Thursday, September 4, 2014
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Uttarkashi Diary!! Life Goes on………
……..Nothing has changed much
Last monsoon I was in Uttarkashi for relief operations and this monsoon I once again was there to check on the social work through Summiting4Hope that we have undertaken to help as many as we can here. And the effort is still on.
I have been travelling to Uttarakashi once in 3 months since last June. What amazes me is that nothing seems to have changed since then.
Every time I am here and I travel to some of the villages in the interiors or meet the villagers in town, it makes me think that we live in 2 India- the one that you and me live in -the so called Urban and developed India that is seeing growth and second I dis is the India which even after 65 years is still fighting for basic amenities such as roads, water, power, medical facilities and employment opportunities.
The villagers are very troubled but yet they have a smile on their face and continue with their daily routine. There are no roads yet. One downpour and the roads get washed away. On an average a villager has to trek 7-8 Km up and down daily to the road head for anything that they may require.
For some villages such as Pilang and Jadao, the villagers have to trek 22 km to get to the road head. The villagers aren't complaining. It's a reality they have reconciled to and carry on with their day to day work as normally as it could get.
I was told that this time around too the government has been dropping ration via helicopters. The state government seems to be spending more on heli rides to the villages due to lack of roads and bridges.
It is understood that in one village in the district of Uttarkashi, the state Government dropped ration worth Rs 60,000 for an entire village via a helicopter and spend Rs 9 lakh on the heli ride. It would have been cheaper to have built the bridges and roads to connect the villages.
In another incident, a village lost one of its youngsters to a medical emergency as they were unable to get him to the district hospital in main Uttarkashi town nor be taken to the nearest primary health centre on time for treatment. Getting medical treatment is a mammoth task for the villagers. There are Government appointed Ashas in every village but Asha's cannot administer drugs. For any serious ailment, the villagers have to trek down few kms to get to the road head and thereafter get to the district hospital for a doctor's treatment. Every village that we visited we have had to administer some basic drugs like Paracetamol, pain killers or dress wounds.
We traveled first to Bankoli village where Summiting4Hope, the social initiative that I started is working on its second project. We went to check on the house that we are building for the brave heart Mamta Rawat. Am I glad to say that the work has progressed well and the roof is laid. We have had to stop the work for a while due to heavy rains due to which transporting of cement and other materials has become a problem. But, the work will resume soon. Our estimation is that we should be able to complete the construction within one month of the work resuming.
Soon Mamta will move into her new home with her family and have a solid permanent shelter for herself and her family. What is interesting to note is that Mamta has become an inspiration for many young women in her village and the nearby villages. They all want to do something in life which I think is a positive sign. When we spoke to them we got to know that they all want to become independent and earn a living for themselves.
Summmiting4Hope will be sponsoring some of these women for their basic mountaineering courses and also train them with some basic communication skills and then get them freelance jobs in the adventure field where they can utilise their skills and earn a living and supplement their family income. We also spoke to their parents who are equally supportive and that's a positive sign I would say for these women.
After we checked on the progress of the house, we then accompanied Jayprakash Panwar, the Uttarkashi district head of Red Cross who was surveying the extent of fresh damage in the village due to the current rains. Thankfully, we figured the damaged this year is not as much as it was last year. But, yet some houses have seen cracks.
One big heavy shower and the roads are lost, landslides haven't stopped here but, life goes on as they say.
 |
Last monsoon I was in Uttarkashi for relief operations and this monsoon I once again was there to check on the social work through Summiting4Hope that we have undertaken to help as many as we can here. And the effort is still on.
I have been travelling to Uttarakashi once in 3 months since last June. What amazes me is that nothing seems to have changed since then.
 |
| The mountains of Garhwal Himalayas |
Every time I am here and I travel to some of the villages in the interiors or meet the villagers in town, it makes me think that we live in 2 India- the one that you and me live in -the so called Urban and developed India that is seeing growth and second I dis is the India which even after 65 years is still fighting for basic amenities such as roads, water, power, medical facilities and employment opportunities.
 |
| The path or road to Bankoli . Its a neat 6-7 km walk upwards to the village |
The villagers are very troubled but yet they have a smile on their face and continue with their daily routine. There are no roads yet. One downpour and the roads get washed away. On an average a villager has to trek 7-8 Km up and down daily to the road head for anything that they may require.
For some villages such as Pilang and Jadao, the villagers have to trek 22 km to get to the road head. The villagers aren't complaining. It's a reality they have reconciled to and carry on with their day to day work as normally as it could get.
I was told that this time around too the government has been dropping ration via helicopters. The state government seems to be spending more on heli rides to the villages due to lack of roads and bridges.
It is understood that in one village in the district of Uttarkashi, the state Government dropped ration worth Rs 60,000 for an entire village via a helicopter and spend Rs 9 lakh on the heli ride. It would have been cheaper to have built the bridges and roads to connect the villages.
In another incident, a village lost one of its youngsters to a medical emergency as they were unable to get him to the district hospital in main Uttarkashi town nor be taken to the nearest primary health centre on time for treatment. Getting medical treatment is a mammoth task for the villagers. There are Government appointed Ashas in every village but Asha's cannot administer drugs. For any serious ailment, the villagers have to trek down few kms to get to the road head and thereafter get to the district hospital for a doctor's treatment. Every village that we visited we have had to administer some basic drugs like Paracetamol, pain killers or dress wounds.
 |
| Mamta in her Underconstruction house |
Soon Mamta will move into her new home with her family and have a solid permanent shelter for herself and her family. What is interesting to note is that Mamta has become an inspiration for many young women in her village and the nearby villages. They all want to do something in life which I think is a positive sign. When we spoke to them we got to know that they all want to become independent and earn a living for themselves.
Summmiting4Hope will be sponsoring some of these women for their basic mountaineering courses and also train them with some basic communication skills and then get them freelance jobs in the adventure field where they can utilise their skills and earn a living and supplement their family income. We also spoke to their parents who are equally supportive and that's a positive sign I would say for these women.
 |
| Summiting4Hope along with Red Cross providing First Aid in Bankoli |
 |
| The treacherous road |
One big heavy shower and the roads are lost, landslides haven't stopped here but, life goes on as they say.
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