An intimate trek through Himalaya

Manu Moudgil

Mountains numb us with their magnitude and echo our heartbeats. Humility, that elusive virtue, comes easily around mountains. And what better than Himalaya to deliver that? As India opens up 137 Himalayan peaks to mountaineering amidst protests, it’s much more important to understand this mountain range and the lives it sustains.

Wild Himalaya by Stephen Alter hence comes at a right time. The writer pushes borders, traversing through the range from Arunachal to mostly off-limits Gilgit-Baltistan, Mansarovar to Terai, to bring a larger, more complex picture about the Himalaya that is not routinely found at one place. He also insists on using 'Himalaya', the traditional transliteration of the Sanskrit proper noun, instead of the popular and anglicised ‘Himalayas’. 

What makes this book unique is Alter’s own life as a pahari even if with privileges. A native of Mussoorie born to American parents, he has access to both — the worlds of settlers and explorers; the subaltern beliefs as well as personal accounts of Westerners. The parallel universes merge to lend authenticity to the narrative. The writer’s personal experiences with the mountains and its wildlife, including a tiger and brown bears, makes it an intimate read.

The book is framed in neat sections, including geology, waterscape, flora and fauna, arrival of humans, summiters and rituals. It is a justifiably long ode to the greatest mountain range of the world which also hosts a vast diversity of life and lifestyles. Along the way, the writer brings forth little known facts whether it’s the rock carvings in Ladakh, George Everest’s house in Mussoorie or life of primitive Raute tribes of Nepal.

Besides the substantial travel, Alter has also done painstaking research. The select bibliography runs over 170 books, Vedas, study papers and published articles. This does not include the information he gleaned from mountain folklores and personal diaries. 

Stories of spy surveyor Pt Nain Singh Rawat, mountaineer Frank Smythe, geologist D N Wadia and many others underscore rigours of discovery. A parallel thread from tribal raconteurs keep us aware of the unknown that can only be explained through myths. At certain points, both science and lore converge as with stories about creation of Himalaya. Certain tribes consider it a result of earth’s contraction, a thought not very distant from the scientific theory of tectonic plates.

Whether it’s the geological origin or present day climate crisis, anything about the Himalaya is bound to be steeped in science. Alter, however, steers clear of technical language and does the explaining in a simple, everydayness style of conversation.

He analyses past practices, including colonial forest management that favoured plantation of timber species at cost of diversity, with precision. Hunting for recreation and rituals of animal sacrifice also feature consistently as Alter questions the practices while travelling back and forth in time and space. 

Stories about multiple attempts and final conquests of the most revered peaks, including Mount Everest, Nanga Parbat, Kanchenjunga,etc., bring alive the passion of those early summiters and the dangers that come with high ascents.

The book focuses on natural history, but it comes at cost of present-day problems. Destruction due to hydropower projects, cities encroaching on forests and rivers, waste generated due to tourism and issues of out-migration have been given much less space than they deserve. As India increasingly treads the Himalaya through all-weather roads, these are the issues that need urgent attention lest we lose the bounty of Himalaya.