ABSTRACT
At the time his son-in-law had arranged with us, Nasir and I went to the elderly trader’s house for an interview. It was less than a five minute walk, as the trader lived in the same part of town that we did. The house was behind the main bazaar, in the part of town where roads are narrow, and houses built closely together. Like the surrounding buildings, it was made of mud brick and concrete, with a flat roof. The second story had windows decorated with wood lattice carvings, on the street a bench was built next to the bottom of stairs, which led up to the main door. Another Ladakhi had once pointed out this house to me as definitively local architecture, and said, “You know why the old houses had benches at the bottom of the stairs? Because when they were built, there was still respect for old people, and families made sure that there was a place to rest at the bottom of the stairs, before they had to walk up.”
