ANAPURNA Mustang: Titi Village and a social consciousness

Tuesday 5 October
A Heart's Desire ~ Hiking the Anapurna, and overnight in Titi Village

...Little to beat a good night's sleep when one had to begin a day's trekking as we had in stall for us. This was surely to be the highlight of the trip: interacting with villagers and contributing towards the development of the Gyan Jyoti School in Titi. Team members had brought books, toys and clothing and looked forward to giving these to the villagers. We knew too that we were to be given some challenges which would see us working in smaller groups as we contributed to the improvement of the school.

Vehicles took us from Pokhura, to designated area near the Kaligandaki River, where we prepared ourselves with sun tan lotions and hiking rods, water bottles and trail snacks, and great enthusiasm for a good hike, which would take the greater part of the day. We crossed the great Kaligandaki River bed. Boulders and rocks upon boulders and rocks, as far as the eye could see both up and down the river bed, glistening white and reflecting the heat and the glare of autumnal sun in temperatures above 30deg C. Monsoons had sent great volumes of water coursing through the gorge over these endless boulders just a few months before but, we were met with some tinier streams, here and there, which we needed to forge - none too daunting and pleasantly cooling. We crossed the bed and made our way to Choyo Duereli village for morning tea or was this a light lunch? Arik explained to me that the village had provided refreshments to hikers and trekkers in the past, but with the building of a road, they had lost the source of revenue. Arik Braz owns the company which was taking us on this challenge. Briefly, Arik told me that his company had given all the families in this tiny village, money, that the income was fairly spread, and that they might host our visit. What a good idea this was. Not only was it an equitable and kind gesture, it meant implicitly that the whole village had an interest in our visit. The tea house produced delicious biscuits and we enjoyed the reprieve from the trek in that very hot river bed. We picked up our back packs to continue and guess what...we had to make our way back across that river bed! It was an interesting walk, Arik and Progy up ahead as they picked out the right direction for us, and we chatting to one another.  We had to watch carefully where each foot was placed on the next rock. Then across on the other side we begun our accent to Titi Village.

Ahead of us, was a breathtaking view of the mountain range. The lower mountains before us,  Arik said, tongue in cheek, we would be finding our way across. It was cooler in the mountain vegetation and the pathway was well established. We plodded on and I periodically checked the altitude on the special watch Richard had lent me. This climb took us to 2 700 ft. We passed through Kunjo Village where the inhabitants were from the lower caste and most were deaf and mute. Whole families of deaf and mute people in one village was an interesting concept to me. We walked on to Titi Village where Suzi made her way ahead to check that the villagers were in readiness for us. A goatherd showed us a tiny goat just dropped some hours before and cradled in his scarf from his shoulder. Titi lake rested in the little valley between the hills and I wondered whether it iced up in the very cold winter months soon to be upon the inhabitants of this region. We made our way into the village, to the village school where the villagers were standing ready to greet us. We walked through the gates and each of us received a garland of country flowers and marigolds. This was an auspicious occasion for them and this was their way of honouring us. It was to prove a priveledge for us. How gentle and hospitable, warm and grateful these humble, good people were. Each team of four was allocated to a family where the team would spend the night. We were given a task of finding out information about the family which was an excellent ice breaker. We collected our overnight bags which had been brought by sherpers. Sherpers were strong mountain people who seemed not to balk at the weight on their backs.

We spent the closing hours of the day orientating ourselves to the idea of sleeping on the floor of a village home, eating the food of a village family and getting to know the host family. Guess what. There are no showers or baths, wash hand basins or flushing toilets. Shoes had to be left outside. No cupboard or table. We experienced how simply people can live and still be functional and rich in their unique way of life. Each team of four quickly felt welcomed and had to be involved in the cooking of the evening meal, dahl bat (Lentils and rice) over the informal simple family stove which burnt wood collected from the mountains. Smoke filled the living room and we had to sit on the floor, as did the family members by custom,  that we could breathe the air from beneath the smoke. "Coffee-tea" was offered. That was only coffee :-) The room reflected simplicity and the organised structure of the family home became apparent.

The young daughter was settled on a low stool beside the fire she was tending as she prepared to move from preparing the coffeetea to preparing the supper. We were shown a bucket of mushrooms collected from the mountains some hours before. Would we like those? They were delicious. There was mustard leaf which looked like kale without the purple colour. The family was vegetarian but if we would like chicken, that could be killed and cooked for us too. We insisted, "No No... Please don't kill the chicken!"

The family, with whom team Tara stayed, consisted of both parents, Shankha the father and Munbuja the mother. The children were Sita, Dhrendra, Rita, Bikram, Siwani, Sarita, and Yogita with ages ranging from about mid twenty to about five years. An older sister had married and lived out of the village and another with husband and child, in a small room on the flat roof above the house.Though the parents could not speak English, Bikram who had a sense of humour to boot, as he joked with Carolyn the beautiful Chinese lady, when she popped in for spices for the kitchen in her host house, answered the many questions we put to him. In all the families there was a constant passing of people visiting a while and people from the neighbouring village came too. Such was the openess of the homes and the friendliness of communal living in a traditional setting. It was an interesting thing to be told that a little lad of ten who had wondered in was from the neighbouring village and "...just comes and visits and goes again". Another, still very small and someone else's child, ambled into the home, while we were eating the evening meal. He climbed onto the mother's lap and she fed him. After the meal on stainless steel plates on the floor before us, with spoons or fingers as was the wont of each, we ate of a simple, nourishing and delicious meal.  Hilary then related very nicely to the younger daughter who was eleven and Hilary, taking the English text book onto her lap, discussed some of the exercises and the two engaged in a friendly way.

We learnt many things. We learnt that the local school educated children from one to five after which they went to the neighbouring village, Kunjo for 6-8 years and then on to Lake Kalopani school for further education. Deceased villagers were burnt at a holy place, on the river and if after the funeral pyre, a part of the body remained, "....perhaps a finger" said Bikram, "it was put into the rafters for about three years". Babies were delivered in the family home but if there was a complication, the woman in labour, was put onto a trailer and the village tractor took her to the clinic of a neighbouring village. The family lived on the food from the vegetable plot beside the house. The yield from this plot also provided for the winter and for trade. The plot contained corn and informally, between the stalks, grew beans, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, rdishes, carrots, mustard leaf,  dahl  and herbs. The family owned four cows, four bulls, fourteen goats a dog and three chickens. Bikram said, "We never kill our cows." At night, it did sometimes happen, that rhinoceroses and  bears from the forest came down to eat the villagers' vegetables. Bikram told us that the house of stone and the furniture with the help of a carpenter friend, had been made by the father. On the floor were two narrrow, perhaps goat fur, carpets, put down for seating. (see photo) The mother had knotted these. The windows held no glass and from within, were shutters which could be closed to keep out the cold but would create a very dark home. The flat roof leaked during the rains and the house became wet during monsoons. There was an outside toilet which, eastern style, was sunk into the ground within a simple building. In a small simple structure behind the house, on the hill,  was the little dwelling place of a deaf mute, whom the family cared for. The old woman, was simple and could do little more than some cleaning now and again, and was from Kunjo Village, through which we had passed on our way to Titi Village. She was bathed once a week and received food daily.

Our matresses and pillows had been provided by the organisers and would be left with the families that they might be empowered to provide homestay for trekkers. They had been put out on reed mats by a daughter and we settled down that night for a humble and priveledged sleep in the home of a village family from the Anapurna. The evening had been social, with people from families visiting one another and a sharing of information which provided a rich experience for we, the visitors. Here too, payment had been made to all of the nineteen families that the whole village might benefit from our visit. Every family received new cooking utensils, bottled water and toilet paper. Prior to the visit, the organisers gave instruction on hygine, namely the need to boil the water and the need for cleanliness in the accommodation offered.  We had been so very well provided for. Our unwashed tired bodies climbed into our respective sleeping bags, and we slept well in the clothes we had hiked in, and would be wearing for the day of work to follow.

Refreshments at Choyo Duereli Village

Scherper with water in boxes. We catch our breath in Kunjo village



In every village there would be someone sitting over a container shelling beans.
This is comfortable sitting for people from the east who are flexible in the hips and traditionally do not use chairs.



A kid of a few hours old

The goatherd just before we entered Titi Village.
He has a kid of a few hours in his scarf against his chest

The road into Titi Village



Garlands ready to be given to us on our arrival in the grounds of  Gyan Jyoti School



Banner showing the sponsors of the trip



Preparing the family meal. Mustard leaf and beans with dahl.








The daughter who prepared the evening meal scarcely moved from where she was seated

Little folk on the hand knotted carpet made by the mother of the family