tehri part 2

tehri part 1

Right after the Mainstreaming Organic weekend, I ventured out to the Garwhal Himalayas with a small crew from Navdanya.  Up the winding and twisting roads, I was perpetually nauseous and ghostly pale, and so coveted the opportunities we had to stop and take photos, catch our breath, drink some chai.

Here are Abhyudai and Negi talking to one another about the vista: the Tehri dam, the site of Asia's second largest dam, which has submerged the city of Tehri and is causing land all around it to slide right into the water, ruining century-old terraced rice paddies and contributing to a build up of silt and pollution.

 
This is the place we stopped for lunch (above).

This is the river burbling forth past the bridge by the lunch spot.

I have a new appreciation for rose now, seeing its many uses in Indian cooking and healing.

Nature in all its glory, bursting forth from the cement.

We stopped at an old abandoned school, where this mural adorned the crumbling walls.

Here is a typical village... nestled into the hillside.

Schoolkids on their way to school.

The breathtaking view...

Terraced rice paddies!

early days of august

The beginning of august saw a big influx of volunteers to the farm! Of a contingent of seven french women, three of whom were artists, one took the opportunity of being in this colouful environment to paint and draw the surroundings and the staff.  Above is her workspace, and below, a portrait of Kamal, one of our three chefs.

At the first Friday market of the month, we witnessed the first rainbow over the Doon valley:

On August 7 and 8, Navdanya hosted a strategic workshop for policy makers and learned men (yes, only men attended) of Uttarakhand to draft a recommendation paper for the mainstreaming of organic in the state.  During these two days, each person presented a segment of what they thought should be included in the document.  This was followed by collectively composing and editing, which was a long and tedious process. In honour of Dr. Shiva gracing the farm with her presence, the kitchen decided to prepare one of her favourite treats to serve at tea during the workshop. 

Kamal shows us the basics of how to prepare patol:

Take one large taro leaf, and spread it with a blended mixture of soaked rice, dahl, garlic, amchur, chili, salt, pepper, and garam masala - a sort of indian hummus! 

Take another large taro leaf and place it on top of the first. Cover with more paste. Repeat one or two more times.  Fold, fold, fold, then roll and tie with a long lemongrass leaf.

Tada!

The other big event of that very day was the blistered infect arm of Sheela, one of our favourite farm workers.  There was a fair amount of panic between Julia and I as we realized how severe her wound was and how little attention anyone was paying to it.  We played doctor for the afternoon and raced back and forth from field to dorm, brandishing clean water, sterile gauze, bandages, tylenol for fever, and instructions to stop working, take it easy, sit in the shade.  Sheela told us she could not leave work early, because Dr. Shiva would not approve.  When we came back to the field with all of our medical supplies (including a camera so i could send a photo to a doctor friend), there was a gang of fieldworkers huddled around her, teasing and trying to make light of the situation.  She joked with us, I have 10 bodyguards and 2 doctors!  Here are two of the bodyguards, fooling around with Julia's spanish fan, singing sianara...

Many weeks later, Sheela is in perfect health, but I have suffered another major allergic reaction to something unknown...having never had allergies before in my life, it has been a little bit scary.  Luckily, I have good friends who are watching out for me, as well as some good antihistamines.

Mussourie

at the beginning of august, i went up to the mountain town of Mussourie, which can be seen on a clear day from Navdanya. the trip up was breathtakingly beautiful.

when we got off the bus, our first task was a 2km walk down old camel back road to our lodging, the broadway hotel.

Mussourie was one of the favourite outposts of the british, and as such, it was one of the first settlements to receive electricity. here is evidence: a very old lamp post.

the trees were unlike any i had seen before...

and as we walked from one end of town to the other, we passed many indian tourists on holidays. something i found challenging was seeing all of the well to do tourists with very scrawny porters hauling their massive suitcases on their heads two steps ahead or behind their plump counterparts.

that being said, we had a really deluxe supper - a treat for being away from the farm i suppose, and an excuse to eat more varied things.

naan and palaak paneer!!

I taught our waiter how to make lotus blossoms out of napkins...i will be curious to return to the restaurant in a few months and see if this is their new decor. he was fascinated by it!

dinner epilogue!

the almost full moon guided our walk back to the hotel, where we slept in luxurious beds with heavy down comforters - it was colder up there in the foothills of the Himalayas.

the next morning for breakfast, we ate at The Green Vegetarian and ordered paranthas with curd all around (what a way to wake up!).

my lovely breakfast companions, enjoying the meal before heading out in the drizzle.

our main activity in Mussourie was shopping, as we stocked up on some warm stuff for the impending cold months (a bit hard to imagine even as i type now in t-shirt and skirt at 9:30pm).  Julia and Amy found an amazing invention: one single knitted piece that is both touque (hat) and scarf in one! We coined them scouques (pronounced: skooks).

When we got back to the farm, one of our dear friends was passing through with her mother as they were leaving the country in a few days. As part of a hope for auspicious travel, Amy applied mehindi (henna) to Kayla's hands.

It is now august, and this calendar is marking the days in our room as they fly by.  Can you guess which princess is Julia and which is me?

If you squint a bit and look way to the right and through the clouds, you would be able to see Mussourie.  It is the view I have out my bedroom window on a clear day.

 

finally, my henna-ed finger, courtesy of the lovely Amy.