Himalayan Traverses:
Stories from the Fold Mountains
Its water-water everywhere, the Gangetic Plains have it all in
plenty. You ask an average person from the Plains, you would
simply get pointed towards a canal carrying the lifeline. While
the big question was to understand, where exactly a big city like New Delhi
would get its entire water source? This was exactly the starting point to
understand the economics of water management for a humungous city that
largely lays pampered (the seat of power and decisions). Our journey from
New Delhi in the next two days opened the reality of how it exactly works
from the higher reaches of Himalayas. Mr. Srini and his group of 15
members sailed through a 14-day trek in some of the most breathtaking place of the Himalayas. Indus
International School Hyderabad along with a few students from Bangalore traversed the 68 km long trek
towards Bamak-Draupadi peak and the glacier.
This entire region being the catchment of River Ganga and its
tributaries, we saw Tehri forming a major dam on the river. And it is
at this place, the pampered souls of Delhi were receiving their lifeline,
the domestic water supply. We most often wondered how these
projects in one location had benefited the other at a certain
sociological cost. Throughout our journey we saw how varied
economic activities provided livelihood options in this terrain. Being a
recently uplifted mountain range since the last 65 million years, the slopes were loose and highly erosive in
nature. We saw the snow-melted streams bringing down extensive sediments from the higher reaches, making
life prosperous along the river valley and the Plains.
Having started from an altitude of 1,300 m ASL, we moved to series of camps set up by our organisers up to
4,800 m ASL. The vegetation varied from shrubs to deciduous, evergreen, high altitude alpine conifers and
grassland. The entire Himalayan region is revered for endemic medicinal plants and rich grassland. The Gujjar
community in this grassland have found a safe haven with their economic activity working round the year.
They are basically semi-nomadic communities moving between an altitude of 1000 and 4500 m ASL. Their
livestock predominantly moves with them as long as the greener pastures are available during different seasons.
High quality milk and dairy products is part of their economic activity that is sold off in near-by tourist or
temple settlements. Their children essentially are trained with life
skills to manage their herd over these steep mountainous slopes.
Summer is the month when the region experiences a good spell of
thundershowers. This entire stretch is endowed with wild berries,
particularly strawberries during the season. Each one of us could
gather a handful during every stop over, to the extent that some of
us became expert grazers over days.
Although each day started off with bright
sunshine, the weather change was drastic
June 21-July 04, 2010
with a heavy downpour by afternoon. Hence we always had
to cover our maximum distance during the earlier part of the
day and settle down before the onset of rain. The weather
station set up at the advanced base camp near Bamak was an
interesting learning experience. The young amateur
meteorologist explained how the recording of weather
parameters are carried out on a timely basis for rainfall,
snowfall, temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind speed, wind
direction, and sediment load. Government employment
opportunity for this inhabitant is a boon, and at the same
time there is little option of entertainment and activity for him.
Adverse weather condition between day and night was yet
another factor we had to brace through. Although our
average trekking time during day time were warm, the
nights were not as pleasant as one could expect. The least
temperature we experienced was – 2.4 C at an average of
4,650 m ASL. Keeping each other motivated was a key
factor in achieving our climbing targets, especially on the
final climb to reach the glacier. On the other extreme
finding a warm environment to
fight the cold was an inexorable
experience. The Sulphur Spring at
Ganganani settlement enroute to
Gangotri was a relief to each one
of us. This small place attracts
several pilgrims to stop over for a
quick dip before they head to the holy town. Here we
witnessed an ocean of eccentricity with people coming
from all over the country with a broad economic
background. We particularly saw the hotels attracting a section of south Indians with hilarious hoardings (Anna
for Tamilians, Karla for Keralites, Samber for Sambar, Medhu Bara for Madhu Vada, etc). Surprisingly
orthodoxy among these pilgrims are still high to the extent we saw certain south Indian communities carrying
their own plates and spoons into the restaurant.
All these observations were an interesting learning experience to understand the intricacies of people in a
regional context. Not to forget, we still saw the Gujjars
supplying their dairy products at this settlement that was
part of micro-economics that we were following through
the journey. On our return to Rishikesh at the foothills,
we noticed the economic activity completely surrounded
with the presence of River Ganga, a town with a more
complicated living system.
We have returned home with loads of memories and
lifetime experiences. With basic amenities and no toilet
June 21-July 04, 2010
facility, we realised how important it is to be connected
to nature and understand the process of life in the
wilderness. We appreciate all the evenings that we spent
together, especially while debating about issues (from
the sociological cost of Tehri to the peaceful migration
of Gujjars and our connection to this real world)
surrounding this region.
Revanth Rao M
Student, Grade 10
Srinivasan K
Coordinator, IGCSE
June 21-July 04, 2010