View from India illustration by Kate Copeland.

It started like any other day in Leh, the capital of Ladakh in India-administered Kashmir. The brown and black Himalayan mountains were circled by dense clouds, locals got on with every day life, while tourists looked for the next thing to photograph.

But later on 24 September thousands of protesters, including elderly people and children, poured onto the streets. As people began vandalizing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s office, police showered bullets through the crisp autumn air.