Recently, I happened to visit Kandbari, a beautiful place in the midst of Dhauldhar ranges. Four decades earlier in eighties, it was a virgin hamlet untouched by the glamour of outside world. Then, it was part of Indo-German collaboration for saving the vast Dhauldhar ranges from ecological fragility. The prime concerns were: preventing the excessive use of forest wood as fuel, saving the regeneration from grazing, especially from sheep's and goats, as were being reared by local population and uplifting the living standard of the people by creating alternative avenues of employment. I have no idea as to how effective, this collaboration turned out to be but nearly 40 years later, it was amazing to find Kandbari grown into a hub of commercial activities. It is located around 27 kilometer away from Dharamasala and around 10 km from Palampur.
As you enter the Kandbari from Dharman-the bifurcation point on Mandi-Pathankot NH- the narrow road is lined up with shops, stay homes and beautiful house. They weren't there in eighties.Some NGOs have also opened their shops. There is a cafe. being run by two school girls from Delhi- daughter of a social activists. It was a surprise to me to find Delhites working in mountainous terrain. My daughter, Preeti was too impressed with their enterprising spirit and was a regular visitor to this cafe as long as she was there in Landwari. They were earning for family as well studying through open schooling.The narrow road leading right up to Langha is a busy road. Vehicles with loads of visitors keeps on running, often dusting the stay homes along the road. Langha. is a beautiful spot up the mountains, close to Dhauladhar ranges, above Kandwari. The 4 km trek gets tougher and tougher as it steeps up. Vigya Nand Giri, a Himalayan Yogi practices Kriya Yoga here and he has been living there for 7 years. There are two small temples dedicated to Shiva and Durga.
Everything has changed in Kandbari, but what hasn't changed is the plight of womenfolk. Women in hills still have to toil much more harder than menfolk, They look after children and other member of the family, cook food for the, wash utensils, cloths, sweep houses and toil in the field, carrying loads on their heads. In Kandbari, the wife of the owner of home stay, where my daughter and her team were staying, used to cook food- breakfast, lunch, dinner plus tea- for more than 10 guests, besides her own family. And she was doing all this with the assistance of her sister-in-law. What's more, she had to look after fields and other works. Its too strenuous.If we calculate the sum total of labour, a hill woman puts in. it is almost equal to eight hands. In other words, she contributes 80 percent of the domestic gross output. In return, she hardly gets paid. Worse, this hard labour tells on health, By the time she reaches 40, she looks much older than her age. Its an untold story of our mothers ans sisters in hills. Whether, its Kandbari, Lakha Mandal- a panchayat in Nagrota Bagwan or any village, the plight of womenfolk remains same. Economic and Social development has no meaning if it doesn't ensure all-round progress.