Untamed Is a Direction
PC: Smriti Paul Arunachal Pradesh; words, whether simple or decorative, cannot fully hold nor justify the raw, non-performative truth of India’s easternmost state. Nestled in the Himalayas, it opens into mist-filled valleys, forests untouched by human hands, and terrain that does not soften itself for you. You arrive here not as a visitor, but as someone stepping into something older than language. When you drive into these mountains, whether you are going from one village to another or toward Sela Pass; danger waits at every turn. Death is not dramatic here; it is possible. And yet, just beyond each blind curve, there is startling aliveness. Time moves here the way the rivers move, descending clean and certain from glacial heights. The riverbeds without distortion are astonishing in their honesty. You feel as alive as the mountains because they breathe. You can sense a slow, ancient inhalation. They know you are there. They know how to keep you safe. So do the people. Their spir...