Amidst the mists & through the treacherous trails that lead you to the highest vantage points on earth, life goes on quite differently than ours.Fortunate enough not to be enslaved by our obsessive modernity, contentment is relatively simpler to find. The climates are harsh, but equally strong is the power of our adaptability. This shepherd whom I encountered a couple of years ago during a trek in the Himalayas has no interest in shifting to an ‘easier’ environment of the cities. He didn’t agree to a portrait initially, saying what’s the use of it – after a bit of talking, he agreed but only to humor me.

The ruined remains of what was once a bustling capital city almost a thousand years ago. As the time flies by, and so do the clouds above, there is an eerie stillness of being caught up in a time warp here. As if you are somewhere you ought not to be, somewhere outside of time itself, and perhaps, just perhaps, you are not really there.

The stories, before being forgotten, are often etched deep.

Even in an ancient capital city that ceased to exist almost a millennium ago, a boy sits till his family’s cattle graze. Amidst the tattered stones of the archaic structures grows wild grass – a luxury in the middle of a desert. Walking for miles in temperatures nearing fifty centigrade isn’t anything extraordinary for him – the cattle have to be fed.

Muted & Deafened by Life. Strengthened by the jolts of experiences.