I first went to the Himalayas when I was 16. It was the first time I was in the mountains, the first time I saw hail and snow, slept in a sleeping bag, and the first time I went ten days trekking from campsite to campsite. I have been dreaming of the day that I could return to the mountains, and it finally happened this year, higher and further up north. In September, the boss, C and I made our way to Ladakh
(On work. Booyaaah), in conditions much less "campsite" than my last trip.
The most spectacular 360
° landscape ever, sun on my back, a decent stash of pens and TWO moleskine notebooks (gifts from the niece)...definitely the most I have drawn on a ten day trip.
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Essential accessory to intrepidity: Ray Ban stolen from dad.
The moleskines were the perfect ones for this trip. Blue and brown. Sky and Mountain. |
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| An unexpected start to the journey – Delhi airport throws a profound one our way |
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| Barely 20 minutes out of Delhi and we were over mountains, with no sign of anything else in sight |
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| Advaita love goes to a new level (quite literally). I swear Suspended was on loop in my head the whole time we flew over the mountains. |
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| Making the most of an opportune window seat flight. |
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| I stole an apple from this tree on our last day at Leh :P |
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A restaurant we found with great food and the most amazing view. We went there everyday for lunch and chocolate momos.
Yes, that's a thing. |
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| Testament to low levels of oxygen in the air, all the apples I ate stayed white. |
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| We got to Leh in time for the Ladakh Festival, an annual end-of-tourist-season event showcasing traditional arts and culture from the different regions of Ladakh. In a span of half an hour spent under a severely scorching sun, we got to see a few dances performed by people of Leh, Zanskar, Nubra and Tibet. |
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Did I expect to see a mosque bang in the middle of the Leh market? No.
Goes to show how little we actually know about a place till we get there. |
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| Old men and women in shades, hats and gonchas, walking around with a mane and prayer beads, resolutely circumambulating the monastery only to stop and turn the line of larger prayer wheels |
At the start of the trip, I thought carrying two notebooks – even if they were small and smaller ones – was ambitious. But by the end of my second day (day 1 - 1.5 was spent in room acclimating), I actually began to wonder if they would be enough. Book 2 in the next post >>
5 comments:
Really informative and nice sketches. Keep it up..!
Great sketches. I have a question stemming from amateur curiosity- what kind of pens have you used in this piece of work?
@Anandit: Thanks!
@SarangN: Thanks :) I wasn't sure what would not function in the lower air pressure there, so I stuck to my travel basics. The blacks (all the sketches basically) are with a set of pigment liners in different thicknesses (in this case, Staedtler); the colours are Faber Castell sketch pens and oil pastel crayons.
Love the quote about how we don' travel to escape, the masters application makes me realise that more and more. Ginger, lemon, honey took me back to McLeod. :) Love the sketches! We must travel to a zen place together sometime.
@K: The quote was such a surprise...it actually came one one of those display screens which were flashing advertisements the rest of the time.
Zen place trip is due, yes :)
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