The Ledger

Sojourns completed

Dharatal · Nathdwara and Bagru, Rajasthan · Autumn

Dharatal · Jodhpur and Marwar, Rajasthan · November

The Cauvery · Chennai and Kumbakonam · December to January

Darshan · Hemis and Thiksey, Ladakh · July

Lineages activated

Nathdwara pichwai · Pushtimarg temple tradition, Mewar

Bagru block-print · natural dye and resist lineage, Rajasthan

Manganiyar music · hereditary desert musicians, Jodhpur

Carnatic vocal lineage · Kharaharapriya and Shankarabharanam specialists, Chennai

Veena tradition · Saraswati veena, Thanjavur lineage

Tibetan Buddhist contemplative · Hemis monastery, Drukpa Kagyu lineage

Thangka painting · Ladakhi monastic workshop, Thiksey

Quiet patronage

Support for the Nathdwara pichwai documentation project, archiving traditional iconographic patterns at risk of loss

Contribution to the Manganiyar recording archive maintained by a cultural heritage organisation in Jodhpur

Contribution to the Thiksey monastery's thangka conservation programme

Custodian's note

The first year of a practice is its most uncertain. What I know now, having completed the inaugural sojourns, is that the relationships that make the access possible are more fragile and more durable than I understood when I began building them. Fragile because they depend on trust, and trust is always a choice made by the person who extends it. Durable because the trust, once extended, proves to be more robust than the circumstances that seemed to threaten it. The lineage holders I work with have been dealing with the world's indifference and exploitation for centuries. They know, in their bones, how to distinguish between people who want to extract from them and people who want to receive. The guests who completed sojourns in 2025 were, in every case, received. I am grateful for that, and for the work that is still ahead.