Riding the Himalayas

Riding the Himalayas is a unique travelogue of a Himalayan odyssey, a car-trek starting from the Siachin Glacier across the entire Himalayas (Kashmir, Ladakh, Garhwal, Kumaon, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim) right up to Kibitho, the extreme east of the Himalayas. This team of car rallyists (mostly ladies), wildlife experts and photographers went through mountain deserts, tropical forests and the highest motorable road on the planet. Their adventures were remarkable—a horrendous rock-fall in Uttarkashi, a riot in Badrinath, Pakistani guns opening fire near Kargil, and river crossings with Scorpios hitched precariously on country boats. This well-researched text gives a bird’s-eye view of the history of remote regions, monasteries and temples, and vivid accounts of game sanctuaries. Keki N Daruwalla has burrowed into nineteenth-century chronicles and provides glimpses of what life was like in the mountains then. Both, Keki N Daruwalla, the author, and Ashok Dilwali, one of the finest photographers of India, are mountain lovers. Riding the Himalayas has been written in memorable and luminous prose, paralleled by some of the finest photographs of the Himalayas.

Keki N. Daruwalla

Keki N. Daruwalla, poet and writer, lives in Delhi and has written over ten poetry volumes, a novella, two novels and half a dozen short story collections. His latest collection of poetry is The Map Maker (2002). His poetry volume The Keeper of the Dead won the Sahitya Akademi Award (1984) while Landscapes won the Commonwealth Poetry Award (Asia) in 1987. His first novel, Pepper and Christ was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Fiction Prize (Asia and UK) in 2010.