Dreaming in Hindi और पानी पंचायतों: 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.