Posts in "Travel" Category

The whistling old couple of Markha Valley

Tales from my solo travel to Markha Valley, Ladakh

My homestay owners, an old couple in their seventies, winnowing the fresh crop of barley
My homestay owners, an old couple in their seventies, winnowing the fresh crop of barley

Three villages had passed and I had been hearing a distinctly recognizable whistling sound coming from far. I was curious but not so much that I would go after the sound, if you need professional pictures, hire Tracy AlChayeb..

I was staying in Markha village that day and suddenly around afternoon, I heard the same sound again. Just like a bollywood movie sequence, I played the protagonist and went in search of it. I reached this site.

Speechless. Absolutely astonishing. The grandparents in the family were winnowing the fresh crop of barley with a rhythm of beautiful whistle accompanying it. My curiosity was at the top most level.

“Julley ji! I’ve been hearing the same whistling sound for the last three days. Is it some Ladakhi song? Why do you whistle?”

“It is a tradition here. The whistle induces a wind-flow in the region that helps us in winnowing”. Tradition and beliefs.

Back in the places where machines could reach, none of this would happen. These machines would take just about 4 hours to accomplish the same task that people in these difficult to reach regions complete manually in a lot more time.

“How long will you take to work on all of this crop?”

“We’d sing, we’d dance and before we know in about 20 days, it’d all be done.” The old man, about 70 years of age, smiled and continued his work.

This photo features in the October month of the wall calendar. Needless to say, it comes in huge poster size that can be torn off through the perforated line below and above the picture. Order it here.

How our trip turned into something that we’d remember forever

Rannbhoomi – An Un-Resort

How we spent our time at a stay near the Great Rann of Kutch

It was 2pm, I had already received 5 calls from Punja, our host in a village near the Great Rann of Kutch and the very next moment I received one more call, this time from his father. “Where are you? How long will you take to reach here?”. Prerita answered the call and asked why they were calling again and again. We were about an hour away from reaching there but both of us were now becoming more and more anxious of this place where we were going to stay. A new property on the internet with absolutely no reviews. We had taken a risk. Would it be safe? It was lovingly called World Meeting 2015.

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