Same path, Different people

Back in 2012 -
I was not into trekking. Four years back it all changed. I was coaxed by two of my dearest friends, Chandramouli and Ranjan to try out a trekking expedition with them to the Uttarkhand area in the Himalayas. I wasn't very keen, but behind my back, they did all the planning and just simply handed over the travel tickets to me. That was the ticket to heaven. Mind blowing experiences thereafter over the years in the different parts of the himalayas. 
In 2012, my first one, we went to Pindari Glacier, a moderate category trek. One has to take a train from Delhi to Kathgodam, followed by a day long drive to a village called Song. From Song, its about 3km trek in the evening to the KMVN (Kumaon Mandal Vikash Nigam) guesthouse at Loharkhet, which is kind of a base for the pindari trek. We rested at Loharkhet for the night. The next day was a grueling climb (at least for us city dwellers) from 1760mts at Loharkhet to 2750mts at Dhakuri pass. That 1000mts climb in 8km, at that time, was so tough for 40+ guys like us and we were kicking ourselves, but we did it. En-route to Dhakuri from Loharkhet, we came across a meadow where we could rest a while and to our surprise there was a small tea shack. An old man, Bhairo Singh (name changed) who was manning that shack was like God's sent to boost our energies to carry on with the rest of the climb. His hot tea and some biscuits served us good and it was an immediate connect with him. After exchanging greetings and feeling refreshed we went on our journey, promising that we will return.


Bhairo Singh's Shack

Bhairo Singh was glad to see and welcome us. His smile was so pure and genuine. We were probably the last customers of his shack for that year. It was late November and we were the last of the trekkers for that year on that route.
 

Bhairo Singh, busy preparing the tea for us.


Fast Forward to 2016 -
We were on the same path, but the destination was different. This time it was Sunderdunga glacier trek and not Pindari. But the path was the same from Loharkhet to Dhakuri to Kathi. After Kathi, one has to go towards east to Pindari and towards west to Sundardunga.
Just like the last time in 2012, on Nov 5 2016, we started early morning from Loharkhet (1760mts) to Dhakuri (2750mts) so that we can reach by afternoon. This time the path didn't feel that difficult, probably because we knew what to expect. All the while we were looking forward to meet Bhairo Singh again, to be welcomed with a teethless smile and have the cup tea prepared with warm hospitality. But, in the last four years things have changed. There was a new shack and owned by Uday Singh (name changed). I asked Uday Singh about the other shack. His response was "Oh buddhi chal baise, tabhi to mein iye dukan lagaya" which means "The old woman has passed away, only after that I have setup my stack". Apparently, after Bhairo Singh, his widow was taking care of the shack and then she had followed Bhairo. My heart sank.

Uday Singh's new shack

Uday Singh, serving trekkers with the same warmth as Bhairo. Its probably the purity of the air, simplicity of life and the harsh weather which makes people of this region in Uttarkhand so happy and content from within.




But I kept staring at Bhairo's dilapidated shack in the distance hoping that the old man will probably peek out.

This time I missed the cup of tea and looking into his glazed eyes full of wisdom.

Some interesting people whom I met last week

Idayat Ali
It was bitterly cold, on the 19th January morning at Bikaner, Rajasthan. At around 9AM I went out to K.E.M Road, the market place of the old city, to see the market place come to life as the sun rises over our heads. I was walking around taking photos when Idayat Ali came dancing towards me and appeared on the frame. After the initial introductions, he asked me to accompany him and he would show me an old haveli (old private mansion), which normal tourists won't get to see as it was hidden in the bylanes of the old city. After the tour of the haveli, Idayat asked me the kind of cellphone I was carrying. After hearing that I was carrying a cheap and very basic cellphone, he wanted the cellphone as a tip, I guess, he felt that a cheaper phone would be easier for someone to give away. I had to tell him that I would need the phone to get around in the unknown city. Understanding that he would not get my phone he asked for Rs100. That was quite steep for a tip. I had to ask him the reason for which he was asking for the money. He said he would buy a SIM card. Well, he didn't have a cell phone, what was he going to do with the SIM. I was surprised to hear his reply. "Abhi SIM le leta hoon, baad mein phone aur koi tourist deke jayega" ("I will buy the SIM now and I will get the phone later from some other tourist") . He sounded very confident. I guess that his goal for the day was to have a cellphone in his pocket by the time he went home in the evening.
Considering his smartness, I am sure that he had accomplished getting a cellphone from a more gullible tourist.














Devinder (the little boy in the blue jacket)
It was the second day of the camel festival. That day, the festival was happening on the dunes about 50km away from Bikaner , near a village called Ladera, on the way towards Amritsar. I was watching a wrestling competition on the desert sand by the villagers, when I felt a tug on my shirt. I looked down and Devinder said "Angrej, mera photo lo" (Foreigner, take my photo). Taken aback, I asked him whether I looked like a foreigner. To that he pointed out my camera and said "haan, yeh jo hai" (yes, you are as you have a camera). I didn't know what to say, but asked them to pose for a photo. The kids were excited to see themselves in the small screen of the camera.
Devinder sees foreign tourists flocking to his village at least 2 days in a year during the camel festival, taking photos of anything and everything of his day to day life. To him, anyone moving around with a camera is an "Angrej". And for that matter he is not daunted by the color of the skin, this little boy is bold enough to walk up to a stranger, demanding a picture to be taken.


.....and finally Munniram Sharma

I had reached Ladera quite early in the morning, much before the start of the festivities and arrival of tourists and local spectators. I was walking around in the sand dunes, clicking photos, awed by the expanse of the desert. Desolate and lonely. The taxi was parked at a distance and there was a group of people with their camels on top of another sand dune on the horizon. While walking through the dunes I realized that objects are much farther than they appear. Slowly through the desert road from behind the dunes emerged a man with his boys and his uncle in a Camel Cart. That was Munniram. I went near, it was a nice shot of the camel and the cart under the blue sky with the backdrop of the yellow sand. The men happily posed on their cart. One of the boys offered to take a picture of me. So I got up on the cart and sat beside Munniram. In the rustic Rajasthani dialect he started to talking to me. Most of the things he said I could not grasp, and I realized that he was not quite understanding my Hindi either. He gave me a ride on his cart for about 20min while we exchanged a lot of words. He asked me to take a photo of him along with his camel, his source of livelihood. I obliged. One of his boys noted down my cell phone number. Then, to my surprise, he invited me for lunch at his home in a village which is about 15kms away. Apparently, there was jowar ke roti ( Indian bread made out of Sorghum) for lunch. From his expressions, it seemed that it might be a a delicacy within his humble means. But, I had to decline his invitation as my main purpose was to spend time at the camel festival. I said goodbye to him and was gone to spend the rest of the day amongst the crowd of people, camels and the rich colours of Rajasthan. At around 4pm my phone rang. It was Munniram, insisting me to go to his place and have lunch. I felt really bad to turn down his offer again as I had to leave Ladera, go back to Bikaner and take the bus back to Delhi. I told him that I would come to his place another day; and that was a mistake which I realized later.

Two days after I had returned to Bangalore, I was driving back home around 7pm, when my phone rang and it was Munniram on the other side. He called me to invite for dinner as they were making jowar ke roti again that night. He was sad to hear that I was not in Bikaner anymore and I had to promise him that I would visit his home the next time I would be at Bikaner. I was touched, hung up the phone and felt that the whole day at work was such a waste, whatever I had done was meaningless. It would have been fruitful if I could have gone to Munniram's for dinner. Atleast, I would have brought some smile on him.

Have we (urban and modern, which we believe us to be) ever invited a perfect stranger at our place for a meal? Very Very few of us, may be. Our minds are cluttered with the complexities of the urban life, and here is a man who is insisting a stranger to share a meal at his home with no expectation on returns.

I bow to the simplicity.

Memory Chips

Monday evening 7pm : After lot of persuasion and pleading the 5year old in the house finally sat down to recap the Hindi alphabets. He goes to Upper KG and the pressure of studies is already on him (well that's altogether a different topic of discussion). Next day, at school there's going to be Hindi revision. He starts writing the alphabets, uttering every letter correctly. He goes on till the end and exclaims "Complete !!". Well, he was writing the letters right below the exercise he did at school. Now the real test. Closed book. He raised his objection which quickly got overruled.
He started uttering the alphabets without seeing the book. He got stuck after the 5th alphabet. Re-try...stuck after the 10th...excuses of headache...old trick...re-try...stuck after the 8th alphabet...he gets to read through the book one last time and starts again....stuck after the 12th....stuck after the 10th.....excuse of stomachache...stuck after the 8th....its not working !!!

We got his black board and wrote the alphabets with a chalk in a 5 column matrix and asked him to read through the alphabets written on the black board. He was instructed not to mug up, but to consider it as a picture on the black board and simply try to create an image in his mind. Hearing that, he got up from his chair, stood in front of the black board and started pulling the skin of his forehead, pausing for 2-3 seconds and pressing it back. I was expecting that I will soon hear the words "amar mathata khub betha korche (I am having a severe headache)". Patience ran off and ready to give-up, I asked him what's going on. Prompt came the answer, "Dad, I am taking my mind out, storing the image and putting it back" and that was through an expression of disgust, as if I should have known. I was taken aback and started to wonder where did he get that idea from. I have read about researches in Neural Engineering on chips for the human brain. But never talked to him on that subject, nor has he started reading Calvin and Hobbes. May be he has seen something on the mindless Japanese cartoons or the Power Rangers or god knows what all he sees on TV.

Wondering where will technology take mankind in a few years. These kids are so ready for it already, where as we will be struggling to cope up. Like in our times, internet has become a matter of fact in our day to day communication, where as our parents struggle with it and we expect them to get savvy.

Well, I would not be surprised if at the age of 10, this boy one day comes back home with a USB stick sticking out of his forehead and talking to me in the lost language of Bo or with a radio device sticking out of his head and he is communicating with his friends while talking to me about my health and chewing a pill to quench his thirst.

Endless possibilities......