Photos: Experience Spiti Valley's splendor, in monochrome

In an exhibition titled 'Light and Lines in the Middle Land', photographer Amit Verma captures otherworldly images from the desert-valley landscapes of the Himalayas, evocative in greyscale

Jan 21, 2020, 15:07 IST2 min

1/6

Rock Paper Scissors: ChitkulOnce I cut out some magazine copythat quoted the "O Pioneer!" author, Willa Cather: “I like trees because they seemmore resigned to the way they have to livethan other things do."I pasted the quote on a pencil box, and read it to myself for years.Just be a Willa tree. Just be a Willa tree.I lost that pencil box in a sudden move, and I lost my inner Willa tree,

Image by Amit Verma

2/6

Grazing: To Chandratal Lake“If you can imagine it, you can do it,” the saying goes. So he does what he must do:He waits.For the grazing guests to draw nigh. Foreground.For the mist to lift behind the knoll. Middle ground. For the clouds to yield the light. Everything he imagined.Sometimes the doing is in the waiting, because timing is everything.Poem by Melissa Alipalo

Image by Amit Verma

3/6

The Middle: To Chandratal lakeThe grandeur of beginnings has faded.The end is not in sight.The land feels as barren as it looks.The slope is subtle, but still a slog. Will we ever reach the other side?If we knew what was there, Would it quicken our pace or send us back? Where is the point of no return?Just keep one foot in front of the other. You’re in the middle lands now. You’ll learn t

Image by Amit Verma

4/6

Light & Lines: JispaSometimes light unfolds, and other times it strikes.Like lightning, a severe and devastating lightcan split a thing in two. It rakes its jagged saw across the thing,It severs asunderwhat was and what is, what would have been and what shall be.Rarely does such a lightever strike the same thing twice.Poem by Melissa Alipalo

Image by Amit Verma

5/6

Rooted: Sangla Valley, Sutlej RiverThe quietest and surest thingis the tree planted by the river. Nothing bothers it.It knows its roots. They are deep and reliable and resilient.Not a gust that snaps it, not a dearth that parches it, not even its own burial under the mountaincould worry such a tree. Its roots are its hope and future.Poem by Melissa Alipalo

Image by Amit Verma

6/6

The Same Bend: Kaza & LangzaThis is that road the Beatles sang of—.The long and winding one.The one that leads me to your doorand back and back and back again. I’m losing count of the timeswe’ve left each other there, always at the same bend.At least we know our reasonsand where to find each other again,always at the same bend. It is the road that never disappears, it just goes away and a

Image by Amit Verma