Kandbari Views-A Pictorial Essay

This is the third in a series on a holiday in Kandbari, in the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh (region of snowy mountains). Kandbari lies at 1200 metres (4000 feet) in the foothills of the Dhauladhar Mountain Range (White Mountain) of the Himalayas.

It certainly is much easier taking and exhibiting photographs than writing tomes. If you don't believe this, please read My Unfinished Hubs.

But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words (or is it?). Decide for yourselves.

The melting snows feed the Awwa River which in turn waters the fields and feeds the villagers. They wonder what is causing changes in the climate which is becoming more unpredictable. The fact is that in our increasingly interdependent global village, an unseen jet aircraft is contributing as much to this as the belching of cattle and sheep.

Steps hewn out of this huge rock, ice-cold waters and a bridge that would be far easier to bomb than the one over the River Kwai.

Morning breaks with the sun crowning the mountaintops while shadows fill the valleys. In minutes the land is awake and nature's beauty revealed.

The houses in Nain village are clean and well-kept with all the appurtenances of modern life, including refrigerators and TVs. The villagers are a satisfied lot and the education of children is a high priority for everyone.

The crops include rice, wheat and corn. Additionally guava and citrus fruit and beans and lentil flourish in the soil and atmospheric conditions prevalent in the hills.

Rhesus monkeys and wild boar cause extensive damage and the villagers have to cope as best they can.

Like elsewhere on our fragile planet, the limitless well of human greed is leading to destruction of trees. Powerful mafias operate with impunity. Movements like the Chipko Movement, in which village folk and especially women folk, managed to stop the decimation of trees by hugging them, need to be organised to protect trees.

Wherever you go in this area, the Dhauladhar Mountains tower above you, making you feel that man's inflated sense of importance needs levelling and the mountains do so very effectively.

As you ascend higher up the mountains, scattered villages like this are visible. The mountain streams become markedly colder even when you gain height by just a few hundred metres.

Open spaces, fresh, clean air, bubbling mountain streams, friendly folk, beauty surrounding you everywhere you look-what else could one ask for? Perhaps just to be reborn at Kandbari.