Himalayas: Where Memory, Ecology and a Civilisation Stand Together

Himalayas: Where Memory, Ecology and a Civilisation Stand Together
1. Introduction — A Village Beyond Roads and Maps
I come from a small Himalayan village called Pokharidhar, near Simalna Malla in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand.
To reach it even today, you walk two hours uphill from Kanva Ashram near Kotdwar, along the Malini River, through dense forests, fragile slopes and kuccha stone trails.
No roads. No vehicles. The village still does not appear on Google Maps.
We grew up being told that this land is an ecologically fragile Himalayan zone — where cutting mountains for roads could disturb more than it could develop. And so, people accepted it. No concrete, no blasting, no heavy machines.
But today, it’s not the absence of roads that worries me — it is the silence of the mountains. Springs are drying. Soil is sliding. Snow melts too early. Forests are thinning. Villages are emptying.
The trails of last season’s devastation are still visible — homes buried in landslides, roads washed away, bridges hanging over broken rivers.
These mountains hold more than soil and forests — they hold stories, ancestry and identity.
2. Where Memory, Mythology and Geography Meet
This Himalayan belt is not just a landscape — it is a living archive of civilisation, myth and geography.
Ancient texts speak of Maharishi Kanva’s ashram, located near the banks of the Malini River. It is here that Shakuntala was raised.
It is here that King Dushyanta first met her — a moment later immortalised by Kalidasa in Abhigyan Shakuntalam.
Their son Bharat — born in these forests — became such a revered king that our nation came to be known as Bharat. He is remembered as an ancestor of the Kuru dynasty, to which the Pandavas of the Mahabharata belonged.
These are not distant legends for us.
This is geography. This is ancestry. This is home.
3. What Has Changed — Climate and the Fragile Himalayas
The Himalayas are the youngest and most fragile mountain system on Earth. They were never meant to carry unchecked construction, vertical blasting for highways, and tourism without planning.
Today, change is not gradual — it is visible, abrupt and unsettling.
• Glaciers are retreating faster than ever before.
• Snowfall comes late, melts early — or doesn’t arrive at all.
• Naulas and dharas (springs and natural aquifers) — the only drinking water source in many villages — are drying.
• Rainfall has become erratic — long dry weeks followed by sudden cloudbursts.
• Soil is loosening. Forests are thinning. Watersheds are collapsing.
• Landslides are more frequent — roads, bridges and fields disappear overnight.
The trails of last season’s devastation are still etched across the Himalayas — homes buried in landslides, roads washed away, bridges left hanging over broken riverbeds.
This is no longer a distant threat. Climate change is no longer a report — it is reality on the mountainsides.
4. Drying Springs and Silent Migration
In the plains, water comes from pipelines.
In the Himalayas, water comes from springs, forests and snowmelt.
Once a spring dries, a village begins to empty.
Hundreds of villages in Uttarakhand and Himachal now stand silent or abandoned — not because people stopped loving the mountains, but because water, livelihoods and opportunities are disappearing.
People are not leaving by choice. They are leaving because survival demands it.
5. When Science Meets the Mountain’s Truth
I studied Master’s in Soil & Water Resources Engineering. I learned how to measure erosion, design water systems, study rivers and stabilise slopes.
Yet — the land I come from is slipping, drying and losing people.
Science taught me how erosion works.
But the Himalayas taught me what erosion feels like.
This is not because science failed — but because when development ignores balance, even knowledge cannot hold the ground together.
6. What Can Be Done — Science, Sensitivity and Responsibility
The crisis is serious — but it is not beyond repair.
Solutions exist, but they must respect both ecology and people.
Water & Springs
• Restore mountain springs (naulas, dharas)
• Recharge aquifers through forest management
• Protect watersheds and catchment areas
Forests & Land
• Strengthen native forests — not cement structures
• Stop unscientific road blasting and slope cutting
• Encourage soil conservation and natural regeneration
Livelihoods & Youth
• Create work in the mountains — eco-tourism, herbal forestry, non-timber produce
• Train youth in water conservation, climate adaptation, green jobs
Infrastructure with Wisdom
• Roads and tunnels must follow geology, not just timelines
• Development should serve mountains — not wound them
7. Conclusion — Why This Story Matters Beyond the Mountains
This is not about nostalgia or mythology versus modernity.
It is about recognising that rivers, agriculture, cities and civilisation begin in these mountains — and their future depends on how we treat them today.
Protecting the Himalayas is not about emotion — it is about responsibility, science and balance.
“If we protect the Himalayas, we protect the source of our water, our food and our long-term security — because what begins in the mountains never stays in the mountains.”