may 2, 1999 was an usual day in the life of tashi namgyal, around 35-years-old shepherd from village garkhun (also spelt as garkone) in the aryan valley near the batalik ranges in ladakh. as his yaks did not return even after being long gone, he started searching for them. “i had bought one of the yaks just 10 days ago. how could i let it be lost? so, i started looking for it through binoculars,” recalls tashi namgyal, who is now around 60 years old, sitting on the upper floor of his house in garkhun. while