Philosophers say that change is inevitable and inexorable; that "old order changeth yielding place to new". The Himalaya and its people know well what they mean. The process that has created that whirlwind of change is the concern of both those who suffer its consequences as well as those who have conjured it by their practice of 'development'.
In the same way in which an ancient Tibetan Thangka is restored, if the process of change -™- is gentle enough, the result is a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. If the process is violent—if an inexperienced or over enthusiastic artist applies new paint or, worse, puts the thangka in a washing machine to cleanse it of decades of soot — much of the harmony between dements of the fabric is lost, beauty is destroyed and degradation — a type of under development — results. Some of the processes of change occurring in the Himalaya, including some well-meant development efforts, may well be of the washing-machine variety.
Change, though inevitable, can be good or bad depending on how it occurs and where it leads. If the environment is transformed sensitively, affected parts are allowed to adapt slowly and thus escape permanent injury. A rural road constructed in the Himalaya using "green technology" neither destabilises the hill slopes nor does it dump debris on the terraced farms of subsistence farmers (see Himal Jan/Feb 1990). A ´cut and dump´ bulldozer technology may be efficient if one considers only the road project´s wellbeing; but it is an efficiency achieved by transferring much of its costs to a helpless Nature and the unsuspecting poor.
Change that is orchestrated in-distant Kathmandu can hit the marginal farmer with the force of a knockout blow. His traditional world falls apart and he becomes an alien in his own home. While the metamorphosis brought about by projects focussing only on constructing a factory, a high dam, or a highway has been rightly criticised for the insensitivity to social dislocations accompanying it, even environ men till projects (which tend to be pursued with myopic certitude) can devastate the world of the rural poor.