If I was to pick a single favourite photograph I was ever fortunate enough to take, it would be this one. I call it “Thirst”, and it was taken in a small Himalayan village of Tukuche.
It was day 10 or 11 of my 2-week long trek around the Annapurna. By that time, I had already endured the grueling ascend to Thorung-La, the highest point of the trek at over 5400m above the sea level, where the lack of oxygen was so acute I had to pause every 3-4 steps I made and take a break, gasping for air and fighting pounding headache. After the pass, however, it was all pretty much downhill. I felt better almost immediately, and started enjoying this once-a-lifetime experience again. Don’t get me wrong: there was still a long, long way to descend to the trail’s end, with many villages to pass and many more plates of dal bhat to eat.
I passed through one of the villages named Tukuche in late morning, when the sun was high in the sky and it was actually hot for a change after the snowy highlands of Thorung-La. As I was roaming through the village, a group of schoolgirls ran past me in the village square. One of the girls headed towards the water faucet that must have been used as a communal well. She turned it on and started drinking, using her hand as a cup. At one moment, she paused, straightened and closed her eyes in relief from her thirst. I had my camera ready to capture that moment that since then, reminds me of both the strain of the Annapurna trek and the relief and sense of accomplishment when it was over.