Saturday Feeling: Community tourism in Ladakh and travel ideas to blend culture, adventure and fun

Instagram is so full of #wanderlust posts that we often forget that travel is a luxury. For centuries, people didn’t really go up mountains and dive off coral reefs for fun. The mountains were harsh and unwelcoming; seas led to the dangerous unknown. In about 200 years, we’ve turned most places on earth into “destinations” to explore and escape to. In Ladakh, the summer tourism season is drawing to a close, a time when the high passes of the tiny, cold desert are jammed with people and taxicabs, waiting to take photographs at “the top of the world”, as the Border Roads Organisation signposts once described Khardung-la (two other roads built by the same BRO are now at a higher elevation).

About 3.76 lakh tourists went to Ladakh last year; this year’s numbers aren’t out but despite a blip following unrest in the region, it’s not likely to be much less. That’s a lot of people for a fragile region with scarce resources that’s always been sparsely populated by people who’d learnt to live by the mountains’ rhythms. Despite the downsides of over-tourism, there is much to be said about the opportunities that tourism offers, and this week we meet the entrepreneurs in Ladakh who run resorts and hotels that actively involve as well as give back to the community. For hospitality professionals here, wildlife conservation, craft revival and heritage architecture preservation have joined education, healthcare and employment as community initiatives, as we report. Keeping community at the centre is crucial as locals understand the land and the impact of climate change, and how to administer it. These kinds of varied experiences in one place are what travellers are looking for; there’s a shift towards picking ‘flexiscapes’ for holidays, where, within a week, one can trek, dine well, relax and have an adventure or two.

Our other great reads this week include a hat-tip to Benicio Del Toro and a review of Rahul Bhattacharya’s beautiful new novel, Railsong.

Chefs return to open fire cooking

Tandoors, grills and wood-fire cooking have made a comeback in the restaurant kitchen as fine dining chefs try to draw out deeper flavours, and give guests a ringside view of their process. Open-flame cooking isn’t new in India’s food culture—we have always had our tandoors, sigdis and wood-fired chulhas. But what was once a home or street-side practice is now put by restaurants and chefs at the centre of the dining experience, we report.

Inside India’s cottage industry of fraud

Fraud has become a part of everyday life. While we know that scamsters want our money, we don’t have much of an idea about who they are or why they chose to swindle us of our hard-earned income. Each scam is a series of strategic choices. In deciding who to target and how to go about it, fraudsters reveal things about us and the world we live in that we often overlook—or are unwilling to acknowledge. In her new book, Scamlands, Snigdha Poonam takes stock of the implications of fraud in a fractured society. “Nobody knows exactly how many people in India have made scamming a career. But even by rough estimates, our fraud industry employs multitudes,” she writes.

Cut those carbs from your ‘thali’

A recent study finds that Indians are among the highest consumers of carbs in the world—a key factor for India being the diabetes and pre-diabetes capital of the world. A low intake of pulses, dairy, eggs, fruits and vegetables means many Indians are calorie-sufficient but protein- and micronutrient-deficient. The trick lies in restoring the balance to Indian meals, writes Shrenik Avlani. By reducing refined carbohydrates, giving protein the attention it deserves, we can start reversing the current crises of diabetes, obesity and malnutrition.

Should you splurge on a toothbrush?

The Oral-B i09 sets a new standard for electric toothbrushes, but with a hefty price tag and recurring costs for replacement heads, is it truly the best choice? It depends, writes Sahil Bhalla. The cost of the i09 is a whopping ₹16,499. Yes, it’s discounted to ₹8,250 on Amazon (generally, you’ll find a 25-50% discount), but even then, that’s a steep asking cost. It has seven programmes and a display to see the battery and the brushing time. You will need to keep purchasing replacement heads every three months, which can add up, setting you back by ₹1,299 for a pack of two. If you can stomach that, then the i09 will be the best daily companion you didn’t know you needed.

Are you a cyberchondriac?

It starts with an innocent search and before you know it, a slew of reels has convinced you that a simple headache is a brain tumour. Or that foggy feeling after a night with little sleep is an indicator of ADHD. Looking for health information online can quickly turn into a vicious cycle of needless worry. This anxiety about health fuelled by obsessive online symptom searches has a name—cyberchondria. When health-related concerns begin to invade your daily life, emotions and mental rest, it’s time to reckon that you are in a state of cyberchondria, writes clinical psychologist Mehezabin Dordi.