Have you ever wondered what is happening on the other side of the mysterious Himalayan monasteries? A Mumbai-based photographer, Kushal Parikh, ventured to explore this mystique and spent five days at a Tibetan monks’ retreat. The result of his stay in the monastery was a photo-story about the life of the inhabitants of the monastery, as well as several important life lessons. Parikh was very surprised to find that not all the inhabitants of the monastery were men. “I met a nun there,” writes Kushal. “Her husband died shortly after the birth of their second child. She needed shelter and the monastery accepted her. The most frequently repeated phrase she uttered was: “I’m happy!”
According to Kushal, monasteries in India are home to two types of people: Tibetans alienated by Chinese control, and social outcasts who have been rejected by their families or whose families no longer exist. In the monastery, the monks and nuns find a new family. Kushal answers several questions: