A glacier, a perfect sunrise and a telecom tower

A drive through Spiti valley is rejuvenating for the tired, worn out urban existence. And if the journey happens to be on two wheels, it’s nothing short of a reset button for one’s soul.

Riding through the Himalayas,one reaches the quiet sleepy village of Losar on the right bank of the Spiti River in District Lahaul Spiti in the state of Himachal Pradesh, 58 kilometers from Kaza. The beautiful snow clad peaks all along the way set the perfect tone for this little piece of heaven of town. The town is situated in a geological depression, surrounded 360° by glacier clad mountain peaks.

The influx of tourists and bikers has had an evident effect on the village with a few ‘homestays’ and small motels popping up. However, thus far this place has not yet lost its charm and spiritual character and one can experience being in the cradle of Himalayas in this town.

The perfect scene is putrefied by a telecom tower that stands tall jarringly right in the middle of the little slice of heaven. This tower stands as a rude reminder of the life we thought we had left 900 kilometers in the rear view mirror.

For quite sometime now, the juggernaut of ‘development’ and ‘progress’ has been running over one town after another.

However, talking to locals one gets a mixed bag of reactions. The obvious factors of age, origins and occupations aside, one gets a feeling that this developmental tsunami is about to sweep the traditional way of life away for these hill people.

Sanju (26) a caretaker at a local motel is quite excited by the 4G connectivity provided by the new tower. “Earlier it used to get very boring during times when there were not a lot of tourists around , especially during the COVID-19 lockdowns. However, since we have data connectivity here, it’s not that hard to pass time,even when business is slow”.

However, Shyam Lal a local resident and owner of a roadside dhaba does not seem to be all that excited by the pace of change he is witnessing. “We are happy with the limited number of tourists we have in our village. Our primary source of income is the production of peas in our farmlands. More and more tourists are coming in each year, because of the internet connectivity many people have started living here for longer durations, which they call ‘workations’. The single road running through the valley which was maintained by Himachal Pradesh public works department has now been handed over to the B.R.O. (Border roads organization). It is being said that they are going to develop this into a double road“.

Referring to the over commercialization of many regions in the hills in recent years, he worries “What happened to Kaza might happen to our little village soon!”.