Ladakh may be known for its vast, desolate beauty, but it also hides within these spaces the secrets of a creative and artistic past. This past has been etched onto rocks and hardened façades that have survived the arid climatic conditions over thousands of years. Writer and travel journalist Ahtushi Deshpande’s book, Speaking Stones, is a curated document shaped over more than a decade of research and travel. She will join Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, managing trustee and director, Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, today in a conversation that explores the nature of human artistic pursuits, the past and her unique book.

Describing Deshpande’s work as ‘a valuable archaeological research,’ Mehta shares, “It is only by making people aware that the government and local people will be able to preserve it.” The need for preservation is key since these petroglyphs and rock art are hardly known, even to Ladakhis. Deshpande remarks, “It was something people just passed on, and nobody really took note of. Plus, they are offbeat places and hard to access. It was limited to academia.”