this nation belongs to these school girls who keep walking daily in the Himalayas - near Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand

I am always amazed to see school kids, especially school girls, in excellently turned out school uniforms, all the way from northern Uttarkashi ie Yamnotri in the west through the Himalayas to Sikkim and Dibrugarh in the east. One can spot them early in the morning, walking in the biting cold, dressed up smartly, trekking at least 2 to 10 kms daily - one way - and back, to reach their school without fail. 

They walk alongside fast moving traffic, risking eve teasers and various other problems. Most of them, of all ages, carry heavy school bags, and yet look quite happy and cheerful. They put to shame, all the urban school children, who need school buses, or their parents or chauffeurs or whosoever, to drop them and pick them back from school. India belongs to these courageous and brave girls of the Himalayas. 

At least, on two locations, one at Khansali, in Yamnotri, and later, near Karnaprayag, I was able to meet them very early in the morning. I was wearing at least three layers of warm clothes, and I was totally humbled by a tiny tyke, possibly about 8 years old, in excellent school uniform and seemingly proud of it, with splendid creases, and a heavy school bag. This small lady of India, all of 8 years old, did not have any warm clothes on her. She was smiling and glowing, and I am sure, that some time in the future, we will hear about her and be happy about our India. 

This photograph is from the highway between Devprayag and Rudraprayag, before Srinagar, in Uttarakhand. 

Snow and rain proof multi-storeyed houses at Kharsali village, near Yamnotri, District Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand

We had gone up to Yamnotri as part of the Great Himalayan Bird Count in November 2009. The route was - briefly - Dehra Dun to Mussoorie to Barkot to Hanuman Chatti to Yamnotri. The route from Dehra Dun to Mussoorie to Barkot took us a day, and the next day's drive brought us to Yamnotri by late noon. I took the help of the local forest staff to hire a mule and rode up to the Yamnotri temple on the same post-noon daylight that was left. After a quick darshan, since the temple had been shut for the winter, we returned barely before darkness engulfed the path and made it dangerous. 

Next day, we walked across the just born Yamuna river, by an age-old suspension bridge, and went up to Kharsali Village. Some sages at the Yamnotri temple and the forest guards had told us that the Goddess was kept in safe keeping for the winter at the Kharsali Village. The head priest of the temple up at Yamnotri, stayed at Kharsali, and was conducting daily prayers. So we walked up a mud embankment and went to meet the priest. 

The Kharsali village looked like one had stepped back in time. The architecture, materials, wood, design, and the methods adopted for snowproofing their houses, and protecting against heavy rainfall was quite unique. Possibly most of the upper Himalaya areas were similar but I had not seen such house design before. Some houses were multi-storyed, some at least five storeys tall, with the bottom two for domestic livestock and storage space for hay and firewood. 

This one particular house was impressive. It was in a courtyard of at least 3-4 houses, each one quite different from each other, and possibly built at different times. But, all houses seemed to be very ancient. I hope this village does not get to become modern very soon and one is able to return and visit the place with more time at hand.