Tso and La: A Journey in Ladakh

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Seeking respite from a novel that has hit an impasse, Vikramajit Ram accepts an invitation from his friend Manoj Bawa to join him on a drive to Ladakh. It is the start of the Himalayan summer of 2009; the high mountain passes have just opened for the season. As the journey progresses, Vikram finds that the quirky company at the wheel and the otherworldly beauty of this Shangri La are the perfect fix for his jaded senses. On a high literal and metaphoric on the Highest Motorable Pass in the World, he abandons his doomed work of fiction to write instead of this journey. The outcomederives its title from the Ladakhi words for lake and pass . Weaving together elements of art and architecture, natural history and biography,Tso and Lais a tribute to this enigmatic and deeply mystical corner of India. Against a backdrop of uncontainable grandeur, Manoj and Vikram find prayer flags and child-monks, magpies and wild asses, vast glacial lakes and surreal sand dunes. Four weeks and 8,200 kilometres later, the friends return home to Bangalore. One throws himself into a new job; the other embarks on a new journey of words.

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Vikramajit Ram was born and educated in Bangalore. After graduating in 1990 from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, he worked for several years as a graphic designer. His first book, Elephant Kingdom: Sculptures from Indian Architecture (Mapin, 2007), is a cultural history of the Indian elephant, told through depictions of the animal in ancient art. It was followed by a travelogue, Dreaming Vishnus: A Journey through Central India (Penguin, 2008). He is presently working on another history.