New Delhi, Nov. 1 -- Instagram is so full of #wanderlust posts that we often forget that travel is a luxury. For centuries, people didn't really go up mountains and dive off coral reefs for fun. The mountains were harsh and unwelcoming; seas led to the dangerous unknown. In about 200 years, we've turned most places on earth into "destinations" to explore and escape to. In Ladakh, the summer tourism season is drawing to a close, a time when the high passes of the tiny, cold desert are jammed with people and taxicabs, waiting to take photographs at "the top of the world", as the Border Roads Organisation signposts once described Khardung-la (two other roads built by the same BRO are now at a higher elevation).

About 3.76 lakh tourists went...