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Modern Routes
Modern Routes
The Route From Kashmir:
Today,
travellers from Srinagar drive on this route in the relative comfort of taxis,
local buses or their own vehicles, taking two days and breaking journey at Kargil.
It provides the best possible introduction to the land and its people. At one
step as you cross the Zoji-la, you pass from the lushness of Kashmir into the
bare uncompromising contours of a trans-Himalayan landscape.
Drass, the first major village over the pass, inhabited by a population of mixed
kashmiri and Dard origins, has the local reputation of being the second coldest
permanent inhabited spot in the world. But in summer when the pass is open and
the tourists are going thourgh, the standing crops and clumps of willow give
it a gently, smiling look.
After Drass, the valley narrows, becoming almost a gorge. Yet even here it occasionally
allows space for small patches of terraced cultivation, where a tiny village
population ekes out a precarious existence. This is indeed a mountain desert,
greened only by such scattered oases.
On departure from Kargil, the road plunges into the ridges and valley of the
Zanskar range over a huge mound of alluvium, now made fertile by a huge irrigation
scheme. Mulbekh with its gigantic rock engraving of Maitreya (Buddha-tocome)
and its gompa perched high on crag above the village, is the transition from
Muslim to Buddhist Ladakh. It is followed by two more passes, Namika-la (12,200
feet/ 3,719m) and Fotu-la (13,432 feet / 4,094 m).
From Fotu-la, the road descends in sweeps and shirls, past the ancient and spectacularly
sited monastery of Lamayuru, past amazing wind-eroded towers and pinnacles of
lunar-landscape rock, down to the Indus at Khalatse- a descent of almost 4,000
feet/ 1,219 m in about 32 km. The Indus valley from Khalatse up to Upshi, where
the road from Manali comes in, is Ladakh's historical heartland.
The road follows the river, passing villages with their terraced fields and
neat whitewashed houses, the roofs piled high with fodder laid in against the
coming winter. Here and there the observant traveller notices the ruins of an
ancient fort or palace or the distant glimpse of a gompa on a hill a little
way from the road. The last of these is Spituk, only eight km. Out of Leh. And
at last, Leh, the capital town of the region is visible, dominated by the bulk
of its imposing 17th century palace.
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Himalayas - - -› People
& Tribes of Himalayas
People & Tribes of Himalayas
The
population, settlement, and economic patterns within the Himalayas have been
greatly influenced by the variations in topography and climate, which impose
harsh living conditions and tend to restrict movement and communication. People
living in remote, isolated valleys have generally preserved their cultural identities.
However, improvements in transportation and communication, particularly satellite
television programs from Europe and the United States, are bringing access from
the outside world to remote valleys. These outside influences are affecting
traditional social and cultural structure.
Nearly 40 million people inhabit the Himalayas. Generally, Hindus of Indian
heritage are dominant in the Sub-Himalayas and the Middle Himalayan valleys
from eastern Kashmir to Nepal. To the north Tibetan Buddhists inhabit the Great
Himalayas from Ladakh to northeast India.
In central Nepal, in an area between about 1830 and 2440 m (between about 6000
and 8000 ft), the Indian and Tibetan cultures have intermingled, producing a
combination of Indian and Tibetan traits. The eastern Himalayas in India and
nearby areas of eastern Bhutan are inhabited by animistic people whose culture
is similar to those living in northern Myanmar and Yunnan province in China.
People of western Kashmir are Muslims and have a culture similar to the inhabitants
of Afghanistan and Iran.
The economy of the Himalayas as a whole is poor with low per capita income.
Much of the Himalayas area is characterized by a very low economic growth rate
combined with a high rate of population growth, which contributes to stagnation
in the already low level of per capita gross national product. Most of the population
is dependent on agriculture, primarily subsistence agriculture; modern industries
are lacking.
Mineral resources are limited. The Himalayas has major hydroelectric potential,
but the development of hydroelectric resources requires outside capital investment.
The skilled labor needed to organize and manage development of natural resources
is also limited due to low literacy rates. Most of the Himalayan communities
face malnutrition, a shortage of safe drinking water, and poor health services
and education systems.
Agricultural land is concentrated in the Tarai plain and in the valleys of the
Middle Himalayas. Patches of agricultural land have also been carved out in
the mountainous forested areas. Rice is the principal crop in eastern Tarai
and the well-watered valleys. Corn is also an important rain-fed crop on the
hillsides.
Other cereal crops are wheat, millet, barley, and buckwheat. Sugarcane, tea,
oilseeds, and potatoes are other major crops. Food production in the Himalayas
has not kept up with the population growth.
The
major industries include processing food grains, making vegetable oil, refining
sugar, and brewing beer. Fruit processing is also important. A wide variety
of fruits are grown in each of the major zones of the Himalayas, and making
fruit juices is a major industry in Nepal, Bhutan, and in the Indian Himalayas.
Since 1950 tourism has emerged as a major growth industry in the Himalayas.
Nearly 1 million visitors come to the Himalayas each year for mountain trekking,
wildlife viewing, and pilgrimages to major Hindu and Buddhist sacred places.
The number of foreign visitors has increased in recent years, as organized treks
to the icy summits of the Great Himalayas have become popular. While tourism
is important to the local economy, it has had an adverse impact on regions where
tourist numbers exceed the capacity of recreational areas.
Historically, all transport in the Himalayas has been by porters and pack animals.
Porters and pack animals are still important, but the construction of major
roads and the development of air routes have changed the traditional transportation
pattern.
Major urban centers such as Kathmandu, Simla, and Srinagar, as well as important
tourist destinations, are served by airlines. Railways link Simla and Darjiling,
but in most of the Himalayas there are no railroads. The bulk of goods from
the Himalayas, as well as goods destined for places within the Himalayas, generally
come to Indian railheads, located in the Tarai, by road. The pack animals and
porters transport goods from road heads to the interior and back.
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