on its own, to my getaway to Himachal Pradesh in north India and its blissful summer escapes. Images of snow capped peaks, the gorgeous yellow evening sunlight lighting up coniferous forests, sparkling morning dew drops and emerald green rivers flowing over rounded white stones keep cropping up every now and then. Such is the longing to get away…
