From Himalayan fields to rural change: A grandmother’s enduring influence

By Bharat Dogra 

Kabutra Devi lived in a very remote Himalayan village in the Agastyamuni region of Uttarakhand. Owing to access to government jobs, the economic condition of her family was reasonably good. At her advanced age, Kabutra Devi could easily have lived a restful life at home. Yet she insisted that she must go to work on the family’s farms every day.

Almost every morning she woke up very early and, after some time, went to the fields nearest to her home. Only after working there for two or three hours would she return for food. After some rest, in the late afternoon or early evening, she would once again go to the farm and work there.

Her youngest grandson, Mohit, was very attached to her, and she adored him too. He was often concerned—why should his grandmother go out to work, especially in the very cold weather conditions of the region?

One day he could not restrain himself and asked her, “Grandma, why must you go to work when you should be resting and taking it easy in your old age?”

Kabutra Devi remained quiet for some time and then said gently, “When I was young, so much was grown on our farms that we were self-reliant in meeting all our food needs except salt. When nomadic traders came with salt bags tied on both sides of goats, we welcomed them and gave them an equivalent weight of legumes and millets. Perhaps we were too generous, but we could afford to be generous because we had enough. Now, for several years, our fields are no longer bountiful. Farming has declined and our people have to migrate in search of work. I feel very restless and pained about this. I keep going to the farms so that, even in my old age, if I can make a small contribution to improving farming, I would like to do so.”

After a pause, she told Mohit, “You will make me very happy if, in your life, you help farmers and villagers improve their farming and food production.”

Kabutra Devi died at the age of 83, but her grandson Mohit Rana never forgot her words. He lived up to her expectations. He decided not to take up a routine job but instead to work to support rural livelihoods in innovative ways. This quest eventually brought him to Rajasthan, where he is now deeply involved in a team effort of a social enterprise called Heart in Hills (HIH), working to develop the edible oils sector in ways that improve oilseed-based livelihoods of farmers.

I heard this heart-touching story when I went to Hindaun city in Rajasthan to write about the progress and potential of HIH. Apart from covering this progress and examining how it was supported by a fellowship programme of the Budha Institute, I was keenly interested in understanding the motivational forces that inspired the three young entrepreneurs involved in this initiative to take up such challenging tasks and persist with them.

Satyam Bhandari, who leads this team effort, also had significant things to say in this context. He said that disasters have been increasing in the Himalayan villages from where he comes, and that the Kedarnath disaster in particular had claimed many lives in his village and neighbouring villages. In most cases, the main earning members of families had died. How were these families to survive? This tragedy left a lasting impression on him and convinced him that he must work to support rural livelihoods.

However, when he first entered the social sector, the opportunity he received was to promote education among some of the poorest households. Taking his work very sincerely, he began staying with one such family where two school-age sons were not attending school. The father explained that the elder son had to work to meet family needs, while the younger son had to stay at home to look after a baby because both parents went out to work. This experience further motivated Satyam to work for improving rural livelihoods.

The third partner in this initiative, Rohit Singh, was inspired by the sacrifices his mother made to ensure that he received a good education.

Thus, in their own ways, the three friends from distant hills, now working in Rajasthan, were guided by either inspirational or tragic experiences from the past—experiences that motivated them to take a road less travelled.

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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include When the Two Streams Met, Earth Without Borders, Navjivan, and Hindi Cinema and Society