In the mountains is were the true beauty of India lives. And not just the physical beauty, although that combination of high reaching mountains covered in green trees is rather magical, and the snow capped Himalayas do leave you breathless (literally). But its the people who occupy the mountain villages that are incredible.
Summit of Kedarkantha
As the all the buses had decided to stop for the day because there was an election going on in the state of Uttrakhand, we tried to hitch a lift to the village Sankri, the base for the Kedarkantha trek. After ten minutes we found a vehicle who was heading in that direction so we hopped in. A man named Ron was driving who was the head teacher at a local school, he dropped us at his school and showed us around getting the kids to stand up one by one and resite in English their name, fathers name and home, they all looked equally terrified as they each completed their rehearsal.
They came out of their shell after a while
We were then taken to Ron's room and brought Chi from the one of the school teachers who Ron told to leave her classroom, as apparently making us tea is more important...I'll go with that. After some chi and chat Ron took us to his bathing spot on the Tons river which was idyllic, two logs had kindly got themselves stuck in the perfect position creating a still pool with some natural benches. After hanging out there for a while I spotted a puppy run under a hut, seconds later I was bent under the hut to coax him out when I was greeted with this...
After an hour or so of being smothered by puppies *literal heaven* I had to drag myself away and get back to the others. It was now coming to the end of the school day so after some photos with the chillun Ron drove us up to his brothers village, Kotgaon. We haven't been used to smooth rides in India and Ron's driving was certainly no exception, 5 minutes into the trip after a hard break a tyre smashed down on the window screen "Whoops, forgot about that" was Ron's response as he picked up the tyre and chucked it in the back. We arrived in Kotgaon and were introduced to Ron's brother Kumar, Arti (Kumar's wife), their two kids and Ron's girlfriend, followed by the entire village Committee.
View from Kumar's house
We settled down to a classic Indian meal with roti's cooked over the fire and all the family and committee together in the hut. Kumar told us about the village kids and how they used to spend their time smoking and selling weed, so he formed a village committee and set up schools to educate the children. He also gave me a palm reading where I was told to stay away from 2 wheeled vehicles as there is a gap in my life line...promising.
We delayed our trek by another day as Kumar and his family wanted to show us around their village. The next morning the family (and committee) took us on the tour; the waterfall, springs, temples.
The whole family went out of their way to make us feel at home and they really did well, I didn't want to leave.
It felt like stepping into the past, the village people live completely different lives to what we know, and this village was so untouched by westerners, we got to see such a true picture of their lives.
Arti was my mountain mum, when I climbed to the top of a bridge on a walk she made the same worried squeal my mum makes, we baked a cake together-sealed the deal- (which I didn't think was possible without an oven), she cooked pasta because she heard it was my favorite, and most of all we shared the love of dogs, every time she went to check on the 5 day old puppies she would take me with her.
Arti in the middle with her kids
I am getting quite used to some Indians being fascinated by my hair but Ron's girlfriend was next level. When we met the first thing she did was begin stroking my hair, when I asked if she wanted to braid it she looked as though she'd won the lottery. And to be honest the state it was in after a few days without a shower I couldn't see what they were all talking about as they stroked and said how nice it was. But I felt we bonded over my 'golden' hair, she painted my nails, I felt like a girl again, I've clearly been spending too much time with boys. When we said goodbye she gave me some bangals, bit awks when they wouldn't fit over my fat hands but the gesture was appreciated so I tied them to my bag as we left for the trek.
I truly feel a part of their family and the time we spent in our home in the mountains will be cherished.
