Himalayan Mountain Village Life
I am just arriving to Dehradun after spending about 10 days
working in the villages near Rajaji National Park near Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
I was staying with an NGO called Himalayan Consortium for Conservation (HIMCON).
Their mission is to motivate communities who live in the fragile Himalayas to
preserve their traditional forms of natural resource management. In addition,
they are working to empower women by giving them access to income generating
activities. They take on small projects and find that living and working in
these communities is probably the best form of motivation.
I was staying with HIMCON in a village called Mala Banas. It
is in the Kimsar region where there are about 20 villages close by. The largest
village has 400 people, and many of the villages have around 100 people. My
plan has been to work with HIMCON, collect data related to my survey and live
with the people of the area. I want to learn from them and hopefully find
something that I can contribute in return. In most of these villages, I am the
first (or one of the first Westerners) to come. Needless to say, I was often
getting asked where I come from and what I was doing. A few of the women just
wanted to touch my skin because it was so light. They were also interested in
my hair. Although it is dark like an Indian’s, it has a different texture.
My day-to-day routine looks like this: I wake up around
7:00am or 7:30am (this depends because it was pretty cold in the morning and
hard to get out of bed), I go outside to use the latrine (this is sort of
important), then I drink chai, do some yoga, and get ready for the day. In the
ten days I was there, I took only three showers. However, I used hot water
which was fetched from a local water source (there is no running tap water to
the house), and the water was warmed on a fire. [Also, I want to note that
cleanliness is implied. The dishes are washed well with minimal hot water and
soap.] There are no water heaters, and few people have gas stoves. Most days, I
went out with HIMCON to do some of their work. They are employing four women
from three villages to help them with their work. Each woman earns 3,000Rs a
month (which is about $60 and is pretty good for this area). With them, we did
a variety of activities: going to the nursery to count how many fodder plants
are still living from being planted in August, measuring trees which are
hundreds of years old and finding out the story behind them, cutting branches
of trees to plant in the nursery, and planting trees in the fodder nursery. We
usually left at 10:00am and got back to the house anywhere between 3:00pm and
5:00pm. I often felt useless during these activities although I would do my
best to contribute. However, I often feel like the clumsy, tall, white American
girl. Somehow I am always slipping on the paths and hitting my head because
houses are made for shorter people. Also, although I spent all this time
studying Hindi, the first language here is Garhwali. Everyone speaks Hindi, but
in day-to-day conversation they are using Garhwali. This is especially
difficult for me. However, I have hopes to understand more from spending more
time with them. I think that my understanding has improved even though I still
have no clue about the grammar, etc.
Some of the highlights of my time in Mala Banas include the
women’s self-help group meeting I attended and the mela. One evening, I went
with HIMCON to present their idea of teaching women to sew to a women’s
self-help group in Kimsar village. They are going to provide two machines, and
one of the women from the village is going to teach the women to sew. They will
have a three month class which lasts three hours each day. The meetings will be
held in two sessions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was
really interesting to see the excitement of the women and how they will arrange
their other work around this idea. They do not have a lot of free time, which I
will discuss later, so this is actually a really big deal. The other thing I
did in the village was attend the mela. Every year on the 14th of
January, a big fair is held in Kimsar village (the largest village in this
cluster). Basically it consists of food, trinkets for buying, and these odd
games played by the men. I got my fill of the food at the mela. I tried the
jalabis (fried sugar in beautiful patterns), chow mein, chole (chickpeas), and
momos (wontons stuffed with veggies). It was all quite delicious and did not
make me sick!
While I was in the village, I made some great connections
with the women working for HIMCON by attempting to speak both Hindi and
Garhwali. I never knew how excited I would be for people to speak Hindi so I
could understand! Almost all of my work was conducted in Hindi because none of
the village people know more English than “What is your name?” and “From which
country?” Although I did not understand everything, I was able to catch the
main ideas. I also really enjoyed working with Bisht-ji’s family. They live in
Mala Banas and really are the point people for HIMCON in this area. They have
three girls: 21, 18, and 10, and one son who is 20. He started working in a
city to earn some money for the family in November, but he came home for the
mela. I went with Asha and Nisa (the two oldest girls) to the mela. Nisa also showed
me the temples in the village. I also would go sit with their mother in the
kitchen (which has no lights and is very smoky from the firewood which is used
to make food). Heena was another little girl who is six years old and lives in
the room below mine. She lives with an older couple (although I have not
figured out the relation) because her mother is almost deaf and does not talk
much. Heena has quite the personality. She and Esha (Bisht-ji’s youngest
daughter) really like to follow me around. They taught me one Hindi song and do
a pretty good job taking care of me and showing me the ropes.
I really enjoy living in this simple village setting.
However, for the people who live here year round (although they like it very
much), they have a lot of struggles. The women work from 6:00am to 10:00pm
doing hard, manual labor. All of the work falls on their shoulders because the
men are either playing cards or are working in other cities. The typical
woman’s daily routine looks like this:
·
Wake up
· Bathroom
·
Fetch water (This takes between 30 minutes to an
hour, up very steep hills. There is no tapped water in these villages. Some of
the villages have a tap which is closer to the houses, but most people walk to
the ground water source where tanks have been built. They carry 15 liters of
water back on their heads up steep hills.
·
Make chai for the family
·
Sweep in and around the house
·
Make breakfast (Breakfast does not consist of
cereal and milk. Often breakfast consists of an Indian prepared vegetable and
homemade roti.)
·
Get kids ready for school
·
Cut wood or grass (in all seasons, except for
the monsoon in which they replace this with farm work. The main occupations
here are farming and animal husbandry. Women spend 4-6 hours daily collecting
fodder for their cows and wood for making food. Many women venture out to the
jungle for these resources because they don’t have enough growing in their
fields. This means that sometimes they encounter dangerous wild animals which
live in the National Park. Pigs, monkeys, bears, leopards, and elephants are
notorious for damaging crops and killing livestock. They have even killed a few
people in the jungle. I am impressed by the strength and perseverance of these
women. Just two days ago, I saw a 50-60 year old woman climb a tree using only
a sickle. She climbed all the way to the top of the tree (which was about the
height of a 2-3 story house). Then, she lopped off all the leaves for feeding
to her cows. After cutting the leaves, she climbed back down, bundled up the
leaves, and carried them (about 50kg) on her head, uphill, back to her house.
Although I was impressed by this seemingly impossible feat, it is not without
its dangers. I met a young girl, no older than 25 years old who had fallen out
of a tree and is now paralyzed from the waist down. My reaction to this
activity which is dangerous and takes so long is mixed. There are a number of
problems which stick out to me initially. For example, cows are not worth the
work (they require more attention and care than children); time could better
spent. Also, from an environmental perspective, it’s hard to watch a beautiful
tree lose all its leaves/small limbs. Also, the danger of it is very scary, not
to mention the impact of carrying 50kgs on your head (pelvic problems, etc.).
However, the work of these women is beautiful. If anyone knows how to live off
the land, it is them. For example, they taught me how to make plates out of
leaves and which trees can be used as a rope to tie up the leaves. I have a lot
to learn from these beautiful women.
·
Make lunch (Rice or roti and dal or subzee – The
malnutrition here seems to be a problem. Having cows helps prevent this because
there is so much nutrition in milk and ghee, but the people here are almost all
very skinny. However, they seem to get much better nutrition and actually have
better cleanliness than the cities. They have fruit trees growing all around
them, make millet roti (it’s delicious), eat walnuts straight off their trees,
etc. However, the main staple meals do not seem to be enough. It’s always rice
or roti and subzee or dal, rarely both. The calories really all come from roti,
rice, and dairy products. Some people also have chickens and eat their eggs. This
gives a bit more protein.
·
Feed cows
·
Make chai
·
Housework
·
Make dinner
·
Housework
·
Maybe watch a half hour of TV (if you have one
and the electricity is working)
·
Sleep
There is so much more I have to write about this routine and
the beauty of this lifestyle as well as the difficulty, but I am going to give
you a briefing on the findings from my first round of interviews (3 villages,
30-40 families).
·
There are government schools in all the villages I visited. However, only the largest
village has schools that go above 5th class. In this school, the
classes are huge – 100 students per teacher, and often the teachers do not even
show up. Many families called schooling here a time pass.
·
The hospital is also in the largest village.
However, the doctor, an ayurvedic doctor, does not have adequate knowledge to
treat the problems. In addition, he only comes about once a week. A pharmacist
is there daily but does not seem like much help. If people really need a
doctor, they have to take the 1.5 – 2 hour journey to Rishikesh. People have
been known to die on the way.
·
Water is a huge problem. Not only do people get
sick in the monsoon (especially) from unclean drinking water which is not
treated prior to drinking. But also, the water is much less in the summer. Many
people have latrines for their houses, but they only use them during the
monsoon because there is not enough water for them. That means they go to the
bathroom on the fields for the remainder of the year. Rain fall has also
decreased significantly in the past 10 years. This is impacting the crops of
this village. A few years ago, there was a drought and people received
government rations of food to prevent them from going hungry.
I know that the life here looks very bleak. However, the
people are very happy. They do not want to leave their villages. Migration is a
problem among the men who go to cities for jobs. However, they seem to prefer
the peaceful, unpolluted life of the village. It really strikes me though how
these people are so acutely impacted by climate change and pollution. The water
sources they use for drinking water, bathing, washing dishes, etc. have become
contaminated with bacteria, causing illness. The reduced rainfall interrupts
what is their only source of food (these villagers are subsistence farmers).
The people here have a rich tradition of living off the land, taking from it,
but also giving back to it. They have temples next to trees, which emphasize
their sacredness – these are not lopped. However, climate is changing, and the
villagers lack the coping mechanisms and choice. That is where HIMCON fits in.
They are trying to plant hardy varieties of fodder which grow without rain.
This means that women can spend less time collecting fodder and more time on
other activities. They are not trying to change this lifestyle into that of the
city with the normal market mechanisms. Instead, they are trying to find a
happier medium which combines traditional culture with a little bit of modern
scientific knowledge. They lean toward the traditional side and keeping
modernism out of the picture. However, they are also realistic. I am very lucky
to be working with and learning from them.
I know that this experience living and working in these
villages will be difficult, enriching, and transforming. I am going back on
Friday. I can’t wait!
Lots of love,
Margaret
P.S. I have pictures, but could not get them to upload on the blog. I will keep trying if I have the patience.
What’s coming up:
·
I am in Dehradun working with an NGO and update
my survey, etc. before heading back to the villages on Friday.
·
I will be back in Mala Banas for another 10 days
or so until going south with Emily for a wedding and the Fulbright mid-year
conference.
·
Then, it’s back to the villages for some
research and workshops which I am supposed to be planning.
