Thinking back on our ride through Kinnaur brings to mind images of high mountains, roads on the edge of slides and cliffs, small villages, big dams, military checkposts, herding sheep, buckwheat and barley, woolen caps, and big smiles.
We've highlighted a few stories and lessons from places we ventures and people we met along the way...
-Nigulsauri: the first night in Kinnaur we stopped in a small village as evening approached to seek out a place to spend the night. A group of ladies were sitting out on the balcony of a large building smiling down at us. We came up and asked if it might be possible for us to stay with any of them that night. After some discussion and some chai they had us all sorted: we slept with one family, ate dinner with another, and were invited in for chai with everyone else on the two floors of the building. Some of them were local, some from Nepal or elsewhere in Himachal, all drawn to this spot for roadwork and because of the nice new school.
We connected the most with a strong unassuming woman named Sania whom we met on the balcony later in the evening and were invited in for chai. She is a teacher at the school there, and lives alone in a small apartment. She comes from a village about 30 kilometers away but is stayinging in nigalsauri for work at the school. She shared with us ayurvedic juice, green tea, and taught us in the morning how to make a traditional Kinnauri breakfast of buckwheat pancakes ('oogal ki had' ) with local honey and ghee... It was the breakfast of our health conscious dreams :) She seemed to us to be a more rare woman to meet in rural india, independent and content to live on her own, appreciative of community yet relishing her solitude.
Meeting Sania made us think of our own mother, that they would connect really well and dreaming of having Sania stay at our home for sometime and maybe even help out and share her cultural traditions at our school... We exchanged information and it seems like it could be a real possibility!
-arriving in night to Kuppa
We have a general rule never to ride at night but ended up having no choice but to ride until about 930 into Kuppa as we took a side trip up to Sangla valley. There were no villages along the way to stop in or no places to camp. It is easy to create problems and build up situations in the mind as I found myself starting to feel anxious as night was approaching on this remote high mountain road. I began to create divisions between colleen and me, putting blame on her, wanting her to have the energy to cycle faster... after a couple of unhelpful remarks towards her and several minutes of creating tension inside myself I came back to my senses and looked at the reality of the situation. We were cycling on a beautiful quiet mountain road in the evening light, we had a tent if we found a flat spot, we had lights, water, and snacks. There was no problem and any challenges we face should be faced together, making us stronger and making the challenges smaller rather than enlarging them with the ego. Another lesson in the habits of the mind, and in maintaining clarity and seeing the moment truly as it us.
Arriving in Kuppa we were greeted by the most enthusiastic guest house owner, Jingmed Negi.
One of the most generous thalis we've received filled our hungry bellies as he shared his love for his home, showing us some documentaries of the area to explain the local culture and explaining his upbringing in Kinnaur, always maintaing a wide smile on his face. Even when staying at guest homes there is often a feeling of cultural learning and sharing between one another of which Jingmed expressed incredibly.
So giving yet in the end taking less money from us than we had agreed to before, him feeling happy that we put in the extra effort by cycling to visit his home
-sangla ghoomna:
In sangla valley we spent a couple of days "ghoom"ing (wandering) through the back pathways through fields and alongside homes. We spent a lot of time scoping out the fields, looking at what was being grown, and in what way.
We were excited to see such a diversity of crops being grown with one another, maximizing plant interactions and space! (Yayy permaculture in its traditional form!)
The space under Apple, apricot, peach, and walnut trees was all being used to grow vegetables, grains, and pulses. The fruit trees providing the families income and the land underneath providing their sustainance. A seemingly perfect balance.
We were lucky to get to talk to some farmers about their fields and to have some seeds shared with us to plant at home! The climate in sangla valley is nearly identical to upstate New York so it made it extra exciting to see the farms here since we could apply the same things back home.
Throughout Himachal there is a general transition towards the growing of cash crops replacing traditional foods or often replacing food for families sustainance all together. Apples being one of the largest cash crops with many families no longer putting in the effort to grow anything else. It was reassuring to see this better balance remain between income and nourishment in Sangla Valley.
Along with a shift towards cash crops is the shift away from eating traditional foods. We had to search long and hard in sangla valley to find something other than dal and rice or Chinese. It seems silly that no restaraunts in Kinnaur serve Kinnauri food! Real local food can only be found in locals homes.
I was asking about Kinnauri khanna when a sweet smily man and his wife invited us to eat with them. They really got excited about showing us the traditional way for doing everything, cooking over the fire instead of their recent switch to the gas stove, showing us the different steps, letting us churn some butter and telling about the different grains. We made two types of pancake like breads from two varieties of buckwheat and had green vegetables from two homes and fresh butter to go with It!
We even acquired some seeds from both varieties of buckwheat so we can grow it under our Apple trees and make this same dish back home! Kinnauri style :)
We were fortunate to get invited to spend the night with the most beautiful aunty that night and get a tour of her families farm land and a breakfast of Kinnaurs best parantha and rajma before setting back on the road out of the valley!
So many lovely people and so much lovely food!
Seems to be the theme of this blog :)
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