Farming In Mountains

6 things you need to grow before you start growing vegetables

Homestead in the neighbourhood- Image by Author

A couple visited us in December of 2022 from Germany — complete strangers who walked into our home searching for answers we ourselves haven’t found yet. The man had a clear look of envy in his eyes, as if I had done nothing to deserve the place I live in. I wondered how little he must know about the difference between the mountains of Germany and the Himalayas of India. But proving me wrong with every glance he threw at my tiny home, he had trekked across India and Nepal, and had been coming to India since the 1990s — precisely before I was born. I have never met anyone in my own country who was as jealous of me as he was.

Because here, people don’t have facilities engraved in their DNA for generations. People still seek comfort, still dream of living the most comfortable life possible. And yet, his jealousy was so intrusive that I, someone far less privileged than he, briefly forgot my own shortcomings.

I may not want the best translation job in Germany for my entire life (though I love languages!), I have no financial safety net, and I will certainly not enjoy the health he has when I turn 60. But if I compare his thirties to mine, I would never be able to witness the India of the 1990s, even if I solved the financial part of today. He may still buy a…