Crossroads

INDIA | Friday, 5 July 2013 | Views [1124] | View Smaller Image

The economic condition of Turtuk started to pull around when restrictions were lifted a few years ago and the obscure hamlet once again opened its doors to the world. Since then Turtuk, in spite of its remoteness, has become a popular tourist destination in Nubra, thanks to its breathtaking landscape and beautiful people.

However, while in Buddhist Ladakh women have always enjoyed a status equal with men, in the orthodox Muslim Balti community women have had little control over the society, household or even herself. And during those long years after the partition when the world had forgotten Turtuk and its neighbours, the status of women only diminished in the impoverished and isolated society.

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This exposure and renewed contact with the outside world have brought about even more significant changes on the socio-cultural front. In Turtuk, girls constitute the majority of students in the local high school, and in recent years several of them have made their ways into colleges in Leh and beyond. Going by the present trends, one may hope that these young women will have fulfilling, unfettered lives which lay beyond the wildest dreams of their mothers or aunts.

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Crossroads

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