As I ascended the mountainous regions of Kashmir, I found my escort, Kailash, guiding his herd of goats on the side of the mountain where patches of grass lay waving. I asked him if he could explain to me what type of farmer he would consider himself to be. He said he would explain to me his way of living as we headed down the mountain to his campsite.
First he explained to me that he was a subsistence farmer, one who relies on animals more than crops. As he told me this, one of his goat tugged on my backpack with its teeth. Kailash laughed and said that the goats were used for their milk and hair. While explaining the intricacies of milking a goat, we passed by another group of nomads heading up the mountain. Apparently, this mountain contained a passage to this other group's territory. They were fine to pass, but Kailash whispered to me as they passed that he had previous trouble with this group of nomads stealing his goats. Nomadic people are very territorial, they don't just wander aimlessly through the desert. Kailash gave this specific herder group privilege to pass through the mountain, but concluded by saying if they were to bring other "friends", he would "get their goats."
As we entered Kailash's campsite, I asked him if he would consider himself to be a transhumance herder. He didn't know what that meant. I further exacerbated that if he was the type of nomad to migrate his livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas. He said yes because during the winter, the goats, while very durable, the goats get too cold and, therefore, he has to make sure his herd get down to the valley regions of his territory.
Kailash sat me down by a fire and gave me a cup. I was exhausted from walking up and down the mountain and would accept anything to quench my thirst. With my first sip came a surprising sour and a weird taste, I swallowed it but before taking another sip, I asked what was in the drink. He said that it was goat. I later found out what part of the goat it was made from; its milk and some of its blood.
http://libblog.osgoode.yorku.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/glanvill-5.jpg
http://www.funonthenet.in/images/stories/forwards/kashmir%20winter/kashmir-winter-8.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Bakkerwals.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakarwal
"Bakkerwals" by Laportechicago (talk) (Uploads) - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bakkerwals.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Bakkerwals.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment