Seek your limits, then push them

My Scholarship entry - Survival, and how they do it

INDIA | Saturday, 22 November 2014 | Views [224]

Abode, snowfall, shelter & Buddhist prayers. Small hidden caves, such as this one, found in selected turns in the gorges are home to trekkers and local Ladakhis on the move. It was mostly a case of first come first serve, except there is no one to serve you except yourself. The protection from the fierce cold and wind is the major enticer to these caves. A local man, making the perilous journey from Nerak (a village, meaning Hell in English) to Leh, Ladakh for selling Yak wool can be seen reading some Buddhist prayers through the snowfall. The Buddhist believers say these prayers help them survive in such extreme conditions where temperatures dipping to -30 degrees centigrade is a common phenomenon.

Fire for survival. Little firewood. Flint stones for ignition. Back to Stone Age.

1PM in the afternoon. As temperatures hover around -15 degrees centigrade, these fires become a necessity whenever you are resting. The only problem is a lack of firewood in arid, cold and barren Ladakh. The shrub seen behind cannot be used, it is prohibited since it is one of the few Oxygen providers in the surrounding. Stanzin and Tsering, seen facing the photographer, were adept at finding us firewood and much needed heat. The technique of using flint stones to ignite fire took us back to the Stone Age.

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The faithful. Sometimes, the only ones.

At the end of a long tiring day walking through water and snow and ice, when the time comes to hang up your boots for the day, you need to dry them first. They never dry though, it's just that the soaked up wetness disappears slightly. And sometimes, in such arid environment, you luckliy find patches of moss and a log of wood.

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Seek your limits, then push them

My Scholarship entry - Survival, and how they do it

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