I recently traveled for a week in Ladakh, a region in India bordering China in the north. It's a huge cold desert with highly scenic vistas, treacherous mountain passes, rugged roads and friendly locals.

The Ladakh region is home to hundreds of Buddhist monasteries and the highest motorable road in the world. Khardung La pass on NH1 highway is the highest point in the world at more than 19,700 feet from which vehicles can pass. It's a bikers' heaven.

Ladakh is also home to natural wonders like The Magnetic Hill and man made wonders like the MH1 highway itself, which is painstakingly built and maintained by Indian Army's Border Road Organization in excruciatingly hostile natural conditions.

While passing through Ladakh, I did sketches whenever I could. Most of these sketches are done on-location and very rapidly. So they may not have the polished feel of some of my other sketches. But the sketches done this way have a different spontaneity and energy. They create the true and lasting impressions of the place.

Shankarachrya Temple in Srinagar, India is a very ancient Hindu temple. It's situated on top of a mountain in Srinagar. The temple has extremely heavy security and cameras/cellphones are not allowed within temple complex. So being a sketcher, I had a unique advantage here :-)

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View of Srinagar from the Shankaracharya Temple

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Delhi Airport Domestic Lounge

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A Monastery in Ladakh

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A part of NH1 highway from Srinagar to Kargil. We were stuck here for few hours due to a landslide ahead. So I made the most of the situation by sketching this :-)

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Such quirky structures on mountain slopes are not uncommon in Ladakh

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A monastery in Ladakh

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Marketplace in Leh, the main town in Ladakh

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And some pictures for you :-)

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Shirish Deshpande

Everyone is be Artist, including You!

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