Village life

My work included interviewing people in different villages over the next three days for preparing a document for a client. These villages were in three clusters: near Askote, near Jauljibi towards Munsiyari and near Dharchula. My guide for these visits was a young man Vinod Ojha from Helipya village. He would take me to villages on his motorcycle. The benefit of travelling on motorcycle in the hills is that one gets unobstructed panoramic full HD view, can get down at any place and take a shot for memory.

Here we went. After a ride of about 25 km, the motorcycle stopped on the roadside and Vinod asked me to follow him. Almost covered by bushes there was a pathway with about 30 degrees ascent leading to a school. After a walk of about 10 minutes we reached the school, but by that time I was almost breathless. Exam was going on at that time, midday meal was being cooked. As the exam got over, I interviewed the two teachers of the school, one of whom was transferred to this school in July after serving for six years in a high-altitude village, without electricity and mobile telephone connectivity. The midday meal was tasty!

Unlike plains, level land is scarce in the hills. Most of the villagers live with their cattle. Women do almost all the work, look after cattle, bring grass from the forest, do farming (except ploughing, which is a men’s domain), bring water, clean home, cook for the family, etc., so much so that rural hill women say they become buddhi (old) by the time they turn 40. Men in the hills either work for earning money, or spend time in amusement, but they do not share any household or agricultural work.

Dharchula vs Darchula

The next day was the visit to Dharchula Dehat, a village before the famous Dharchula tehsil and town. Once prosperous, the villagers are now pauper as their agricultural land was acquired to set up Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) base and a few natural calamities that had struck the village since then. I met a gritty woman Hansa who waves beautiful carpets. The local administration slapped a case against her and other women of the village for demanding availability of LPG cylinders at the village road head, instead of Dharchula town, some 4 km away. The case was closed two years ago after languishing for six years.

Situated on the banks of the Kali river, Dharchula is a border town. A hanging bridge connects it to Darchula town in Nepal. One may cross over to Nepal or India from dawn to dusk as many times as one wishes if one is not carrying anything in his hands. Dharchula is an important station of Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra. It is here that one must take permission from the SDM for visiting high altitude place, most famous among them being Darma Valley and still farther Panchachuli Base Camp. Natives of both Dharchula and Darchula are similar in appearance and speak same language.

Dharchula town has a small museum by the name Rung Museum, dedicated to Rung tribe. I will write about the museum and the tribe sometime later.

Kathogodam Railway Station

Now it was time to be back. A seat was booked in a Max vehicle for return journey. I started early around 7 in the morning and after three breaks, one each for breakfast, lunch and evening tea, the vehicle dropped me at Kathgodam railway station around 6 in evening. It took some time to straighten stiff legs and back.

Kathgodam is a terminal station on North-Eastern Railway. Once served by meter gauge, the most famous train at that time was Nainital Express connecting it to Lucknow. The station has three platforms as there is no room to expand the station. It still retains old world charm. From coolies to vendors selling books and magazines and edibles, all are friendly and will guide every passenger to the best of their abilities. The restaurant on the station serves piping hot food with sweet dish in traditional thali, just for Rs 100. The same quality food in restaurant will cost at least twice the amount.

Epilogue

This trip was undertaken from 4 to 8 November 2019. As the train left Kathgodam railway station at its time 9:45 evening, one could feel something strange in the air. I could hear a lady with two children, both under 10 years, talking to her husband in Nainital to come down to Haldwani to pick her up as she was discontinuing journey. Ayodhya verdict was to be announced the next day and she was fearing clamping down of curfew. She was on way to Faizabad to meet her sister. Within 10 minutes she got down the train.

I wrote the first part in November, but could not finish it at that time, because I was too busy in other things. In this trying lockdown time, I can only hope that after the lockdown is lifted, not much changes in the hills.