Portfolio - Landscape

Jangal-Bairi, District Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, April 1999 What the eye cannot, the camera sees. This forty-five minute exposure at 10 in the night illuminates the extensive wheat fields flanking the Beas River. The stars look on, stretching themselves, posing for the lingering time.

Kansa Chowk, District Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. April, 1999 A Kashmir look-alike, the present day Sundernagar valley was once a vast lake cuddled by adoloscent mountains and snowy landscapes. The sun, a witness to this sea-change sets yet again under its skies, whispering with the sleepy streams.

Kalyani Pass, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh at 16000 ft. June, 1999 Through the capricious wind and an armada of clouds, you take root to watch the life-giving beauty of the Kalyani Valley, cascading away from your feet. Below, the verdant Kulu Valley slips under a shimmer of wispy clouds, revering the towering mountain. You could stand here and never want to leave. But time is such—it must carry on and take you with it in its wake. You click a few pictures and leave a memory somewhere under a stone…

Chamukha Forest, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. May, 1999 One of the few mornings left of the millennium breaks over a forest of Khair (Acacia catechu) flanking the Beas river. A profitable source of Katha (catechu), these trees are cut down once every ten years.

Kanhiara Village, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh May, 1999 Kangra Valley, a favourite with the Gods, is dotted with their elaborate temples. The sun bows down in obeisance before one such shrine coming up in the village.

Triund, above Mcleodganj, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. 10000 ft. In the Himalayas, most mountains afford flat tops due to glacial activity. Meltwater accumulates in small depressions to form pools. One mimicks the sky drowned in clouds.

Devi ki marhi camp, 11500 ft. Meadows sprinkled with wildflowers welcome after the descent from the Kalyani Pass.

Chango Dogri, Ropa Valley, District Kinnaur, H.P. Rattanjot (a herb used to color food) abounds the hill slopes above 13000Ft. in parts of the Kinnaur Valley. As the valley below prepares for the night, thousands of a variety light up with the late afternoon sun.

Village Kalpa, District Kinnaur, H.P. Centuries ago, humans must have met with other humans in a wild virgin land lost in the Himalayas. Over time they decided to make it home. They played with the landscape …carved the fields, made gods and placed villages around them. One such habitation, Kalpa, the erstwhile district headquarters of Kinnaur, sits in reverence under the guarding clouds of Kinner Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva and the highest peak in the area.

Korzok, District Ladakh, J &K, India, July, 2000 As the dark and looming clouds of Tso Moriri make way for a distant snowclad peak to rightfully take its place in the serenade of the landscape, bright colored scarecrows flirt with the capricious wind.

Tso Moriri, 149000 Ft. District Ladakh, J &K July, 2000 Every moment, arising as if from the womb of the lake itself, seems to linger… to float as a lazy dream along its gently lapping shores and brooding dark stones.

Korzok, District Ladakh, J &K July 9, 2000. For about two million years, the clouds have patterned the Tso Moriri in isolation. Today, they cast themselves to stress the arrival of man …and his means.

On the flanks of Tso Moriri, District Ladakh, J &K Blue in some unknown melancholy, clouds weep over hills cuddling Tso Moriri. There’s beauty, but there’s some stranded pain somewhere too… nature always has it is unscripted act in hand.

Changdum, Southern tip of Tso Moriri, District Ladakh, J & K, July, 2000 As the sun settles down for the night, a Changma couple walk their pets back home…it’s a walk trodden for centuries by their forefathers to sustain a lifeline with their cattle and tradition.

Shilling Village, Pin Valley, Spiti, District Lahaul & Spiti, H.P. August, 2000 It took a million years for the rocks to flex their muscle and fold themselves over a mountainside. In a blink of an eye, humans came along and raised four walls, a roof. In search for their bit of sky, some Spitians have settled over ledges marooned from all civilization…yet forming the main spoke of their culture.