Ghumakkar's Diary

A late entry to PADE: theme Bridge, I wanted to submit something rather meaningful and not just material, but still. This one bridge is somewhere between Rangdum and Padum, in Zanskar valley. Not much significant, I liked this pic for its composition and color of sky that adds value to it. The sky is brighter, cleaner and blue'er ( if there's such a word ) in this side of World! This picture post is an Entry to PADE-2013, a month long  Photo-blog  event. To know more and participate, click  here  or  here . Check themes  here .  

Story of  Two Smiles and A Frown, Tale of the Richest Candy Lady of Town! Ladakh region provides an opportunity to appreciate the faces! One would just fall in love with them and the super innocent expressions they carry. My Zanskar trip proved to be an extravagant chance to capture few of those expressive moments, especially Smiles. These smiles we captured near Rangdum. We were distributing candies to the kids, when one of those kids asked us to give a few to a cute girl. She exchanged a mystically innocent smile when I handed over a few candies. Reason? She got her share moments ago from my friend on the other side of taxi, and what I gave made her richer than the guys there! She was so cute, that I couldn't resist offering her a few more :)  Following are the smiles (and a frown) telling the story... Mr Advocate (for the pretty Lady)'s Smile Richest Lady of the Kid-clan Mr Advocate after realising the Lady got hell more...

Back to Smiley Saturdays , would try to post few Zanskari/Ladakhi smiles through coming Saturdays. I shot this Smile, somewhere near Padum . We were reaching Padum, after a ‘not to remember’ night at Rangdum . Our first destination was Medical Centre, so it somehow explains what we had the last night. Entering Padum, shivering with cold (~6 o C ‘ only ’) we met two kids, returning from School with one kid having ‘ his shoes in hands ’, and they passed, what I strive to click, Smiles! These smiles were shot by NikonD5000, 18-55kit lens at 1/2500 f9 800ISO through the window of our moving taxi. I just fell in love with the kid with pink-cap :)

There’s saying, that whatever you may do, plan-replan, if He doesn’t invite, you just can’t pay Him a visit. So, it happened again with me. As blogged earlier, I couldn’t embark on the highly coveted Ladakh ride with Bisons in last July. I was waiting, accumulating leaves (and money too), planning, preparing for the ride for last one year and just couldn’t go. So, I re-planned it with a college senior and bullet enthusiast. Fingers crossed, not shared with anybody, tickets done, final planning started, route done and it cancelled. Partner got his leaves cancelled and thus the plan again crashed. I thought to ride solo, but recent cloud-bursts and landslides, that are rather common as the monsoon dies, killed much of my insane enthusiasm. I have been to Spiti eons back, and it seemed that a visit to North of it just not to happen soon... Shot somewhere in Spiti Valley, Keylong in 2007 At that time, I saw a retweet by Deepak Sir ( @Magic_Eye ).  Dheeraj of DeViL on WheeL...