Portering in the Nepal Himalaya is deadly serious business. It involves enormous toil for little gain; it brings on premature aging. It is among the most primitive uses of human physiology — the hauling of loads for long distances on sheer "manpower".
In Nepal, the porters are the subsistence farmers, men and women mired in extreme and general rural poverty. In a country where underemployment is endemic, the Himalayan peasants have few means of earning cash other than by bearing wickerwork baskets up and down mountain trails: oil and salt for the village merchant, pipes and tin roofing for development projects, firewood for hill markets, fodder for cattle, provisions for trekking parties and mountaineering gear for expeditions.
Farmers from isolated corners of the country also make annual treks down to the nearest roadhead to buy the year's supply of salt, calico and cooking oil.
The porter (a bhartya or dhakray) balances the basket (doko or dhakra) on the back and uses a strap across the forehead, a narnio, to take most of the weight. The strain on the headband forces the porter to lean forward and down while taking a climb, breathing in steady, deep rhythms. The calf muscles are tense, the hands on the temples to steady the nand() , and the feet bare. Porters often have flat feet. Their soles are thicker than a shoe's and as insensitive to the touch.