THE FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

The Himalayan village of Kalap is an idyllic place with fresh mountain air and pure spring water. SHIVYA NATH travels to this self-sustainable land where people live up to 100 years.

- SHIVYA NATH

AFTER AN HOUR OF scampering down the mountain, the trail suddenly disappeared. Huge boulders lay along the shores, and I found myself transfixed by the gushing, free-flowing, sapphire-blue Supin River—a rare sight in Uttarakhand, where most great rivers have been dammed into lifeless trickles. Above the river hung a heap of wires and ropes, and a small metallic basket, my heart-stopping ride to the other shore! For another 2.5 hours, I huffed and puffed up a steep mountain behind my guide, till I finally caught the first glimpse of my illusive destination. The oak forest gave way to yellow mustard fields and baby pink peach blossoms as I walked into Kalap–a forgotten village in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, accessible only by an eight-kilometre hike from the nearest roadhead at Motwar village.

I first heard about Kalap back in 2014. Anand Sankar, an avid hiker and former journalist, had established The Kalap Trust (kalaptrust.org) to build a school and medical clinic in this remote village, and employed teachers and doctors to run them (though things fell apart during the pandemic). Back then, a trip to Kalap needed some advance notice. With no phone network in the village, Sankar had to send a letter to Kalap with the public bus driver four days in advance! Dehradun, my home town, is the nearest big town (only a 12-hour bus ride + eight-kilometre hike away), but it took me another seven years to make it there.