καιρός remembered

The Kumaon hills

By 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population will be living and working in cities. Rapid urbanisation is also an ongoing trend in India. In the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, where I spend most of my time when I am in India, I see the flip side of this exodus to the cities: a steady depopulation of remote villages. In these idyllic foothills of the Himalayas, farming has traditionally been small-scale out of necessity. Moreover, ever-increasing numbers of monkeys – regarded as sacred animals in India – pose a constant nuisance and a devastating threat to the remaining crops. Consequently, many small farmers have stopped producing for the market. They now only grow a few food crops around their homes for their own use, whilst biding their time. The young people go to school and then seek their fortune elsewhere in towns and villages. This is the norm these days.
Yet it is strange: there seems to be no need for an angry god to drive them out of this Garden of Eden. People are leaving of their own accord.

Photo of the week: Kumaon hills, Almora District, Uttarakhand, India 2014