The village on the hillside
Hidden in the hills is a tiny village that you won't find without a guide..
We walked up to the village, hiding in the hills.
When I was at the Silent Valley Homestay, my good host, Amit, took me to a village near his place. We exited his gates, walked one hundred meters down the road, and then he turned right and started climbing. His shoes always amazed me. He wore normal shoes, and I wore my nice, fancy, beloved Timberland shoes. Hill folk are much more sure-footed than we are.
He threaded his way along a steep, narrow path, flanked by vegetation, and I promise you that I would not have found that path but for him, and I will not be able to discover that path again without his guidance.
Amit told me that his family had lived there 150 years ago, before moving to their present home. I guess it must be nice to move close by and still be in touch with your old friends. In contrast, I have moved house more than twenty times in my life, and when you move so often, people you meet become like ships you pass in the night. Many become Facebook friends, and others remain close friends, but the balance shifts in favor of the ‘Facebook friends’ that you have.
Pahari people and plains people sing different tunes.
People from the plains like to believe that hill people are polite but sneaky. Hill people often perceive people from the (North Indian) plains to be boorish and crude. They come from different backgrounds, and their lives are run by different rhythms, and these differing rhythms affect their perceptions of time, life, and relationships.
Which of the two is wealthier than the other? People from the plains have more money, live in expensive houses, drive fancy cars, eat in fancy restaurants, wear designer clothes and watches, but don’t have time for themselves and each other, and spend large sums of money on doctors, medical tests and medicines. The reverse often holds true for people from the hills, but in India’s current political environment, bigotry has entered the souls of both. Also, as people from the plains have started driving their cars into the hills, hill people have begun engaging in commerce and are often willing to cut trees to build guesthouses and hotels.
India is changing, and it may need a few generations before we reverse course and rediscover simple truths that may make the planet better and reverse the harm we are doing now.
In times of illness.
The yellow house you see in this image lies on the hill opposite the Silent Valley, and I often stared at it while having my breakfast. You get eggs at the Silent Valley Homestay, and I love eggs, so I was always a happy child at breakfast!
But after we returned from the village, I thought long and hard about the yellow house and the steep path going up to the village. The closest hospital is in Haldwani, at the foothills, about 20 kilometers from Bhimtal.
One morning, while sipping chai, I asked Amit what happens when someone falls ill. The distance from the yellow house to the main road is a good three or four kilometers, and the houses on the opposite hill are widely spaced apart.
So, I asked Amit what happens when someone falls ill. He stared back at me, face blank with confusion, and replied: ‘But people don’t fall ill.’
I persisted with my question, and he stared at me as though I was insane. His eyes clearly communicated one message: standing before me is a crazy person from the plains who does not understand hill folk.
I am stubborn, and he finally relented – maybe he figured that people do require assistance when they get injured - and said that the neighbors carry them down to the main road, from where they get a taxi, car, or ambulance to Haldwani. Damn, I thought, my eyes turning again to the yellow house/
‘Do they carry them from that house to the road?’ I asked, pointing to the yellow house.
‘Yep,’ he replied, and the confusion in his voice had one message for me. People support each other, and carrying them down in times of need is the most natural thing to do.
Homes are never truly abandoned.
Some of the houses that I passed through the village seemed abandoned. It turned out that the owners had moved to other parts of the country, seeking fame and fortune.
Again, I asked what seemed to be a stupid question.
In the plains, an empty house gets marked for illegal takeover. I know it to be true because I have experienced this, and I know many of my friends have struggled to protect their property.
Amit insisted that the empty homes remain untouched until the owners return, sell them, or give them away.
This conversation may give you the impression that hill people (paharis) are simple folk who live by eternal, dharmic codes of conduct. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, Pahari people live by simpler truths than plains people do, even though they share the same base urges that drive the rest of us.
Dry wood and grassy patches.
I cannot say that I fully remember the structure of their homes, but I seem to remember that the family often lives on the upper level, while they store wood and other essentials on the ground level.
Dry wood is essential, especially in the winter months. Their homes don’t have modern heating systems, so they rely on firewood to keep people warm in winter. Bhimtal never gets as cold as places in the upper reaches of the hills do. In the upper reaches of the hills, people often stock up for weeks ahead of the winter months because sometimes, they get snowed in, and if they have not stocked up well, they will starve.
We started at one end and walked around in a semi-circle back to the homestay, crossing a few grassy patches on the way. I experimented a bit with long(ish) exposure photography, handheld. Amit wanted to get back to his administrative duties, so I didn’t have enough time to experiment and have fun. Nor did I wish to experiment in the dark, and then find my way back to the homestay by crawling on my hands and knees in the darkness!
Spot me if you can in that photo!
Stripe refuses to support Indian content creators. You can, however, support me by using the PayPal button. If you do so, let me know, and I will add you to the founding members list.
