Himalayas

Indian Army

glacier

Tibet

PICS: GAURAV PUNJ

ByA trip to the Niti Valley in theleads to the birthplace of the Chipko movement.Our first stop was the legendary village of Lata, the gateway to the Nanda Devi inner sanctuary, till date the only viable route inside. The cars were parked on the road and we climbed steeply up the mountain to reach the village. Totally out of breath, we were offered tea and biscuits in one of the Bhotiya homes, which was part of Sunil’s organisation. The sweet tea helped. We had limited time, so Sunil moved fast. We went to the village centre, a small courtyard. Sunil shouted out loudly that visitors have come. Out came the women of Lata. Wearing their local dresses, proud, strong.Since ours was an organised trip, it followed a standard template. Visitors, the local organisation hoped, would come to these forgotten villages, meet the local people, and perhaps buy some handicrafts, etc. To that end, the women brought with them some jewellery made of semi-precious stones, some shawls and other woollens. But most of us were fascinated with the carpets of all sizes that were drying on rooftops all around. When they noticed us looking at them, the entire village brought out the carpets they had woven. A mini bazaar was set up and the carpets were displayed. Since there was no concept of selling the carpets, they had no idea what to charge. The elders were summoned and a passionate discussion ensued between them. My group was welltrained to not bargain with villagers, and to pay what they asked. Finally, when the prices were announced, they were much less than any of us had imagined they would be. A couple of expert shoppers in our group took Sunil aside and told him that the carpets were being undervalued and that they should charge more. A revised price was put forth and all of us bought handmade, traditionally-designed, plant-dyed carpets from a very happy bunch of Lata women.These were not ordinary women though; they had once forced the government to bend. One of the most successful grassroots conservation movements of all time, anywhere in the world, the Chipko Movement started right here, in the villages of Lata and Reni (across the river). After the 1962 war, which deprived this entire valley of its livelihood, the Indian government built the road and basic infrastructure in the area, but the only ones to benefit seemed to be the timber mafia. As they started cutting down the forest recklessly, the locals, fresh from the wounds of the closed trade, finally put their foot down and a spark of resistance started from these villages in 1974. Here, an elderly Gaura Devi emerged as the leader of a group of women who simply clung to the trees which were about to be cut, and forced the axe-wielders out. The movement soon spread to other parts of Garhwal and Kumaon, and became the first and most successful environmentally-inspired uprising of the poor.Let’s get back to the trek now. From Ghamsali, we walked for four hours through some of the best scenery you will ever see. The climb was very gradual, from 3,300 to 3,600 metres over 5–6 km, and the day was beautiful. We had many stops, not because we were tired, but because we could. Sunil told us many stories, we took many pictures, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Those who had trekked before were especially savouring the day, remembering all the struggles on past treks to get to similar meadows. Soon, we saw that we were on level with the stream and watched it meandering through the flat land ahead. A perfect place to graze, with abundant grass and water. By 1 pm, we were there and the first thing we did was have lunch. We were hungry, plus the clouds had started building up for their customary afternoon show. As soon as we were done, the first drops came down and we all went inside the big dining tent. We chatted and played a few games of Mafia, before Sunil came in with hot tea and more stories — of the third act in the life of the Niti Valley Bhotiyas after the 1962 war and the 1974 Chipko Movement.In 1982, the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, the traditional grazing ground of all the villages in the Niti Valley, and a significant contributor to the local economy (as the expeditions that arrived here to climb and explore would hire local men as guides and porters), was closed down not just for outsiders but for the natives too. Once again, all this happened overnight. It delivered a crippling blow to the already floundering economy and affected more than 80 per cent of families in the valley directly. Ostensibly, the reason for the closure of the sanctuary was to preserve the bio-diversity and the ecology that had undergone extensive damage because of unregulated expeditions. However, a far more sinister motive came to the fore a few years later, when it was discovered that the CIA and thehad indulged in some Cold War era secret project, wherein a nuclear tracking device (to track China’s movements across the border) was to be placed on top of the Nanda Devi mountain. Lost to them was the fact that the Nanda Devi was more than a mountain, it was the reigning Goddess for most of Garhwal and Kumaon. What the mission intended to do was nothing short of sacrilege. In a cruel twist of fate, the expedition that was sent to place the device was hit by bad weather and avalanches and it managed to lose the device somewhere on theof the Nanda Devi. It lies there, buried deep in the snow, with the real danger of eroding and releasing poisonous plutonium in the very waters that make the Ganga. And the Indian government had no choice but to close the sanctuary.One can debate endlessly about how true this story is, but the fact is that the Bhotiyas lost out on what they considered their birthright. The unilateral decision for closure without any community consultation, was the final straw that led to a long and bitter war of attrition between the locals and the government. It continues to date, although some important decisions have gone in favour of the locals. They now have the exclusive rights to manage the newly-opened trekking routes in and around the sanctuary and have organised themselves into a commercial entity to do exactly that. We were trekking with this group, the mountain shepherds.Later in the afternoon, when the drizzle stopped and the clouds parted, we decided to go for a little exploration. We followed the stream and walked further ahead on the meadows. These same meadows, which were not even on the map, were once the halting place of so many caravans to and from. Traders would have camped here, their horses and yaks would have drunk from the stream and grazed on this grass. This place must have been buzzing with laughter and barter. The repercussions of war are usually felt most by those who never want it in the first place. The Niti Valley Bhotiyas lost their land, their way of life, their identity … for someone else’s war. Trekking is allowing them a way back.Excerpted from The Land of Moonlit Snows and Other Real Travel Stories from Indian Himalaya by Gaurav Punj, published by Westland