Chronicling bits from field trip

Wrote this on January 13,2012...

I went to Doon (Dehradun) last week, had some pending dental work and also I wanted to spend some time with my cousin whom I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to see until my next trip to India. Also, there was some writing pending that I failed to accomplish. But that’s ok! It was overall a good stay in Doon, had good family time and of course great food. One of the best things about going to Doon is that every time I go back I run into new few familiar faces/family friends etc…it is a good feeling. During my trip, I also managed to get a haircut from the same guy who had been cutting my hair since I was in first grade. He gives on an average 50 haircuts every day! 

People in the mountains amaze me all the time, they torment their bodies a lot, but that again is because they don’t have any other choice, there are times when they have to walk several kilometers to buy produce when the roads are shut, get water when there is no water, get feed for their cattle and fuel wood to cook food. Life is tough here, yet everyone’s heart is full of love and hospitality. I offered some money and chai to the man as thank you, which he accepted with a smile :)

The man who helped with my bag.
Took this picture while we  waited  for our chai at  my fav chai-shop.

Time flew, and I started making preparations to get back to the field. Oh, if I didn’t mention, this time it snowed in Dehradun, it was all over the news. It is unusual for Dehradun to have snow, last time it snowed there was in 1962. There was a lot of snow in my field area too, I had been reading about it in the news but I didn’t know how bad things got until I was half way. Getting to the area where I am based right now takes a toll. I have to first take an overnight train from Dehradun that reaches Haldwani at 6.30am and then from Haldwani there’s a bus that takes about 3 hours, there is only one bus that leaves around 8am. Today in the morning when I reached Haldwani, I couldn’t find that direct bus, after doing a bit of inquiry I came to know that all roads are closed due to snow so there are no vehicles going upto Shitla (place I am living). I was a bit discouraged, but on seeing the weather condition(sky was clear) I decided to go ahead instead of going back, so I ended up taking a bus and then fortunately also found a shared taxi that was going upto a place just 3kms away from Shitla. Since, this was the only taxi that was going up on the hills, there were 15 of us in that vehicle, people were literally piled on top of each other. I was amazed at how the driver managed to stuff everybody in the car and then also managed to drive.

It took another one and a half hour and I reached Nathuwakhan, I was looking for a taxi to go upto Shitla and came across a man who had also been looking for one for almost an hour. Realizing that probably, we wouldn’t be able to find something, he asked me if I was willing to walk 3 kms. For him, it was no big deal, but for me looking at my luggage, I said, ' I don’t think so!'. That man then without giving a second thought took the heaviest bag from me and started to walk, I had no option but to follow. Never in my mind I imagined walking 3 Kms uphill with the entire luggage but this frail looking man made it so easy. I could see him losing bit of balance while walking as the bag he was carrying was heavy also, his legs were weak but he didn’t stop. When I asked him to take some rest for a while, he told me he was used to it, he said that he has walked 20 kms with 40kgs load on his back, so this was no big deal. 

At the expense of sounding a bit narcissistic I think I should also share about my one day of fame in the village. I'd gone to a workshop on Van Panchayats in Nanital and the very next day my photograph was in the local news. People in the hills read newspaper very carefully. That day, I don't remember even a single person I crossed by who didn't mention about my photograph in the newspaper --must say, I felt like some celebrity :) Guess, that's one of the good things about staying in a small village, it doesn't take very long for everyone to get familiar with you!