Us & Them – Kids in Ladakh

In the spring of 2009, I visited the magnificent land of Ladakh for an internship with a Non-Government Organisation. Part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir in north India, the beauty of the place takes your breath away! In this photo essay I share, pictures of some of the most wonderful people I met along those several journeys we took in Ladakh during our stint there. These are mostly kids, guess they very appropriately signify the innocence and simplicity of the Ladakhis.

Here they go.

These were the kids of the owner of a cafe where we stopped while on our way to Kargil from Leh. Their initial shyness turned into playfulness as we continued to play this game of camera hide & seek with them.

The only boy among the kids at the cafe – but perhaps the most mischievous of them all. He had a running nose and the characteristic burnt cheeks.  But his eyes clearly give away the mischief :)

One of the little girls over there – finally gave in to the pleads of the several cameras around her and smiled :)

The amazing joy of getting a chocolate, remains the same across the world

Two boys in a house in Leh. The shyness associated with the kids in earlier pics was nowhere to be seen here. These guys were more like models posing for photographs. :)

And here, the attitude is replaced by wonder. At the crazy thing, namely the cameras, that they saw with us. These were students at a school for children of nomadic Tibetans in Sumdho, near the Chang Thang plateau in south-eastern Ladakh.

At a village by the name of Fanjilla. The weather in Ladakh is so harsh that you wouldn’t realise when the tan of your cheeks turns black from red.

At a school in Udmaroo – Far north of the whole country

No words needed here – at Pangong Lake

Trapped Dreams?? – A Girl in Fanjilla

Signing off – with a pic of the happiest people I’v come across. Nubra valley.

————————————————————————————————————
This is the first in my series – ‘Us & Them’ – capturing the people I’ve met along my travels