The village of Chopta marks the beginning of the back-breaking trek up to the temple of Tungnath in the Garhwal Himalaya. At a wayside shop, a pilgrim bargains with the owner for a kilogram of ghee, trying to bring down the price from IRs 60 to a more affordable IRs 40. But the shopkeeper will have none of it. "Just take what you can at my price. Ghee is precious now. If not you, there will be others."
The village of Chopta marks the beginning of the back-breaking trek up to the temple of Tungnath in the Garhwal Himalaya. At a wayside shop, a pilgrim bargains with the owner for a kilogram of ghee, trying to bring down the price from IRs 60 to a more affordable IRs 40. But the shopkeeper will have none of it. "Just take what you can at my price. Ghee is precious now. If not you, there will be others."
Ghee, clarified butter, used to be cheap and plentiful just five years ago. The pilgrim does not understand that a complex web of factors – new roads, tourism, "development" – have contributed to ghee´s price rise. The same is true for other milk products.
The rolling green alpine pastures around Chopta, known as bugyals, used to provide excellent grazing grounds for local mountain cows. The bugyals are still there, but the bovines no longer come to chew the cud under the shadow of Chaukhamba Peak. The Uttar Pradesh government has banned seasonal migration by nomadic Gujjars, who used to be the mainstay of the area´s dairy supplies. The villagers of Chopta are now expected to take loans under one of the many "anti-poverty" programmes run from Lucknow and buy crossbred Jersey or Freisan heifers, which would have to be stall-fed.