Journey of a Lifetime

The roads in some parts of the Spiti Valley. Himalayas are rather basic. If you follow the road in the photo towards the center of the frame, you’ll notice that one wrong move and ... it’s “lights out”.

Around the Indian Himalayas new roads are constantly being built, old roads are being widened and maintained. Blasting away parts of the mountain are a part of the road-widening process. This image was taken about 15 minutes after such blast. You can see the impatient locals are crossing the debris before they have been cleared by a tractor. The whole process is surprisingly fast and efficient ... and pretty risky, as some loose rocks may still come off at any time.

Road workers hammering away at rocks on the side of the road. A lot of the workers in these parts are Nepali. They’re not necessarily from the poorest of the poor, rather they come to India because of their ambitions to earn more than they can back home. Their jobs are incredibly grueling and occasionally very dangerous. Instances of death from high altitude are not uncommon for workers from the plains.

I’ve always been surprised at the willingness of the people in India (and Nepal) to “collaborate” with a photographer on a photo. Here, this elderly lady stood still, even though I never asked her, while I took her photo. I guess it was just her way of accommodating me in the only way she could. Such small and somewhat unusual act also speaks volumes of the hospitality and kind nature of the people of the region.

The winding Himalayan roads took us to the village of Nako, where the children, almost oblivious to the passing by traffic play all sorts of games right in the middle of the road. A quirky and pretty sweet thing was the fact that none of the passing-by drivers ever knocked down the structure that the kiddies built in the middle of the road from small stones. I guess they all remember being kids once too.

Nako is one of the most photogenic villages I’ve ever stayed in. Just at the entrance, by the roadside is a little place called “The Tibetan Kitchen” where very photogenic locals regularly gather to play cards and do they play them with a passion.

It turned out that right in front of the gate to our guesthouse was one of the most picturesque spots in the entire village. The entire village’s cattle passed through there every morning, as they were being taken by a few shepherds to graze on whatever vegetation they could find in the mountains.

Exactly the same spot as above, on a different day. I’ve taken a few shots from there, some of which I still have to sort through. The goats and sheep in the Himalayas appear to be very curious creatures. My pants and shoelaces have constantly been munched on throughout our encounters.

Just a few steps away from “the spot”. Some of the cattle are a little stubborn, so this grandmother is giving them a helping hand.

During one of our days in Nako, we found out that there was a ceremony at the local Gompa, naturally, we decided to go and were quite surprised by the fact that none of the foreign visitors, of whom there were quite a few, actually gave a crap about seeing a part of the local culture. It was a pleasant surprise in a way, since I was able to pick my spots and create the images I wanted to, without anyone getting in my way, as was the case here.

I have to say that inside of the actual, new Gompa, where the prayers were taking pace, there is nothing particularly picturesque or amazing. Outside however, it seems that almost nothing has been rebuilt for hundreds of years. This certainly gives the place a real powerful sense of atmosphere. Seeing the faces and the textures you see here, only adds to that.

If you hang around long enough at these gatherings, there are always fascinating moments to be captured.

At the end of the day at the temple, the local ladies make new butter lamps.

I mentioned that the views are “not bad” almost everywhere you look. This one is from around the Gompa.

One wonder-around the village led us to this young boy who was bringing in his cattle after a day of grazing. Hardik chatted to him for a couple of minutes and soon we were inside the enclosure shooting some portraits of which this is one. When the boy’s mother came in, she invited us for tea inside their traditional home, which was a veeery welcome gesture, as it was getting damn cold outside.

The village of Nako feels very medieval in parts. The paths are laid out with stones and the houses are made from stones and mud on the inside, to keep the warmth. This little girl was impossible not to notice on my way through. Surprisingly, she did not even flinch as I got out the camera and took a few shots.

I mentioned that it’s possible to shoot for virtually the entire day. I’ll be doing a lot of after dark experiments on this trip and this was one of them. The traditional houses at Nako look pretty nice during any part of the day.

Back to the road workers. We found this small settlement of folks from Jaharkhand, one of the poorest states in India. They too have come to work one of the most difficult jobs in India with the hopes of earning higher wages and securing a more comfortable future for their families. As you can see, their shanty-homes are right by the road.

Until children reach school age they’re constantly around their mothers, even if the mother is at work building roads, working with heavy, dangerous tools. It’s a strange sight, which is hard to understand for a person from the Western world, but it is comforting to know that a lot of the kids will go to school and will stay with relatives, when time comes.

Gompas and prayer flags are dotted along the roads which connect the settlements of the Spiti Valley. As we were approaching the town of Tabo, I couldn’t resist getting off the bike to take this photo. Coincidentally, the lady at the Gompa also recommended to us what turned out to be the best place to stay in town.