Kumaon: Another Face of Heritage
Kumaon: Another Face of Heritage - by Srishti Mittal What classifies as ‘heritage’? Initially, I considered only monuments and paintings and other things related to Indian history to be ‘heritage’, but the Rural Sensitisation trip completely changed my perspective. I went with a group of 66 other students to the Kumaon Hills in Uttarakhand. Our trip was organized by TERI: the Energy and Resources Institute, an organization that aims at promoting sustainable development and environmental conservation. The natural, uncontaminated beauty and fresh air literally took our breath away. We visited the locals in their homes and cooked with them, marvelling at the utter simplicity in which they live very happily. We had thought that language barriers and the vast difference in our living conditions would stop us from connecting, but it was quite the contrary. Over some scrumptious aloo ki sabzi and cucumbers at least thrice the size of the ones we get in Delhi, we bonded very quic