Churah Valley of the Himalayas: natures’ beauty, warm hearts & untold stories!

Happy faces, welcoming hearts, an innocent aura... that is what defines the beautiful people of Churah valley, a remote location in interior part of Himachal Pradesh.  Just like the innocent people are the untouched villages of the region. There are lush green valleys, gurgling waterfalls, hues of setting sun illuminating the hills, silent nights and chill mornings. The apple trees, corn fields, lines of pea plants just adds on to the greenery of the fertile valley. ‘Shodh Yatra’ as the name suggests, is a journey in the quest of research for betterment of this heavenly interior land. Never could I imagine initially that for the beautiful valley of Churah, ‘Shodh’ could just start but there is no end to it!

August 28, 2018. It was 11:30 am in the morning. We set off from Pathankot towards Tissa, our base camp. The way to Tissa is dotted with rolling hills along the banks of a beautiful river. We travelled for around 7-8 hours till we finally reached our guest house. It was a beautiful journey for the day. Just after dinner, the entire team had gathered around in the lawn under the starry sky for the initial introduction and the first discussion session. That night we witnessed one of the most spectacular sights. Sunrise is something that we all generally talk about; that night it was our turn to witness moonrise! The beautiful dark hills at the horizon were beautifully lined with the light from the moon. After some time, the light from between two hills was getting more and more intensified till we started to notice the moon with its spectacular yellowish hue emerging out at the horizon. Never had I seen a moon with such beautiful hues and form before.  It took around a minute or two for the moon to emerge out of the darkness into full view and light up the night sky. As we retired for the night, I could not wait to start the trek next day and witness more such natural views that the Himalayas had to offer.

 

The next day, our trek started quite early at around 7:30am. It was supposed to be the most difficult trek that day. We would require crossing many hills both uphill and downhill, some waterfalls till we reach Devikothi, our destination for the night. We started off by the first phase of walk to Bhanjraru where we supposed to have breakfast. It was quite a climb. Never had I worked so hard for breakfast before. We had a delicious breakfast at a temple in Bhanjraru. After that, we were told to freshen up and energise ourselves, as we would need to climb even harder to reach our lunch destination at Pugthulla. I could get a feel then of what was in store ahead for the day. However I decided to remain strong in my mind, as most of the time our determination helps us to keep moving ahead even when the body gives up.

Moreover, some of the spectacular sights of the beautiful hills, lush green forests and sparkling streams were also there to freshen up and motive us to walk further and discover more of nature’s preciousness. With this search for nature’s grandeur and hope to not give up till my best possible extent, we moved on. As we walked, we discovered some rare variety of golden mushrooms in the forest. There were other pretty flowers and lines of vegetation cultivated with perfect symmetry on the hills.

Throughout our Shodh Yatra, we had an opportunity to travel across a number of quaint villages, silent hamlets, deserted stone houses, some wooden homes & a few mud houses. We had been to Devikothi, Degra, Bhairawgarh and Mangli where we stayed overnight. Moreover we passed through other quite hamlets like Pugthulla, Gulli and Bundeli where the locals offered us their love in the form of tasty delicacies. As we walked through our trek, we learned. We learned with every step forward the hardships that surround the lovely valley of Churah.

Churah district is currently engulfed with many problems. As we trekked on the 4^th day from Bundeli to Mangli, it took us around 4 hours and a half to reach the quaint hamlets. The children of Mangli go to school in Bundeli every day. It takes them 2-3 hours to reach school one way. The errands for the day do not end there for the girl child. Soon after reaching home and having lunch, she walks uphill again to the meadows to bring back the cattle. She helps her mother collect firewood for the night’s meal. If a few hours remain after these daily chores , she has her dinner before finally retiring for the night to wake up to another usual day. The male kids of the village also go to the same school and walks back all the way at the end of the day. They however do not participate in the household chores unlike the girl child. The male child is mostly seen engaging themselves in strolls around the hills or helping their fathers in the home farms. Having said that, all I could feel in the Churah valley community was the greater role of accountability among the women of the household.

Women play a dominant role in the Churah households.  Her day begins at around 4 am daily when the sky is still dark, the moon still shining above the hills, the chill wind in the fields and the elders, men and children still asleep. She cooks food, feeds the men and the children, sends them to work, takes care of the livestock, cleans the house, travels miles in the hills for firewood, feeds the cattle and sleeps only after the entire family is well fed and peacefully asleep. It takes a few words to pen down the entire day of a typical child or a woman of Churah valley. However it is easier said than done.

For me, the walk up the hill as well as the downhill walk for 2 hours was enough to create the feeling of breathlessness, blisters on my feet and pain on my knees. For some moment, the knees felt stiff. The toe nail hurt terribly with every step downhill.  For the locals of Churah, such hardships are a part of their everyday life. Yet there is a pleasant smile on their face always. They have embraced their beautiful valley along with the hardships that came with it without any expectations for the better. For them everything that they have is the best. Their contentment with whatever little artificial luxury they have like a TV or a two wheeler like a bicycle is much more than a resentment of the thoughts of their hardships. They are proud of their land, their valley, the greenery, the pure water of the abundant mineral water springs, the fresh air and the warmth of the social surroundings. They have nothing to complain.

We city dwellers have all kinds of artificial luxury, but happiness? Contentment? An uninterrupted nights’ sleep with a carefree mind? Well, now I would question these for myself. We are all running in a race for success. We have various definitions of the much sought after success.  Sometimes it is defined through material achievements, scholastic fulfillment, power and recognition or mere attempts to satisfy our quest for more. We seem to discount the present a lot for the sake of future. In this mode of over preparation for the future, we miss out the little happiness that every single day offers. This is quite unlikely of the people of Churah valley.

During our stay at Mangli village, we were fortunate enough to witness and be a part of the folk music and dance celebration by a group of the locals. The ‘Mangli band’ as I refer to them was a mixed group, both young and old. The child plays the drum, two of the youths played the flute, and the third youth played a local trumpet called ‘dodumbi’ or the ‘Nagshikha’ as some locals called it. This name came from the belief that sound of that trumphet has some relation with the reckoning of the snakes of the surrounding forests.  According to popular belief, the ‘Nagsikha’ is not supposed to be played by females. I questioned them the reason behind it; however none of them were sure. But they continued their tradition based on their belief. Nevertheless I got lucky enough to experience playing the ‘Nagara’. It is a musical instrument, somewhat similar to the popular table but much bigger in size, and the beats are supposed to be performed using two sticks unlike hand played in case of tabla. The ‘Nagara’ is heated near fire from time to time to enhance the robustness of its sound. The symphony of all these instruments together with the flute playing the traditional Chamba folk music was so soothing to the soul and the mind, that one can easily fall asleep. May be such soothing music was the wonderful little secret that washed away the entire days’ fatigue for the locals of the beautiful valley.

Today, when I try to rewind back to the moment, I feel nostalgic; the fond remembrance of that musical evening around the bonfire spreading a warm comfort against the chill dusky evening, the roar of the waterfall at the horizon and dance of the local villagers to the beats of the music was a sight to behold. Just one evening at Mangli made me realize the essence of life- the joy of life in small and simple things. They do not own luxury cars or houses, expensive appliances; but they own the joy of freedom, they own the purity of their ecosystem.  This soul touching musical evening was suddenly interrupted by the slight downpour adding to the chill of the wind. We all moved downstairs to the home of a retired Army Colonel, who was our host for that day.

One interesting thing that I observed in Mangli village was that there was no vegetable market. People eat whatever they grow on their fields. Throughout our visit to several houses in Mangli, we observed that corn was a staple food as much as wheat. People in the villages regularly consume ‘makki ki roti’ (Indian flat breads made of corn flour). Rajma (kidney beans) is the most popular pulse among the villagers of the Churah district. However I had the privilege to taste a very different flavour of the ‘rajma masala’ prepared in Churah.  Unlike most other cities in India, where the pulse is soaked overnight in water, here it is soaked in buttermilk the previous night. Buttermilk is abundant among households.  Infact, all milk products are abundant. The desi ghee, butter milk, cottage cheese are all prepared at home by the women of the house. They have a very special silver vessel in the kitchen with a long ladle around 5 feet long which is used to churn the milk. Unfortunately, I could not get the opportunity to see the live production of buttermilk and participate in the process, as it is prepared during the daytime for the entire days’ meal.  Another equipment worth noticing in the kitchens was the modern wood fire stove. It was attached with a chimney to let out the solid ash and smoke. This is a very thoughtful innovation doing away with the problem of indoor air pollution, which is a big loophole of using wood as cooking fuel.

The local cuisines of Churah also include ‘kadhi’ (a curry made of curd, basil leaves and other spices). The Himalayan kadhi is unique in its taste due to the distinct flavours that the spices carry, the tanginess and the creamy texture of the curd. It is a thick sauce based on dairy product and is enough to delectably suffice with a steaming bowl of rice or ‘roti’ (hot Indian flat breads).  The usual dal mostly cooked in plains is a rarity here. While we were trekking in ‘Devikothi’ and most other places, we came across a type of highly prickly plant species. In narrow trekking trials, presence of such bushes might be quite dangerous. Hardly could we ever imagine that the Himalayan locals have magically transformed that prickly bush into a tasty vegetarian delicacy. It is served in the form of a green vegetable paste which resembled ‘palak paneer’ (spinach paste with cottage cheese) but it has its own distinct flavours. This local delicacy is called ‘Aend’. Some other vegetables commonly served were lady fingers, potato, peas, beans, cucumbers etc. Churah meal is incomplete without spoons of desi ghee and honey. Processed food is rare. On the last day of the trek, when we were roaming individually in the Himalayas; trying to find the much dreamt about solace and tranquillity in the Himalayas, I came across a tiny little school on a hilltop overlooking the lush green meadows atop a gigantic hill and waterfalls roaring from the horizon. The schools had walls filled with maps and inspirational messages which was a common sight in the entire valley.

Since my childhood, I had a dream; rather a fantasy I would say, to travel to the Himalayas. I wanted to sit all day alone in tranquility. I wanted to sit there watching nature unraveling its mysteries.  I wanted to meditate, feel and breathe the fresh air. That early morning my dream came true. The sweetness of the realization was enhanced by the fact that the previous four days were quite tiresome due to the long walks on the hills. Meditating there for a few hours, I heard the nature’s orchestrated melody which always existed but somehow I always missed out. The music that we hear today, the musical instruments that we played whether it is the flute, the sitar, the piano and all others seems to have been born through inspiration from nature. That music took me through a journey of self exploration. I felt, I was not alone; but in a deep conversation with my inner self.

The sweetness of that nature’s music was slowly getting amalgamated with the little giggles and sweet laughter of little kids. The sound seemed to be playing at the horizon at perfect rhythm with the sound of the waterfall. It was one of the rare sound emanating so much joy and positivity around me. That joyful sound suddenly broke into silence which pulled me out of my journey of self exploration with my conscience. I found those little kids sitting around me with eyes full of fascination and curiosity. Their inhibition and silence was deafening for me.  I started playing with them. For that moment, I felt, I got back my childhood.

They were kids from Mangli village, where we stayed the previous night. From the two older kids, I realized that they had never been out of their village in the past thirteen years of their life since they were born. They had only been in and around Churah, roaming all around on foot. Though they have heard of social networking apps like facebook, watsapp etc., they never felt the need to use it. For them, connections happen through heart. It is a social reality and not a virtual reality.

On asked about their favourite food, I was fascinated by the fact that they listed all the healthy food options like the local pulses and the vegetables grown on their fields, which is quite unlikely of city kids today. This seemingly simple conversation with them instilled in me some important realisation: the people of Churah owned their village with complete heart and soul.

If any traveller on a superficial journey would be questioned regarding what the village of Mangli has to offer, he would probably find the hills and hills with waterfalls lining them in between. But a keen observation would make this list quite long. The rustic experience is enough to make one realize the abundance that the place had to offer. Those kids realized newness in their surroundings every single day.  They were so happy engrossed in their daily chores that for them, the world was their village with the surrounding majestic hills as its boundary and their little village their playground.  I offered them my wicked little advice that they should atleast travel to Delhi and move out of Churah sometimes.  Their reluctant coy little smile seemed to sweetly negate me completely. Most of their summer vacations are spent helping their parents in their fields, and in their winter vacation a day begins and ends with clearing out the snow in the field.

In our visit to Bhairawgarh, the children also expressed the need to improve the time consuming manual snow clearance process. A group of five children; two from the 6^th standard, two from the 7^th standard and one from standard 9^th came out with an interesting innovation to wipe out this problem.  Their fertile minds picturised a machine which could clear snow through a suction device and with the help of wind.  The snow collected would then be stored in a storage box until the machine gets automatically emptied at the tip of the second button. This simple design and frugal means to operate the same really intrigued me.  Initially they wanted a big sized machine. But it had its own problems of transferability from one terrace to another.  Then they improvised the design with fans attached at the top. This adds a third switch to operate the flight of the machine. On being pushed further and told that there are remote controlled drone cameras available today, they expressed that this machine could be similarly operated with remotes controlling their location and which could fly from one terrace to another, clearing out the snow. Such was the creativity of those young kids. They came out with this idea in a matter of 15 minutes.

They do not have any science laboratories in their school, nor do they have the privilege of visiting or participating in any science exhibitions. We would really fail if we could not tap those dormant creative potential in the children. As we visited other schools as well, we tried to arrange various activities which could bring out their creative potential. The children had a tremendous analytical ability of their surrounding problems. If the schools or the district administration could arrange monthly trips of groups of students to other engineering and technology institutes in Shimla or other nearby cities, it would greatly help them to actually bring out their creativity into live action. They could actually learn to design their innovations under the experienced guidance of the engineering students. At present, the only outbound trip that the village school organiszes was the school sports tournaments. Though a sport is unarguably very important and requires encouragement, parallel initiatives like visit to technology institutions are also a need of the hour. None but the young children of the valley are the regular witness to their problems and understands it in a manner that no others can. Hence they should be given a chance to bring out the change to solve their problems.

Non motorable roads in the hills or even the lack of roads; lack of playground space in schools or shortage of schools in general etc are some common problems according to most of the children of Churah valley. In some other villages, problems other than this were also seen. On our visit to a high school in Satyas village, we observed that the school operated four classes 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th from just one room and an open verandah. Both standard 7th and 8th operated from a single room without any partition. The students of both classes expressed their wish for separate classrooms. While in cities we are aiming for smart classrooms, villages in state like Himachal with one of India’s best educational attainments still wishes for separate classrooms. This made me realize the opportunity gap between school children in India. What was even worse was that classes 5^th and 6^th operated from an open verandah. Starting from December till March, Himachal Pradesh remains covered in approximately 3-4 inches snow. Under such climatic conditions, these children from classes 5^th and 6^th suffer heavily in their studies due to lack of classrooms. The older children of the school also expressed their desire for a washroom in the school premises.  

According to the local people of Churah valley, certain facilities are lacking in schools due to rampant corruption. The government funds appropriated for development of school infrastructure are channelized through the school teachers. However the expenditure and the school development budget are not very transparent. Greater transparency in the fund allocation and expenditure process, accountability on the part of the school authorities and vigilance of the local community members is required to minimize fund leakages from the school infrastructural developmental process.  

On the last day of our trip when we got the opportunity to interact with some of the college professors, college students and honourable MLA of Churah District, Mr. Hans Raj, he said, ‘We do not want to be termed as an aspirational state’.  True to his optimism, the potential of Churah District is far beyond an aspirational state.

However as Robert Frosts’ famous lines goes

“The woods are lovely dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before we sleep, miles to go before we sleep..”

There are other several problems with much greater potential for development and growth as well. While we were staying in Degra village near Bhairawgarh, I arranged for an interaction session with the farmers of the village, during my leisure time after meal. Thanks to the natives of the village, who helped me to get introduced to several farmers and other people in general, who also later joined enthusiastically in the conversation. According to them, the farmers in Churah valley do not receive the prevailing market price for their produce. Another factor adding to this difficulty is the distance from the market at Chamba, which is their hub. The villages are located quite far away from the market where the crops are sold to the final customer. Most of the farmers in Churah are small farmers. It does not pay for them to carry their product themselves to the market. He rather routes it through the market committee. The market committee purchases the crops from the farmers at a rate much below the final market rate, which is not even sufficient to cover the farmers’ expenses. I hope farmers see some light soon in the near future.

On the way to Bundil from Satyas, I luckily met Janam Singh Thakur, who is the current head of BJP Kisan Morcha group. When I discussed with him regarding the same problem, he said efforts are on to open a ‘mandi’ in Bhanjraru where they shall try to fetch a fair price for every crop through auction. On interacting with farmers I realized, they also have an information gap about the benefits that they are entitled to receive. Most of the farmers have never received the subsidies, seeds and other benefits that they should have received. Many even did not know about them. There is no much interaction between the local farmers and the agricultural universities.

One farmer in Degra village said as a part of an NGO’s activity, he is currently running an experiment with a lavender cultivation. The NGO arranges meetings of 2-3 farmers from every village with technical experts from universities for learning the nitty gritties of lavender cultivation. This is in a pilot stage. Once successfully cultivated, this activity would be scaled up. Currently, lavender from Himachal is regularly sent to Dehradun. There is a profitable market for the same. Big companies purchase them at huge scale and at competitive prices. However no such market exists in the native state. Hence more of such pilot initiatives such as the one for lavender are required. This can be extended to mushrooms, honey and other horticultural crops as well.

I used to read in stories from olden days regarding the ‘vaid’ or the doctors of the good old days. Right from my childhood, it could never fail to fascinate me. The ‘vaids’ had a very prominent role in the continuity of this form of medical practice. Today, with the coming of the other medical practices leading to faster recovery, such good practices are fading out. During our stay in Bhairawgarh, we were fortunate enough to meet one such ‘vaid’ from the village. He had a bag of fascinating little herbs, tree barks, roots, leaves etc all wrapped in small pieces of newspaper. Just be feeling the pulse rate of a patient, he can diagnose an illness. The parts of trees that he carried in his bag, many of them are mixed and ground as a fine powder. It is then mixed in buttermilk for final consumption. Buttermilk is believed to be good carrier of those particular medicines. Most of those ingredients have been collected from the high altitude hills of the Himalayan mountain ranges. We would require hours or may be even days to conquer some of those heights. Such is the preciousness of those little ingredients wrapped in those old little papers. The market value of those medicinal herbs ranges from Rs.8000 per kg to even Rs.20, 000 per kg in the export market. Those are freely available in the region. Yet there is no commercial market for it. That has not been tapped. What is worse is the fact that many a times such a lack of knowledge of medicinal plants is misused by the big corporate houses, who purchases them by huge quantities at just Rs.10-20 a bag!

 I was saddened by the fact that such a medical practice is quite unknown to his nephew and other youths of the village who accompanied him. Ayurveda, the most ancient form of health care system which had its origins in Indian subcontinent, is has failed to preserve the traditional knowledge. I feel the slow fading away of these herbal practices owes to the lack of knowledge transmission at the grass root level. Once the knowledge holder generation dies, the traditional knowledge dies along with them. This is a true but an unfortunate reality. This needs to be stopped at the earliest. Vocational training can be arranged for the senior secondary students who can be trained about the medicinal significance of the flora around them. Another way is to train the village women. They regularly go to the hills for firewood collection or for grazing. Hence they can also collect the medicinal herbs, roots, barks and other leaves etc on the way to their usual chores. This would also not require them for any additional investment of time and energy. Moreover it is women, who take care of the household. Also, a great way to educate children is to educate the mothers. Her knowledge on medicinal flora of the region can be of great use in both utilization and transmission to the next generations.

Transmission of the traditional medicinal knowledge can also to some extent provide coverage to the lack of medical facilities in the region. We walked through several villages in entire Churah district. Nowhere could we spot any official health centre. On our first day of trek towards Devikothi, while I was trying to gather all my strength to put forward every step, I could see a woman, carrying her infant child rolled up like a bundle attached to her back, and accompanied by her elder child who was around 5-6 years of age. I greeted her and she asked her where she was going. I could not even spot the child until our local guide pointed that out. She explained that she was carrying her child to a medical centre in Bhanjraru. I was touched. Generally in Himalayan interior villages, there is no practice of visiting a health centre for minor illness. That little infant was suffering from prolonged illness and hence his mother had to travel all the way crossing the hills to finally reach the doctor. In cities, we never even consider the presence of such health care facilities as a blessing. We are so used to taking everything we have for granted. After this trip, I have begun to realize that everything that is so easily available to us requires many others to toil hard to earn it. Every facility that we enjoy has an alternative use. An effort towards judicious utilization from our part can make it easily available for someone else. This holds not just for medicines, but for many of our daily luxuries.

That day, the mother might have walked past many hills containing several of those medicinal plants which are ingredients for the same antibiotic which she would have purchased from the faraway health center. Either local traditional knowledge of medicinal plants is considered unreliable or are severely lacking. The few people who have that knowledge like the village ‘vaid’ whom we met are not allowed to practice publicly. Hence these are still informal medical practices which needs and has the potential to be formalized.

Walking along the Himalayan ranges, we got to witness several beautiful streams and some waterfalls all along the way. Apart from the beauty, which was definitely a sight to behold, the interesting fact worth noting was the taste of the stream water. We were extremely tired after hours of walk. The sound of flowing water at the horizon was a great motivation for me to walk forward to reach that. Even a slight sip of that mineral water was enough to energize the body for another phase of difficult trek. The touch of even a palmful of that cold water could remove all fatigue from the body for a moment. If I have to define that water in few words, it would not take me much time and thinking to term it as ‘pure magic drops’! The hope to find another little stream ahead equally beautiful and refreshing was what gave me the motivation to stand up and keep walking ahead.

It is believed that that water from the streams which directly flows in between the rocks has the properties which can keep illness at bay. This might be one reason why people in the Himalayan villages are not easily susceptible to common illness that city dwellers regularly suffer from. Locals also believe that when one drinks water from the stream, they should take a palmful and drink by moving slightly aside, instead of directly drinking on the top of it. This is so as to prevent contamination for the people who would drink the same water downstream. Such believes indicates the concern that people have for each other. Had this been the case in our cities, we would not have had to research extensively on misuse of common property resources and have several debates on dealing with negative externalities. But we do! Yet, till today we keep our debates going and the problems continue to persist as well. Their simple philosophies made me realise that most of the issues that we city dwellers spend so much time, energy & resource to find a solution to, actually lies in us. It lies in our attitude; our attitude towards others. The feeling of concern towards another can actually solve many problems.

Landslide is another big problem for the region which is why the industries and business ventures are wary of entering this district. However a silver lining lies in the fact that most of the landslide takes place in three places which can be said as the ‘hotspots’. The day our trip ended and we finally returned from Mangli, we witnessed such a landslide. There were only three big muddy slippery stones hanging by the side of the road in vacuum below which there was nothing but the stream and forest several feet below.  We had a cross the landslide area stepping on those three slippery stones. It was very risky. There was nothing but prayer on my lips and confidence in my heart while I was crossing that area at that point of time. I could not thank all the locals who bravely risked their own lives in order to help us cross the area and transferred around 30 heavy bags on their stiff shoulders. Those small moments when people offer their support, the few words of encouragement from peers for each other while trying to figure out the daily utilities amidst scarcity brings out the humanity within us which otherwise lies dormant in our cities. These are some moments worth remembering from my trip. I could see natures’ fury as much as its beauty surrounding that place.

Industries (mostly small scale, natural resource based) can have a huge potential in this region. There are abundant medicinal plants which can be of use to ayurvedic medicines industry, ayurvedic cosmetic product industries, etc. Apples and cucumbers abound in this place. When I returned from Churah, I had an excess baggage of 9 big apples and 2 fat cucumbers, which I could not refuse but accept from the kind locals who offers these for free to the wary travellers. The people can instead prepare fresh apple juice and cucumber cooler juice and with proper bottling develop a fresh juice industry. They can also add other items like Himalayan herbs pickle etc.

Another possible scope for businesses is the energy sector. When I say energy sector, I mostly point out the potential of small run of the river hydropower plants. It can be developed in the form of captive power plants to run small utilities like transporting wood through electric rope and pulley system or may be electric ropeway for easy movement of goods and people across hills. This would save women from travelling far away for woods and also save children’s time in going to schools across hills. I saw a small box ropeway system which was transferring apples from down hills to up hills while on the way to Devikothi. This proves that such a system exists and there is a need to scale up so as to include other goods and people as well. Another power sector is the biogas plant small scale industries. Instead of women regularly travelling uphill to collect firewood, the agricultural residues along with remains of trees etc can be converted into pellets which can serve as a substitute of firewood. This do not require any investment but only few empty drums which can be organized in every homes backyard or may be in one common area near schools or the evening social gathering place. This would be a win-win process as it would help lower the carbon emission and most importantly women could devote their time in something more productive.

Tourism is the next potential industry that I can visualize in the district of Churah. It is the home of those untouched fields, meadows filled with different hues along with changing position of the sun, the mineral springs , the beautiful roaring waterfall, the chill winds and all other elements that we read only in our story books once. People cannot imagine that such purity exist even today until they come here. Tourism in this region can give people the opportunity to move inside the pages of the storybooks that they once read during bedtime. This can have great impact on the economy of the villages. Currently, there are no hotels, which is another reason that makes stay difficult for tourists. Not-on-map organization which arranged our travel has already started home stays in such difficult terrains. This is indeed a very good move. Their properties however can be based out of local people’s homes, a small space of which could be re-decorated and given a feel of the land. Two things to be thought about here: I believe most of the beautiful properties of Not-on-map are privately owned. This can be borrowed on the local spaces itself. This will save a lot of investments and transfer a huge portion of the same to the villagers. Secondly, most of their home stays are located based on the views of the place which mostly happens to be at higher altitudes or in solitude from the local crowd. This makes it difficult for all kinds of tourists to visit the place apart from the young crowd. Secondly, intermingling of tourists by arranging stay at their homes can lead to a lot of inter-cultural transfer of knowledge and also knowledge about the place and lives in general. This is a highly feasible solution and can be arranged in two ways without disturbing much of the arrangement in the homes. Either the terraces can be converted into cozy rooms or they can arrange outdoor tents as and when required for adventurous tourists willing to stay at higher altitudes. There can be different packages: social service package, adventure package, cultural package (to explore the cuisine, culture and music of the place), etc. This can be a huge business opportunity for the villagers, travellers from around the world and save ‘Not-on-map’ a huge buck from additional investments. The organization can also benefit from the hospitality attributes of the villagers without additional costs!

The sweet concerns of the people of Churah valley towards each other was something that I badly miss now sitting amidst our red brick walls and concrete structures where nothing but competition prevails! I still remember when I was trying to reach the home of the Bhairawgarh School principal; I was short of breath climbing up and down the stone paths. The little kids were so much helpful in guiding me through the way. The village women in most of the villages would never shy away from offering fresh apples and cucumber from their garden and even invite us for meal, even though we were complete strangers. They still believe in humanity, because it does exist there.

Throughout my life, I have had immense contributions from strangers from different parts of the world. I do not even remember all of their names, of which I take the responsibility. But may be, I could not have been at this stage of life without all those beautiful strangers.  Churah was not an exception. Infact, it reinforced my trust on strangers. Those villagers who cooked meals for us out of sheer kindness, those who offered us water on the tiring trek trials, those who made some space for us to stay so that we could be cozy for a night, those who sat around us/brought us inside their homes and spoke with us to a point that we forgot our homes and luxuries, all those children who took me back in a time machine to my own childhood and all those helping hands which held us while we stumbled on the stoney way.. I wish I could discover a word worthy enough to express my thankfulness toward them. May be academically or economically those hands and hearts are doing nothing great according to the city dweller’s conceptualization of ‘greatness’; but they have a special power to percolate people’s heart and make a special place in peoples’ hearts forever.

Emotional things aside, I feel there is a potential to economize on the water resources that they have. In many places, water from the taps keeps flowing continuously, without even a bucket or a utensil to save it. A lot of fresh water is wasted continuously. Here, I am not even considering the stream water. This was a disturbing sight for me. Growing up in cities and living in several water scarce regions, I realize that every drop counts. Economizing on the pure water streams would help not only the people of Churah but also the people from rest parts of the country. While locals of the village can set up a mineral water bottling plants and earn an income out of it, people from the other states would get an opportunity to taste the ‘pure magic drops’.

‘Devbhoomi’ as Himachal Pradesh is called, is true to this tag. One must really visit the village of Churah to experience it. Today, as I plan to put down the pen, and retire cozily on my luxurious bed, I remember the efforts we had to put in every day while we were in Churah before we actually cut get a space to retire for the day at night. For many people, that is a part of their everyday life. Before I feel lazy to walk 15 minutes to the library now, I remember those several kids who walk nearly 5-6 hours every day to reach their school and come back home. Today, I feel no problems are big enough unless we frame it so in our minds. For the people of Churah, their simple and rustic lives, yet their minds filled with strength and pride for their land, never gave up on the everyday fatigue involved in their Himalayan way of life. As I close my eyes, all I can remember is the optimistic smiles of the happy faces of Churah; the smiles which keeps telling me there is so much more to life, than we might have probably imagined!

With Loads of Love,

To the people of Churah Valley...

From a Churah Traveller!