The Himalaya in my Sketch-book

By Geeta Kapadia

There are numerous ways to enjoy the Himalaya. Some prefer to trek, some to camp and some, to go up its steep slopes. Yet others like to enjoy the Himalaya in their armchairs. This book is combination of all these. This book should provide pleasure to all categories on Himalayan lovers. Author, Geeta Kapadia, has trekked to several valley of the Himalaya, some very remote and unknown.

“After setting up the camp when everybody would be lazing around, I would take out my pad and start sketching. Sometimes, after dark when candle light burned, sitting in my cozy tent I would draw in my diary. This was an attempt to capture the essence of mountain life to carry back memories to the concrete jungle of Bombay,” she writes. Now after numerous trips, spread over several years, Geeta has compiled these sketches of the grandeur of the Himalaya in a book. However tired you are on a trek, whatever the hardships, everything is forgotten once you are back home. All that remains is the grand memories of the experiences, like these sketches.

These ink-sketches cover a wide spectrum of Himalayan experiences. People, temples, village life, culture and of course, the mountains. The author narrates her experiences of travel and trek through familiar places like Manali, Gangotri, Everest Base Camp, and Darjeeling; and to lesser-known valleys like Spiti, Kinnaur, Zanskar and Ruinsara. She has trekked with family and friends and met many mountaineers. She writes about her Sherpa friends like Sirdar Wangdi, Dorjee Lhatoo, Pertemba; their life and love for the mountains.

The book is a vivid and reflective account of the Himalaya, of the author’s love for the mountains, its people and culture.