The Ladakhi Girl - from my Ladakh Motorcycle diary

Meeting someone is a chance, but weaving her into your memories is a choice. I met this beautiful Ladakhi princess at Tso Moriri, Ladakh. If I recap my travel memories associated with the Lake Moriri, fresh images of this little Ladakhi girl top that recall list. It was breakfast time but food was yet to be ready. Heaviness of my head was gradually fading away. Yes, interrupted night sleep and morning headache were my constant companions throughout those eight days of Ladakh ride. Before venturing out for photographing the lake I couldn't resist the temptation of gulping a mug of morning tea. Weather was sunny though, taming the wild chilly component of harsh Tibetan Plateau. Unless the wind gets high, a pullover and earmuffs are all you need to embrace such a bright Ladakhi morning. After I occupied a table with my co-traveler in the dining hall, I noticed a small school girl (daughter of our cottage owner) curiously surveying my camera from a corner of the hall.

Being the daughter of a hotelier at such a tourist-favorite location as Tso Moriri, I believe she had seen enough jumbo photographic equipments to get charmed by my modest Nikon D3100 mounted with a Tamron 16-300 mm. Possibly Suzan (the name is purely fictional) was inspecting those multiple patches of sunburn over my bushy face. I am among those over-thinkers who are apprehensive of intimidating kids. Still I tried to toss a smile at her. Oh, that worked! She put her guard down and looked straight into my eyes. Child psychology is quite intriguing. At this age, Suzan is sufficiently mature to understand the necessity of maintaining a safe distance from strangers. But at the same time, she is vulnerable to pretentious acts of friendliness and affection. She is yet to learn the art of judging people, analyzing their motives, petting skepticism and nurturing misanthropy.

Suzan categorizes goodness of everything around her as either black or white. Shades of gray do not exist for her as yet. As she looked into my eyes with an intent of smiling back, I pointed out my camera at her with a timid expression, which lacked words but clearly conveyed my innocent request to the girl: Honey, would you mind if I capture your frolicking mood? Of course, I wasn't expecting a verbal affirmative from the Ladakhi angel. Voila! Once again she spent her inquisitive smile on me. I ensured not to overawe her by approaching any closer. Rather, I made good use of the higher focal length and kept clicking right from where I was sitting. Suzan was sweet enough to preserve her patience for a while. Then she moved away. Luckily she didn't leave the hall though, leaving ample opportunity for this shutterbug to capture few candid shots.

It had been quite sometime since I had last captured myriad moods of children. So, the brief episode was quite fulfilling for me. Do not ask me much about my Ladakh motorcycling diary. It was a disaster in short! Well, my tour operator turned out to be a fraud and that's a long story, already been blogged. Consequently, my dream itinerary got screwed and the flamboyant travel zeal was choked to death. Still, I got to experience the mesmerizing Ladakh. I got tickled by her wildness, reddened by her sun and intoxicated by her oxygen deprived air. Ah never mind, I was getting overly carried away. I'll fetch you glimpses of various travel destinations of Ladakh in coming photo posts. Till then, take care, travel smart, drive cautiously, do not fall prey to "too good to be true" travel offers, and definitely keep clicking photos on the go.