Narayan Kaudinya My father is a teacher and mother runs a primary school. I teach there. I work as a Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker

Keywords

India, Pakistan, Kashmir, War, Karakorum, Himalayas, Ladakh, Mountain. Tribe, Primitive

On the night of 13th December 1971 Major Chewang Rinchin of the Ladakhi Scouts - with his troops, ceased fire after reaching the village Tyakshi just after acquiring five villages and a total area of 804 sq. kilometer of Pakistan even before the Indo-Pakistan war was called off because the then Ladakhi ruling party didn’t want anymore of Baltistan as they thought it would weaken their political positioning in the state, their ethnic identity will be sandwiched between the two Muslim regions of Kashmir and Baltistan. The people of the villages went to sleep in Pakistan, but they woke up in India the following morning. It was opened to the world of other people in 2010, forty years after the war.

Tai, worked as a compounder in Pakistan before partition forty years ago. She is the oldest and only midwife in the village

Indian army trucks passing through the world’s highest road in a snowstorm. Once every month they carry food and medical supplies to the other side of Karakorum

Hens are one of the most abundant sources of meat and protein available in the village in the absence of grains and other food supplies in the harshest weather

Due to a flawed education system for last forty years, generations have not studied at all. The only thing they can do is to join army as the lowest rank soldier

Road workers from the Indian plains come to work as roadside workers in the harshest environment throughout winter to maintain and repair arguably the world’s highest road

An officer checks the road ahead during a snowstorm

A man sits on an old school building over looking the valley of shyok

Donkeys are a part of Balti’s everyday lives. They are used as porters to supply food and other requirements at the highest posts

A bus carrying villagers and goods stuck in a heavy snowstorm. The bus service cuts down to a bus every fortnight

One of the many twins that have survived the harsh climate and lack of facilities

Rehmatullah Khan, one of the five heads of the village. A father of eight daughters and is the most educated person studied till higher secondary school

The phones have still not arrived in this part of the world. And so is electricity. Village boys enjoying a game of carom

A tata jeep finds a slippery surface, is stuck. Many hands try to push it in vain. The driver will wait for the weather to get better to start his journey again

Electricity is provided an hour a day. A child enters home as the electricity comes while an elderly neighbor leaves

There is hardly any work in winters; animals follow sun throughout the day to keep themselves warm

Army personals live at a higher altitude. Every evening before sundown they take a walk to inspect the village and nearby areas

“This is yool, only sky is seen from here, said a girl.” She passes through one of the many narrow lanes of the village as a horse comes from the other direction

Drivers coming after checking the road ahead

The ratio of women outnumbers men. There are many families where a man is married to two or more women whereas few go unmarried

One of the only homes in the village providing a shelter to the pigeons. The bird cannot be seen or live outside due extreme cold

A Balti boy wandering on the last road on a snowy day

Every 26th January, India’s republic day, people of the village gather to listen for new announcements by the Army major

A family shares their stories remembering of the times they spent with their relatives before partition

A man looks at the jeep carrying goods and people

The last village and the shyok valley just before the bent where river enters Pakistan