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Reaching out

The people who are still living in natural ways and in proximity of nature hold the key to environment conservation, sustainable development and conservation of natural resources.It is these people who are the most ignored lot and receive the least facilities.
Along with a few of my volunteers i ventured into the village of Naranag, located at an altitude of about 8000 ft high up in the mountains.People of this area, like countless others in kashmir, migrate from their homes and live in temporary shelters made of stone and wood called “kothars” to cater to their livestock which graze freely in higher altitudes.Supported by the local representatives of a few pharmaceutical companies in the form of free mineral supplements and tonics , we conducted a mobile veterinary camp and medicine distribution.The kothars are located far apart on difficult slopes and the animals return to their shelters in the evening only after open grazing during the day on the hills where they are let out to graze early in the morning.
The nomads called gujjars in local parlance welcomed us with open arms asserting that this is the first such attempt by anyone in the area.The rains poured in great volume but could not dampen the spirit of the volunteers. Finally we managed to reach about 200 animals of about 60 families in their kothars spread over 3 kms of mountainous terrain.

The effort apart from being a thorough adventure also proved to be the source of great satisfaction because of the smiles it brought to the faces of the nomads.

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