Nanda Devi book

Jeroen

Anyone read 'The Nanda Devi Affair' by Billa Aitken? I just finished it after finding it in a Delhi bookshop.
A great exploration of the Nanda Devi cult, the erosion of hill religion by the mainstream Hindu pantheon, and the story of 'professional mountaineers' and the military ruining it all.

"The danger of 'inner lines' behind which the democratic process is suspended is nowhere better seen than in the interior of Uttarkhand where in the name of defense the forests of the region have been vandalously destroyed. One of the greatest ironies of modern Asian history is that in replying to a threat of foreign invasion on her borders India's own defense forces have caused much greater and irreversible damage to the Himalayan environment than any invader could."

"The devious employment of the intellect to make physical facts fit spiritual theory can be listed as one of the differentiating characteristics of the two provinces; (...) Kumaonis are acknowledged as masters of mental agility."
That reminds me of the overpriced 200Rs tour I got of the rather dull Patal Bhuvaneshwar cave in Kumaon where every single bump on the ceiling was explained to represent something religious; I was assured that geology had nothing to do with the history of the cave.

About the Pindari valley he writes:
"On the way to the glacier I was disappointed to find ahead of the last bungalow at Phurkija a modern lean-to structure built by a publicity-thirsting sadhu who autographed with a paint brush all the rocks he past along the way." (Unless he means the friendly sadhu in the stone house below the glacier, it's improved now).

Aitken describes the closing of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary after extensive damage, but I see the GMVN (www.gmvnl.com) offers very limited treks into the area at 2,500Rs/day. Anyone been there?

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AvidTrekker

That was news to me. Thanks, Jeroen.

At 2500 per day, not many Indians would go. But then, that serves the purpose of restricting travellers to the Nanda Devi Sanctuary....

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Jeroen

2500/day... 43 euros... that's not too much to get such limited access to the sanctuary, I think. They really only let in a handful of people every week.

rickshawwallah

Note that the GVMN treks are NOT to the Nanda Devi sanctuary, they are only into the Nanda Devi National Park. The trip stops about half-way from Lata to the sanctuary. This is an improvement over the earlier policy, but the sanctuary remains elusive to those of us not there in the 70's.

Opening the route half-way has several purposes: it provides employment for porters whose livelihood was decimated by the complete closure of the area, and it also puts some "official" traffic on the route up to Debrugheta, allowing greater control and monitoring of the restricted path ahead. In theory, it's easier to monitor a closure point that sits near a bottleneck in the trail than one in a roadside village, eh?

Jeroen

So in a way, it's meant to keep the guards company at the end of the trail, huh? Still, looks like a great trek.