March 26, 2011

Ladakhis look more like Tibetans than “Indians”

Location: Leh, Ladakh, India (34° 10′ 3″ N, 77° 35′ 24″ E)
Date: 18 August 2009 6.20pm
Camera: Canon 300D with EF 70-200/f4 IS L

Ladakh is nothing like the rest of India. It is cold, mountainous and not as crowded as most parts of India, which tends to be steamy and sweaty with humanity. The rest of India is mainly dusty and flat where the representation of Hinduism is everywhere. Some parts of Ladakh are even more dustier and very dry- high altitude desert- but the predominate religious manifestation is that of Buddhism. The major exceptions are Kargil where the majority is Muslim and perhaps Leh, where there is also a significant proportion of Muslims.

The people of Ladakh are also quite different from “mainland” India. Again apart from the Kargil region and Leh, the predominant population are rather Tibetan-looking. In fact without thinking too much, one could have thought that one is visiting Tibet or the Sherpa region of Nepal. The language too is like a Tibetan dialect. Such is the wonder and beauty of Ladakh.

Traveling is a way of living. It allows you to expand your eyes, mind and improve your listening skills, as you encounter a variety of people on your journeys. Reader's Digest supports travel bugs and wanders from all walks of life and believe that a good traveler knows every penny spent is a penny fewer from the next town. Traveling is a way of life and a travel budget is how you survive. We wish the best for Peter throughout all his adventures.

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5 comments:

Suyash Nigam said...

This is a Racist article. Just because a person's face looks like a tibetan doesnt mean he is not an Indian. India is a land of multiple races, religions, languages and cultures. Please respect it if you cannot admire it.

Herbert Wong said...

Suyash: just because someone is an Indian national does not mean that he/she cannot look like a Tibetan, a Chinese or European for that matter.in your way of definition, it will be racist to tell an American-Indian that he looks like an Indian from Mumbai or an American-African that he looks like African. Racism is how you feel and treat people of different races, not how you feel people of other races look.

Anonymous said...

indian talks cork a lot.

Digital Camera India said...

why are we taking about someone's looks. it does not matter how a person look like what all matters is what he is from his heart and trust me people in India whether they belong to any caste or creed, they are true Indians from heart..... Proud to be an Indian......

stain said...

hi its true that in india itself we r treated as outsiders especially in delhi the culure of both kargil and leh is completely different from india wether it is muslims or buddists.people r very helpful because most of them hvae not explored outside the mountain walls only the new generation is coming out for studies