Mountain Communities
The Himalayas, a wondrous expanse of hills in the sky, are home to some of the most beautiful communities in the world. This article is about the mountain villages of Himachal Pradesh, India, and the beautiful people who live among them. My trip to northern India was more than fantastic. I met wonderful people and have many stories to share. There are many lessons I have learned from the hills.
Mountain Village: A mountain village located in Himachal Pradesh.
Farmer on Hill: A mere speck along the skyline, a farmer takes the sheep for an afternoon walk.
The most populous cities are along the major highway that runs through Himachal Pradesh. While holding onto your bus seat for dear life, if you strain your neck to look out of the bus windows and up at the hills you may be lucky enough to get a glimpse of the mountain villages. Although these villages may be within sight, they are often only accessible by narrow, daylong paths, to be travelled by foot. There are taxis that can take you part way to some of these villages, but your stomach might prefer a walk.
Mountain Man: In the Himalayan foothills of northern India, this farmer kept an eye on his grazing sheep in the valley below. After six hours of hiking from the end of a remote road, my friend and I arrived at this wondrous lookout point, where mountain met sky. The paths we travelled are almost exclusively used by the locals to transport water to their villages. Depending on the year and season, the paths change. After a short friendly discussion in Hindi, the fellow said it was alright to take a picture; he returned to smoking his pipe.
Mountain Man: The vast hills almost swallow anyone who wanders upon them.
Packaged goods have made their way through the windy mountains into every village. I had no trouble finding a bag of potato chips anywhere I went. This change has happened faster than communities can react. Litter is a big problem, but it is not due to a lack of respect for the earth. It is out of lack of awareness, and adequate disposal facilities. Not too long ago, these communities only had biodegradable foods and goods. Aside from purchasing gas for heating and cooking, these mountain villages are mostly self-sufficient.
Farms: Farms sprawled over the hills. Often the women from the villages will carry crops into the towns in straw baskets they wear on their backs.
This woman is carrying wood. It is illegal to chop down trees in these regions; it is okay to harvest wood from those which fall on their own. This policy was enacted after serious erosion posed a threat to safety and farming practices.
There is no statewide garbage collection in Himachal Pradesh. At one point there was a governmental effort to put forth a plan, but it did not exist for very long due to public opinion on service fees. After one of the major dams in the area was damaged from plastic bags in the river, the state was able to successfully ban plastic bags, the culprit of the blockages.
My newfound friend, Pankaj, who lives in a mountain village took me on hikes and shared his knowledge with me. Even if there was a service available, it would be near impossible to serve these communities. There are garbage collectors that people hire, but often times beautiful valleys are used as dumps. When garbage is not thrown away, it is burned.
The Ridge: The paths to villages can often be treacherous. From a young age locals are used to the sidewalks of the sky, often carrying heavy loads of water or gas tanks for heating and cooking.
Perhaps the most effective way to solve this problem is to find a way to reuse packaging. Since plastic bags are banned in the state, newspapers are repurposed as shopping bags. Coca-Cola products are still delivered in glass bottles, which are sent back to the suppliers for a bottle refund. A recycling system similar to the bottle refund would do very well. Although transportation to and from villages can be difficult, some villages are able to transport goods by using a gravity ropeway.
The ropeway consists of steel cables which connect villages to main roadways. This video by Practical Action shows how these systems are operated in Nepal. The terrain is very similar to Northern India. The system does not require a motor; it relies on gravity. A 120kg (264lb) load going down provides enough energy to bring a 40kg (88lb) load up the ropeway. The ropeway shown in the video, spanning 1400m (4590ft), cost approximately 8500 USD to build. The fee for transporting goods funds the maintenance budget.
Gravity Ropeway:
The base of the ropeway is weighed down near the main highway.
Most of the pictures in this article were taken on the day that Pankaj and I went for a hike. We ascended 1300m (4265ft) from our starting point, and were down by nightfall. On our way down the mountain, he asked locals about the paths to take. Many times we were invited into peoples’ homes for food. Some even offered their homes for us to stay the night. Every once in a while we would find people wanting to walk with us. As we descended farther into the valleys the mountains grew above the sun.
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