I absolutely love road trips! Actually, to be honest I love driving and a road trip is simply an excuse for me to do what I love doing. I also love travelling, specially within our great country and the mountains are always calling! There is just something so majestic about being up there amongst the clouds and mountain people, its hard to explain and is something that must be experienced.
So mid this month, I decided to take a break from work and head to Manali via road from Delhi, a route that I have travelled numerous times while making my way to Leh and beyond previously. Not only was I looking to get away from Delhi and get a much-needed break, I also wanted to experience driving through the newly built Attal tunnel which connects Manali to Lahaul and Spiti valley, while holding the distinction of being the highest tunnel ever constructed in the world (10000 feet above sea level).
Above Tara House In Manali: A beautiful home stay property
Manali as a town has the notorious distinction of being the hashish capital of India. Manali Cream as it’s known popularly is actually officially called Malana Cream and is widely considered the best and purest hash in the world with high THC content and winning the High Times Cannabis title twice in 1994 and 1996 for the being the best hashish in the world. Named after the village that it grown in, Malana hashish is grown in the isolated village of Malana located at 9500 feet. An interesting fact of this village is that its residents consider themselves to be the direct dissidents of Alexander The Great and you are not allowed to touch them or any of their possessions. The village has been closed to tourists since 2017, though people do still make their way up there.
Manali as a town is like any other hill station in India, crowded and increasingly getting polluted. The city is divided into two half’s, Old Manali and new Manali, with the town center being located in New Manali (Mall Road) and old Manali mostly a hippy and youngster hangout with numerous pubs, restaurants and bars. The river Bias runs through Manali giving the town a romantic and calming charm. Over the last decade, like many other towns and cities in our country, Manali has seen a steady increase in population and visiting tourists. There are numerous hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, home stays and self-service cottages catering to the ever-increasing influx of tourists either visiting the city or using it as a transit point to break journey on route to Leh. All this has led to a massive waste management problem not only in Manali, but across the entire Himalayan region of India.
In this personal opinion piece, I will talk about how as Indians we are progressively fucking ourselves by destroying some of the most pristine and beautiful places on Earth by not leaving foot marks, but a trail of trash that is nauseating to all our five senses.
Above: The Rugged Beauty: Enroute towards Nubra Valley Located in the North Most Part of Jammu & Kashmir
What’s That Smell?
Who does not want to get away from the city and catch a breath of fresh air? Specially if you live in Delhi or any of the satellite cites around it, where breathing fresh air is now increasingly becoming a distant dream. I love my workout routine, weather at work or at vacation the one thing that never changes is me getting up at 5:30 Am to start my day off with a cup of strong coffee followed by a rigorous workout. Perched at 6500 feet in a beautiful rented home called Tara House (Tara in English Means Star) I started off the first day of this vacation by deciding to do a short five kilometer run down to the city center and back. It was about 7 Am and I started my descent downhill and the air started to smell of smoke. Throughout my decent, I found homes, hotels and shops lighting their garbage on fire, wood being burnt to keep homes warm and plastic bottles, Tetra pack juice cartons and MLP packaging strewn on the side of the roads and in drains. It’s unfortunate, that despite the massive amounts of money being pumped into the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, finding a dustbin was a task. In the seven days that I spent at Tara House, I saw the garbage collection vehicle arrive at the rented accommodation only once. Part of the blame can squarely be laid on the severe lack of infrastructure from collection to processing, but a bigger problem is that of a lack of accountability being taken by brands that manufacture, distribute and sell their products packaged in single use packaging (some recyclable, most non-recyclable) in these mountainous and eco sensitive regions of India. Similarly, individual accountability is also missing, both from locals and visiting tourists. Instagram is full of beautiful pictures taken by individuals, depicting the beautiful scenic views that they encounter on their visits to towns such as Manali. What is not shown is the trail of trash many of these individuals leave behind, or how the town manages its waste.
In the case of Manali, you can see how the town manages its waste when you are entering from the Kullu side. A beauty highway running along the Bias river and then bang, on your right you see the towns garbage being dumped right along the bed of the river Bias. You can’t miss the sight!
Full of pride, joy and awe and then my heart sank!
It’s a different world altogether once you leave Manali and head towards Leh on the Manali Sarchu road. This is also the road that you take to access the newly built Attal tunnel that leads to Jannat (Heaven) called Lahaul & Spiti! Those who have visited this part of India will stand by what I say next. It’s a visually orgasmic experience! The Attal tunnel in itself is an achievement that will make every Indian proud! Spanning 9.2 kilometers in length, it’s the highest tunnel of its kind in the world being constructed at an altitude of ten thousand feet! The drive up to and through the tunnel is beautiful and once you emerge out of the other end the landscape changes completely.
Above: Inside The Attal Tunnel
The Bias is flowing in front of you and tall rugged Rocky Mountains greet you with stunning visuals. Also present there to greet you are crowds of people, automobiles and a lineup of make shift stalls selling tea and Maggie (Made by Nestle and one of the most prominently found littered packaging item in the mountainous regions of India). Once you cross the tunnel, you cross a bridge over the Bias and you entre Lahaul and Spiti. The Bias was running about one hundred meters to the left of me when I saw a small opening that led straight to the river bed, where cars were parked and people were busy clicking pictures. I decided to stop and explore the area, as it looked beautiful and the thought of dipping my feet and splashing some icy cold water on my face was too tempting to pass. I parked my vehicle and from the moment I stepped out, all I could start seeing mineral bottles disposed, MLP wrappers of biscuits and chips and even discarded food on the banks of the beautiful Bias. What the fuck is up with people, how hard is it to just carry your garbage back with you when you know that you are in a remote location and there are no dustbins in the vicinity. How bloody hard is it for the brains of these individuals to simply just put their trash in a bag and carry it back with them? Hard, apparently really hard! The Attal tunnel has been a bitter sweet development for the area as it has made this region of India a lot more accessible to lacks of individuals, but has already started to take a toll on the sensitive ecology of the area. Open defecation and urinating in the open (A common sight in India) is common, burning of garbage along small villages is common, littering by tourists is common, the only things that is not common is common sense and civic sense.
Granted, that when nature calls you have to go, that’s not a choice you can ignore for too long. What you do have a choice in, is that of using a toilet. Granted that in this remote area, public toilets are nonexistent, but there a few shops, gust houses and villages which have both small restaurants and homes with washrooms. How hard is it to apply your brain and use one, even if it means you may have to pay 100 rupees for a cup of tea!
Pollution, in whatever way of form is man-made problem, you can’t blame plastic, food waste or excreta as the cause, when they simply are symptoms of over production and consumption of materials and products that never should have been developed and manufactured for human consumption in the first place. We feel great being one with nature, but if nature could speak it would squarely let us know that it definitely doesn’t feel great when we visit and that it would great if we never showed up again till such time as we learned to respect our shared environment.
India is blessed with natural beauty, flora and fauna and some of the best wild life sightseeing available in the world! Unfortunately, many amongst us are also blessed with a feudal mindset and a complete lack of accountability when it comes to many things and specially when it comes to managing our own waste. Blame it on lack of education and civic sense, blame it on our upbringing, blame it on the fact that manual labour in our country is looked down upon, blame it on the fact that a simple task like making our own beds, polishing our own shoes, emptying our plates in the dustbin and then rinsing them, taking the garbage out, mopping or cleaning our own house ourselves is all believed to be some one else’s responsibility. You may even blame it on the government, or other people or the simple fact that cheap labour is ever present and willing to do tasks that we find menial and in many cases below our dignity. The simple fact is that there is no one but us to blame!
Above: The River Bias: Lahual & Spiti
The condition of our country will not change till such time as individuals start taking accountability for their own actions. National pride only ignites when we win in cricket, have a conflict with Pakistan or a person of Indian origin becomes someone important abroad. How about building pride in keeping our country clean through individual and collective action that will create actual sustainable impact for our future generations. India as mentioned above is a country that’s blessed with natural diversity and we as children of this country are visitors who must ensure that we pass on to the future generation a better, cleaner India than that has been handed to us by our predecessors. Every Indian family focuses on providing a sound financial future for their children, how about adding a sound sustainable natural environment to the list also. We escape the cities we call home to get closer to nature to be able to breathe and are now in the process of ruining what we so desperately seek. We travel abroad only to come back and tell tales of how beautiful and clean it is over there, we quickly adapt their ways of not littering, carrying a trash bag in the car and only disposing our garbage when we see a garbage bin. We so desperately want to fit in, yet we forget all that the moment we land back in our great nation, whose natural beauty and diversity is second to none. Why do we call everything mini Switzerland, mini Singapore? Why don’t we aspire for Switzerland to call its self Mini Kashmir, Leh, Uttarakhand or any of the numerous scenic states, town and cities spread across the length and breadth of our nation?
Above: Pangong Lake Leh
It’s because we don’t take pride in our natural assets, rather we are consumed by material possessions, which somehow make us think that we can create or buy our way to a healthier and cleaner environment. We have it all twisted, human prosperity in the long run has always and will continue to depend solely on how we treat our natural surroundings. Responsible tourism must be the responsibility of every Indian. Our Prime Minister’s new slogan of vocal for local is not only constrained to buying products, but must also extend to preserving and healing our natural environment by not only educating people but by monitoring our behavior and that of those who are in our immediate sphere of influence.
I would love to hear back from you on your opinion on this article, about why you feel certain people litter and what can be done to stop or at least reduce this practice.
Have a fantastic weekend and week ahead!