In July this year, I spent a week travelling through the high Himalayan region of Lahaul & Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. This was my fourth visit to the region and I was leading a small group of photography enthusiasts with me. Being a regular visitor to these places, I had had some definite ideas about the subjects that I wanted to shoot, the moods that I wanted to portray and also had a fairly good idea about the time of the day that would help me make those images.
In Dhankar Monastery, seen in the photograph, I was keen to portray the remoteness of the place and the precarious location where the monastery stood. I had also realized that the evening light from behind the monastery would help differentiate the crag on which the buildings were located and the high mountains that dominated the landscape behind it. Here is the image I created that evening. The dust rising from behind helped enhance the drama in the scene.
There is, in fact, much more drama than what is seen in the photograph. At the valley just below the monastery is the confluences of Spiti and Pin Rivers, and the view is fabulous from the place where I was shooting. Yet, I decided to exclude that from the frame, since having too many elements of interest may have driven away attention from the main story and would work counterproductive in this situation.
I could not have been more excited. In a week’s time, I will be in Yangon exploring its gilded Pagodas and conversing with its longyi-wearing people who always seem to be smiling with their beetle-stained teeth.
A visit to Myanmar is something I have been dreaming for years. I longed to travel into the country when reading Pico Iyer’s cultural experiences in the country, reading the stories of teak-country from Amitav Ghosh or hearing about Eric Newby’s adventure of sailing down the Ayeyarwady.
I always thought of it as a distant dream, but when the country began opening up in the last few years, my antennae were alerted. When the world–more precisely all the travel magazines and travel writings–started focusing heavily on Myanmar in the last year, I knew it was high time. It was the beginning of a transformational period in the country, and I wanted to be there before the country changed much.
I will be off to Myanmar next week, spending three weeks travelling through Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake. I don’t think I have looked forward any journey so longingly in the recent years.
Soon after I return from Myanmar, I am out again to visit another neighbour – Bhutan. Later, in November and December months, my travel calendar is lined up with trips to Varanasi on a photography tour, Darjeeling and its surroundings for a photography assignment, and Rajasthan for another photography tour.
In Varanasi and Rajasthan, I will be leading photography tours for Darter. Do join me on these trips.
Some of the finest and most beautiful waterfalls in the country are well off the mainstream travel itineraries. They may not be the largest in volume, tallest in fall or the most well-known. And yet, they are easily among the prettiest waterfalls I have ever seen.
Magod Falls, Unchalli Falls, Satoddi Falls. Have you heard of these waterfalls? The answer is likely to depend on how far you live from these places, how active a traveller are you and how intrepid are your journeys.
Brilliant view of Magod Falls dropping into a deep valley.
If India for you is a diamond shaped country somewhere between middle east and [South-East] Asia, chances are you only know about Taj Mahal in the entire country. If you live somewhere within India and your idea of travelling is the yearly holiday to a luxury resort, chances are that you may have heard about a Jog Falls here and a few others around your city, no more. If you live within Karnataka, there is some chance that you may have heard a passing mention unless you are a frequent traveller. But for those who jump at the first opportunity to explore, especially in Karnataka, these places are either in the must-do list or they have already been ticked.
I have heard from a countless number of my travel-buff friends about Satoddi falls and Magod falls. Everyone of them has unfailingly mentioned not only about the size and height of these falls, but the dramatic location in which they are set. Often so dramatic that I wouldn’t be easily convinced.
