In 1999, for newly widowed Manosi Lahiri, just getting through an ordinary day presented difficulties. A geographer by trade, she felt lost, adrift, as if she’d fallen off the map.

Then a chance conversation reignited her longtime interest in visiting far west Tibet. The following year, she and a group of friends began planning a pilgrimage to Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash, revered by four faiths.

“Who could tell?” Lahiri speculated. “Perhaps reaching the mystical lake and mountain would rid my mind of negative thoughts and awaken the positive vibrations within.”

Preview her inspiring journey on these pages.