A world in transition

Amidst the abundant beauty of these magnificent mountains, resources are scarce and shrinking. The land is laced through with a plentitude of rivers, springs, and cataracts- and yet, more often than not, fields here are arid, the soil calcinated, and drinking water hard to find.


The litany goes on and on: medical facilities are rudimentary, electricity is rare, and transportation an ordeal. Forests are dwindling, helped along by a deadly combination of political neglect, bureaucratic folly and commercial rapacity that has strained the age-old bond between people and nature.

While scholarly interest grows in the folk traditions and indigenous knowledge of the people of Garhwal, their children sit in neglected classrooms- waiting for teachers. Overwhelming numbers of adults leave to find jobs in the plains, leaving behind women to work the fields and bring up families alone. Through all this, what is perhaps most inspiring is that the spirit of this community does not falter, that it carries on with its unceasing toil.

Clearly, such a static and conflicted situation makes sense only as a period of transition. Garhwal is a culture at a crossroads, trying to decide between the divergent paths: the traditional ways which have been a source of sustenance and pride for so long, but no longer satisfy a growing population; the officially chartered path of development that looks to exploit resources for immediate results; and what is perhaps most desirable and most difficult of all- a change that is at once radical and gentle.

Development cannot be a force that is at once acquisitive and patronising, taking endlessly from nature and handing down small benefits to people. The unyielding muscle of the Garwhali people must not turn flabby- instead, it is vital for the community itself to turn hard labor into fruitful endeavor.

-excerpt from an SBMA brochure