August 2013

August 2013

My way back from Lata was quite an adventure. I considered going straight back because I was spending so much time waiting along the way. There were two landslides which I did not hear about until I had left Joshimath. The biggest one was near Karinprayag, and it added about four hours to my trip. Luckily, I had planned to spend the night in Srinagar in order to meet two of my Fulbright friends. Therefore, I made it before dark. It was nice to have them show me the town and take me to dinner at their favorite restaurant. The next morning, I woke up early and caught the bus to Dehradun. I reached just in time for lunch.

The road block coming from Lata. An audience always helps the process move quicker.

I spent the next few days in Dehradun catching up on what I had learned in Lata. It was fun because some of my friends from Lakamandal were in Dehradun for their annual teacher training. My friend Sharmila is my favorite. We went shopping one day in the bazaar and always had our meals together. She is so sweet and fun to be with. I cannot describe it, but we click.

Sharmila and me. Sharmila is dressed up as Pi for the teachers' skit based on the movie The Life of Pi.

Here is where I sit in the office at RLEK doing my work. The chai helps keep me going!

Besides catching up on my research, I also made a scouting trip to Matli to plan where we would be installing the water chlorinators with WaterStep and also went to see my adviser in Gujarat. It was a bit scary to see Matli at this time because the monsoon was not quite over. I came with a man sent by WaterStep from Bihar. I think that he was totally unprepared for mountain living. It is much different and more difficult than living in the plains. Besides the steep hills, the roads were not in good shape at all. After bringing him here, we both made the recommendation to WaterStep that we wait until the monsoon is over before sending anyone to install chlorinators. We did not want to create anymore problems by bringing outsiders into this disaster-prone area.

Visiting a potential water tank location in Dilsoar village.

The road (or lack of road) back from Uttarkashi.

I did not do anything exciting in Gujarat. I spent lots of time working on my research and searching the good databases at the Institute of Rural Management Anand. It is a nice campus although all the buildings look alike. We had pretty good weather - it was not too hot being the monsoon. Anand is the milk capital of India because India's biggest milk company is based here. This meant that the chai is especially good, and we had the option of eating ice cream at every meal. Gujarati food is the same type of vegetables and dal which I see throughout the rest of India. However, there is one important difference. They add sugar to every dish. I am not a fan! We did have a very nice dinner of all different kinds of Gujarati food at a restaurant in Ahmedabad. Still, I think I had way too much sugar in this one meal!

After Gujarat, I came back to Dehradun for more work and then went to Sabli for a few days to see some of my friends there. It was nice to catch up with them. I also got to visit some surrounding villages and get more information about the World Bank's SWAJAL project through which many household and community water taps were installed.

From Sabli, I went to Mussoorie to celebrate the first anniversary of the Landour Lecture Series. It was a huge success. Surbhi invited a group of three Garhwali muscians - including a bagpiper. I danced the nice away!

The next day, Surbhi and I took the bus to Lakamandal to wrap up some of my research, do some of her work, and visit some of my friends - including Sharmila, pictured above. We had a great time, and I completed many interviews!

Surbhi and me at the Lakamandal temple.

On the way back to Mussoorie, we made two stops. First, we went to Virod to see the Masu Devta festival. The god was carried up to Virod village by car and on a palanquin. During the day, we went to a ceremony in which both a local man and woman went into a trance - dancing for the god. It was like nothing I have ever experienced. Our friends got us to the front of the crowd by telling everyone we were with the media. (Surbhi had a big camera, so I guess this excuse worked.) That night we attended a dance performed by both the women and men. They danced in a circle and sang. Then everyone went to enjoy dinner. You could eat at anyone's house that you wanted.

Virod temple

The funny thing about going to Virod was that I knew that I had been near there before back in December. When I arrived, I had deja vu. It turned out I went to one of the neighboring villages. One of the young girls - who also knew Surbhi - recognized me. Also, RLEK has one of its schools in the village next door. I was standing outside and ran into one of RLEK's teachers (I stay with RLEK in Dehradun). It is becoming unbelievable how small of a world it is. He came up and said hi to me. I looked at him and said - "I recognize you." However, I could not place him until he told me that he was a teacher at RLEK's school. Surbhi and I ate at his beautiful wooden house for dinner. We had at least three offers, but I am so happy we took him up on his offer. Every house in the village made excessive quantities of food. His was especially good! It was obvious that he gave us something special because we ate last and had way more food than everyone else. I could also taste a hint of ghee in the dal which meant they dropped in there for us as a special treat. (The food in these villages in incredible because it is all local!)

Unfortunately, Virod has an enormous water scarcity problem. Therefore, Surbhi and I felt we should leave as soon as possible. The only water sourc is a handpump on the road (a ten minute walk) which dries up in the summer. (The hillside has been totally deforested.) In the summer, the government sends in tanker trucks of water twice a day. People wait in line until their number comes, and then they can collect their water (which is not clean). People explain what a big problem the water supply is here because of deforestation. It is clear that their crops are not producing as they could be because water is such a problem. Many people are migrating out of Virod as result of the water problem.

Surbhi and my second stop was at SIDH - near Kempty falls in Mussoorie. We enjoyed some nice walks at night. We also visited the home of a Canadian who moved to India, married a Garhwali, and started a school. It was strange being in India and having this taste of Western culture in an Indian home. However, she was very nice, and I really enjoyed learning about what she is doing there. 

Lata Village, Visit 3, Part 2

Lata Village, Visit 3, Part 2

Here is the catch up blog which covers July, August, and September. 

When I arrived back to Lata from Jalum, it was just in time for a small festival. I am not sure, but it seems to me like there is a small festival of some sort or the other at least once a month in Lata. Sometimes it is more frequent, and sometimes the festivals continue on for at least a week. For this occasion, the purpose seemed like a nice break from farm work. Everyone had been very busy weeding their fields and taking care of their animals. Although you cannot take a day off from feeding your cows and goats, you can take a day off from weeding. Many family members who live nearby came to Lata to celebrate. Bijju’s sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came to celebrate with the family. The focus of this festival was food. The night everyone arrived, we had a huge meal which included chicken, vegetables, puri, pakora, and rice. We made large amounts of puri and pakora. The next morning we enjoyed a big meal which included homemade yogurt (which is kind of special), pakora, puri, roti, and potatoes. This was of course served with chai. After having a big meal, I was told we were invited to go to the neighbor’s house for another meal. I had been warned there would be a lot visiting neighbors and family and eating food, but I was not prepared for the extent of it. (I should have skipped breakfast.) We visited 6-8 houses and ate a variety of different puri and pakora. Some of them were sweet, but mostly they were savory. People in Lata are not big on sweets, which I think is a result of two things: sugar is not grown in Lata (and used to be very expensive to buy) and all the sweets in the market being made only of sugar. I was stuffed from breakfast but managed to at least eat one pakora at each house. Then, we came back to Bijju’s, and I had to eat lunch. Somehow, I managed to get down a little rice and dal but very little.

Getting ready for the festival.

 After lunch, I went on a short walk with Bijju to graze the goats. It was very nice to be away from the food for once. However, when we got back, I got fed by 2-3 more households. I was also given the local beer. Some families make it from barley or jhangora (millet), but I drank the one made of wheat. The first time I had jan (beer) in Lata back in October, I was disgusted and frightened. Now, I actually like the taste. They also make dharu (local wine) which to me takes like vodka. I avoid this one as much as possible. For everyone who is concerned, do not worry. I only ever drink a little bit of each type at a time. The problem is that you do not know how strong the alcohol will be because it is made at home. One of the reasons that alcohol is part of the culture here is that it is a very cold climate. I was there in July, which is one of the hottest months of the year. It would be very warm from the strong sun during the day. However, it cooled off at night, and I had to sleep with the warm blankets made of goats’ wool. (This is also part of the reason for the large servings of ghee (clarified butter), which I am now managing to avoid. If I am not careful though, I will end up with an enormous chunk of it in my food!) [I recently learned that ghee used to be sold. Families would make buttermilk and keep that at home for consumption. The ghee (clarified butter), however, was sold.]

Much of my time in Lata was spent doing the day-to-day stuff with Bijju’s family. I especially enjoyed talking with his sister-in-law. She is twenty-six years old and a lot of fun. I learned a lot about her life, and it sparked a lot of areas in which I want to do more research. I would babysit for her three-year old daughter, Munshi (not my favorite responsibility) and help weed the fields. One of our projects while I was there was harvesting ladum which is basically a wild onion which is made into an incredible spice. They cut ladum 3-4 times a year, dry it, smash it, dry it again, and use it in just about every dal and vegetable dish. All you have to do is fry up ladum in a little bit of oil and add it to your dal right before serving. It adds a lot of flavor. I got to be a part of the ladum harvesting this process, and they gave me some ladum to take home with me when I left.

Munshi

The entire month that I was in Lata, there was something special happening. I do not really know all the background. All I know is that there was a fast for the women on Mondays, and people would make pilgrimages to temples in surrounding villages. Each week was a different village. What I found out later is that this practice is not limited to the area around Lata. It also takes place near Uttarkashi and maybe beyond. Anyway, I participated on the first Monday of this time. We walked to a nearby village which everyone warned me was very steep. Apparently, we were not supposed to eat breakfast that morning. I however was not informed before leaving, so I had a nice breakfast. On the way down from Lata, we saw off in the distance a landslide as it was happening. This meant that we would not be catching a car for any part of the trip. We would have to walk the entire way.

The road to the temple.

Walking up to the village.

Some of my companions on the journey. 

I actually preferred walking to the temple. The walk along the road was absolutely incredible. I travel around to other places throughout the Himalayas, but I do not think there is anything more beautiful than the high Himalayas. It is much less developed. You can walk on the road for an hour and only see one or two cars. However, in places much closer to the road (or especially in cities), it is almost impossible to walk safely along the road because of the crazy traffic. The walk remained pretty easy until we reached the village. We stopped for a quick break - water - at Sangeeta's sister's house. Sangeeta is one of the young girls who also joined on the pilgrimage. After that, we continued the very steep walk up the mountain to the temple. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous because of the monsoon rains. We were lucky because it was not too hot or rainy on this hike. If you ask me, the journey to the temple was better than reaching it (except for the delicious prasad/food). The path was incredible - the mountains, the rocks, and the flowers. The village was also very nice. The temple is still very special for Hindus. We went inside and the priest told us the temple's history. He was pointing at different rocks and identifying them as different Hindu gods. I could not tell the difference. However, I was later told that what was so interesting was that the rocks formed on their own. The different rocks which were sticking out were not always like that. In Christianity, we would call it a miracle that the rocks formed on their own as a representation of the different gods.

The whole group.

Before leaving the temple, we enjoyed some delicious prasad - kheer and puri/pakora. The puri/pakora was so good! It was made with chickpea flour, red chilli powder, and salt. Then it was deep fried! Yum! I was already full from this snack, but we continued our walk back to the village for lunch. We enjoyed a home cooked meal of rice and yellow dal in Sangeeta's sister's house. Then, we were given chai. The family's cow was not giving milk at this time, so the chai was made with Nestle's condensed milk. [I found this both ironic and very rich!!] I was not the only one who was stuffed! Even though I had walked so much, I felt like I would not be able to eat for days!

A waterfall along the way.

We were lucky enough to catch a jeep to take us back to Lata. Then, we just had to climb the 1-2 kilometers uphill to the summer village. After the very steep hike to the temple, the climb to Lata felt like a nothing. We were not at all short of breath. At this point, our group parted ways, and I went back to Bijju's house. His two cousins came over for dinner that night (including one who joined us for the hike - Gangotri). They are two very sweet girls. Both are married. One lives in Lata/Joshimath, and the other was just visiting for about a month. Although they are about 2 years apart, they could be twins. We sat around the fire chatting. I got extremely tired and started to fall asleep after our long day of hiking. This got me relief from the socialization so that I could get some sleep.

Gangotri with her daugther.

My other day trek from Lata took me to Lata Kharak. This is a very special hike which takes you up to 14,000 feet and offers a spectacular view of Nanda Devi on a clear day. Bijju and I planned a trip to Lata Kharak the Monday after the pilgrimage. Because it was the monsoon, the weather became unreliable after 12:00pm; it always started to cloud up. Therefore, we decided it was best to leave early in the morning. The plan was to arrive by 9:00 or 10:00am in order to get the clearest view of the mountains. In order to do this, we woke up at 4:00am and left the house by 4:30am. We had a quick chai to wake up and were out the door while it was still very dark. It stayed dark until about 6:00am. Then, the sun started to come out. However, we were unsure if the sky would clear off so we could see the mountains. At about 8:00am or 8:30, we knew the sky would be clear. We reached the Forest Department's Darshan (rest house) on the way to Lata Kharak at about 8:30am. As we were wringing out our socks to dry (they were soaked from the morning dew), we decided to look on the other side of the Darshan. I got my first glimpse of Nanda Devi here - although it was a little obscured. [Interesting note about the Darshan is that I am told it is built out of trees which were cut down from the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. This place is off limits in the sake of preservation. However, the Forest Department elected to cut down very old devdar trees to build this rest house. - a little contradictory?]

The walk to Lata Kharak

We had about another hour of walking to get to go up, wind the mountain around Lata Kharak, and reach the beautiful open viewing point. Climbing over rocks and through all kinds of gorgeous monsoon flowers, we finally reached the clear look-out point. It was incredible. Along the way as well as after reaching, we enjoyed roti, cumin-potatoes, and aloo parantha. It was pretty delicious if you ask me. Plus, the view could not be beat! I really did not want to leave. However, it took us about five hours to reach, so it would take us at least four to get back. The weather remained good for our descent. I will leave it to the pictures to describe the beauty of this place!

That is Nanda Devi in the back left.

Because I was in Lata during the monsoon, it would often rain (though luckily at night for the most part). One morning I woke up and was going to brush my teeth. I got to the tap, and Bijju's mother that the water pipe broke the night before. Apparently two huge rocks fell, and the pipe did not stand a chance! This meant that their water tap would be out of service until someone went to fix it. Luckily, there is a big tank (with tap and water storage) in the center of the village, which everyone without a tap uses to collect their water. Because my research is related to drinking water distribution and collection, I took this opportunity to collect water for the household. It also gave me a chance to talk with the others who were going to collect water. They all explained that huge rocks fell on the water pipe, and it would be fixed in a few days. No one seemed to be giving me a straight answer. My American upbringing made me think that this was crazy. The water pipe broke, the tank at the temple would be running out soon, and no one seemed that concerned. If I was at home, everyone would have called the water department complaining that the pipe was not fixed immediately. Plus, collecting water from the temple meant that there was a line. The first time I went, I probably had to wait about a half hour to fill up my two five-liter vessels.

This is where the pipe for the village broke.

For the next day or two, we were still able to collect water from the temple source. Then, the tank ran dry, and we had to switch to collecting from the source itself. Luckily, it was not too far away, and I am always up for a little walk. I also enjoyed the social activity of it. I never went to the water source alone. I always went with Bijju's sister-in-law or his neighbor. We had some nice conversations along the way. Plus, we always met someone else to talk to at the source. I even got to stop at this nice woman's house for chai too. She told me that she would teach me Hindi anytime I wanted. I just had to stop by. (She has her Masters' degree in Hindi. We had a nice time talking about living in college dorms and having no responsibility.) Going to the source for water did a few things for me. First, it got me out of the house and meeting more people in the community. Secondly, it got women who may not interact everyday talking more. I did not understand everything they were saying because it was mostly in Garhwali, but I did understand that they could talk about things that were bothering them or gossip. It made me realize that having water tapped directly to your house means that you interact less with your neighbors. You may see them on the way to working in your farm, but it becomes very easy to isolate yourself. If you have to collect your water from the source, you have no choice but to interact with your neighbors because they have to go too. Although most people probably do not think about it, individual water taps have a real impact on the social aspect of village life.

The pipe did get fixed after only a few days. Bijju and about 11 other boys (I am not sure this large number was required) took a pipe over to make the repair. They had to hike about a half hour uphill, replace the pipe, and then come back. It surprisingly took only about 3 hours. I also had found out that the reason the pipe was not fixed immediately was that people were afraid another rock would fall on the pipe and break it again. Therefore, it was best wait a few days and make sure the weather remained clear before making the repair.

Another interesting thing that happened in Lata on my last day was that the people from Delhi who are working as engineers on the nearby hydropower project came to visit. They are trying to do some corporate social responsibility projects in Lata because they are destroying the nearby ecosystem and drowning some of the fields. Do I sound too critical? The way I met them was very funny. I was just sitting at Bijju's aunt's house with his cousins and niece. Then, these two or three men were walking up to see the ancient temple. They saw me on the way and started asking Bijju's cousin Rithu all these questions about me - where is she from? what is she doing? etc. After she kept asking me for the answers, I decided I should come out and talk to them myself. It turned out that they all spoke very good English. This meant that I got to have a real discussion with them to find out exactly what was happening on their Dhauliganga river project and get more information about what they were doing in Lata. They invited me to come to the meeting they would be hosting in the village. I went, and they invited me to come to the front while everyone was off working in groups. This meant that I got to talk to all the representatives from this company and find out exactly what they are doing. The short version is that they are building a tunnel on the river to create 181 MW of electricity. They are chopping down about 1,000 devdar and oak trees and will be building a reservoir about 599 square meters. Only a few people in Lata are supportive of the project - the ones who will be making money off of it. The others are all concerned what it will do to this fragile ecosystem and their livelihoods. Do not worry though - this company will be giving the people solar water heaters in return for chopping down these very old trees and changing the surrounding environment.

Munshi after her bath.

Munshi with her grandmother.

The potato field.

Munshi driving Jatin around on the scooter.

The view of the Dhauliganga from the house.  

Raji and Leela singing at a birthday party in Lata.

Eating birthday snacks on the roof in Lata.

WaterStep visits HPSS

Hi all,

I wanted to send a follow-up letter to thank all of you who donated to the WaterStep India Disaster project. We have spent the last few months planning this project and have made it a reality over the last few weeks. With the support of HPSS, a Gandhian organization working on sustainable livelihoods in Matli village (near Uttarkashi), we installed four drinking water chlorinators in two villages. The fifth chlorinator will be installed over the next week in a village which has been damaged by the frequent disasters in the area (2010, 2012, and 2013).

WaterStep sent five individuals to perform the water chlorinator installations from 9 October to 16 October. The team consisted of the engineer who designed the chlorinator Lynn Smith, the man in charge of chlorinator production Joe Jacobi, a city councilwoman from Louisville Tina Ward-Pugh, and two individuals who have extensive experience installing and using the water chlorinators and giving health and hygiene trainings in northeast India Suetta Albin and Robin Brothers. As this was our first installation in this area, we learned a lot from this group who shared their experience installing other chlorinators in the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and in other Indian villages. The group was very enthusiastic about the project and forming an ongoing relationship with HPSS in order to install more water chlorinators throughout Garhwal.

The water chlorinator itself is called the M-100. It is a small, durable machine that can chlorinate up to 10,000 gallons of water in one day with a handful of salt and a 12-volt car battery. What we have been doing in each village is setting up drinking water stations. With the help of the villagers, we build a stand a for the two 500-L tanks. Then, we set up the chlorinator and do a demonstration of how it works. Along with this, we have a short a training on health and hygiene practices – mostly hand washing, germs, and how to make oral rehydration salts at home.

We installed a first chlorinator in Dilsoar village. We had a dangerous walk across a bridge to reach. The bridge which was formerly used by cars was washed out by the flood. We installed in the chlorinator at one of the houses in the village. It is centrally located. We identified about six people, both men and women, who will be in charge of operating the chlorinator. The people living there who have water tapped to their houses are coming to the tanks to take their drinking water. The same is the case in upper and lower Matli where we installed two other chlorinators. However, these two locations are closer to the road. In lower Matli, we had to be especially careful about where to install the chlorinator because there is division between upper and lower castes. We ended up installing tanks in two villages, and the chlorinator will travel between the two sites. The tanks will be posted in both an upper and lower caste house so that everyone can access the clean drinking water. However, we selected to install the upper caste house which we agreed to actually has a lower caste family living with them. The lower caste family’s house was destroyed by the flood this year, so they came to live here.

One chlorinator was installed at HPSS itself to serve the campus, the surrounding residents, and the emergency shelter which has been built on their campus. The final chlorinator will be installed in a village called Atali. This village has been cut off from the road for three years. We will be delivering the materials by a zip line and holding our installation within the next week.

The great thing about the M-100 chlorinator installation is that the machine is easy to operate. After just one installation and demonstration, the HPSS and villagers were trained on how to run the machine. After this, they became the trainers while the Americans provided support. This gave me a lot of confidence in the sustainability of this project.

We see a lot of potential to expand the usage of the chlorinators which have been installed as well as install more chlorinators in surrounding areas. This project will serve as a good model of how to continue this work. Our hope in the future is to clean the water coming out of the tap itself and extend the chlorinator to a number of other residents. In order to spread the word on this project, we released an article which was run in both Hindi and English newspapers. Here is the link to the English version http://epaper.tribuneindia.com/172673/Dehradun-Edition/DE_16_October_2013#page/4/2). WaterStep has also posted information from the trip to their website: http://waterstep.org/stories-from-the-field-uttarkashi-india/. 

Again I thank all of you to your contribution to this project! It would not have been possible without you. If you still would like to contribute, you can at the following WaterStep website: http://waterstep.org/get-involved/donate-money/. Please designate “India Disaster” as what you would like to support. This will help cover any additional costs of the trip as well as create a fund for future projects in this area.

Lots of love and thanks!

Margaret 

This is our team. We had quite a fun time taking two 500-L tanks to different villages along with a 100 lb battery!

Here we are installing the first chlorinator in Dilsoar village.

Here are two young girls giving a skit on the importance of using both soap and water to wash your hands in Matli village.

Another picture from Dilsoar.

Here we are discussing tank placement in Matli village.

Himla bahen is helping the girls prepare for their skit on hand washing.

These are some of the wonderful women who will be operating the chlorinators. They came to celebrate and participate in the demonstration at HPSS' campus.

Here is Pawna Nautiyal giving her interview about WaterStep's visit and the chlorinators.

Here I am talking with the Pradhan (mayor-type) of Matli village.