A Fabulous Walk in Ladakh, 1982 – Guest Photos

I’ve always felt that I am one of the extremely fortunate ones on earth defying the odds of an average or even sub-average life. For, how else can one explain the connections with worlds that are so far away in time and in space from my own? How else have my world lines crossed with people who have led spectacular lives? How else have I had the chance to peep into beauty that was probablistically not within my reach?

Too many good things have wandered into my life and so until proven otherwise I shall continue to believe that I am a favorite with the Gods of serendipity. And here’s why I am reminded of this today:

Awhile ago, as a result of the blog or the gallery, Yuri connected with me. And sent me photos of his travels of my favorite places. His photos took me to place in the early ’80s to visit a life that I can never see because that life has vanished forever. If only I was born earlier …

But we shall put aside my wistfulness for things that can not be. And delight in the amazing life that I can almost touch and experience through these photos:

Here are photos from the most amazing Walk in Ladakh of Yuri and Diane in 1982.

Here is an excerpt of Yuri’s correspondence, narrated here for its thought-provoking values:

Jaina – I’m delighted to read that you are finding a connection to the photos. Those were indeed special times and it is only in retrospect that I realize just how fortunate and privileged we were to have stumbled into these extraordinary places. So much of it was luck. Naivety definitely played a role. We made some choices but many other choices were made for us. Sometimes not having goals or plans opens up doors that you didn’t even know existed. …. Granted another chance I would probably want to do a few things differently, but given the constraints of who I am I would probably find myself stumbling along similar paths……But yes, in Ladakh we were a party of three – one woman, two men. D and I are partners and R is a fellow we met in Leh. R was an asset because he had a real map while we were going to set off with a semi legible little sketch by a French couple we met on a bus in Thailand. I thrive on the challenges and difficulties of travel in the back-country…. Please feel free to use my photos wherever you feel they would be appropriate. I hope that for many people these images might serve as a window into a place and time worth knowing about. Idly stored in a file on my iMac they serve no purpose at all.

Fascinating right?

STAY TUNED FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THE PEOPLE, THE DRESS AND PERAK JEWELRY OF LADAKH IN THE NEXT POST!

***

jaina

April 2022