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Big Picture Contest

What is under that pile of snow and ice?

This is an Ice Café near Leh, in Ladakh. 

Watch a video of the ice café: https://timesofabetterindia.com/videos/ladakh-ice-cafe-example-of-indian-creativity-and-innovation-meeting-sustainability

In 2016 when former Noma chef and Tom Aikens protégé James Sharman opened the first restaurant at Mount Everest, the internet was taken by storm. Last year, something similar has happened in Ladakh - history being created by three locals who had the vision to create something innovative and functional. On the Leh-Manali National Highway they created a unique Ice Cafe -a restaurant built inside a giant Ice Stupa in Gya Meeru village of Ladakh that attracted thousands of tourists, localites and visitors.

This unique cafe was built by Border Road Organisation officials along with three local youths-Jigmet Tundup, Nawang Punchok and Sonam Chosdup, who were inspired by the Rolex Awardee Sonam Wangchuk’s concept of conserving the winter water in form of artificial glacier that was built in a shape of cone known as ‘Ice Stupa’.

This creatively made cafe was created by allowing water to fall on cone-shaped net structure from a certain height and once the water started freezing on the net, more water was added to increase the thickness and size of the cone structure so that it looked like a Buddhist stupa and enough space could be created to serve food inside it. Post melting in March, the water is collected in tanks and used to feed the planted land, using a drip irrigation system in the Ladakh region of J&K.

Winners of Big Picture Contest

Preksha Modi
Bengaluru
Happytimes User
Bengaluru
Happytimes User
Gurugram
Amit
Gurgaon
Sarvesh
Nagpur
Niloufertamboli
Pune
Happytimes User
Delhi
Kalyan Kewalramani
Delhi
Neha Yadav
Udaipur
Sharadchandra Chaphalkar
Nasik
Sukumar
Bangalore
Arjun Kumar
Jaipur
E C Sridhar
Hyderabad
Madhav P
Maharashtra
Anita
New Delhi
Gaana User
Mumbai
Hridaya
Delhi
Hariharan
Ernakulam
K H Vejlani
Nallasopara
Vinitha
Hyderabad
Manoj
Karimnagar
Aman Rustagi
Delhi
Kalyan
New Delhi
Rajesh Kumar
New Delhi
Aaaa Bbbb
Mumbai
Venkataraman G
Chennai
Suraiya H Vejlani
Mumbai
Dinesh
Delhi
Nehareena Beg
Bhopal
Jash
Baroda

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