"Mountains are calling", "No Network Just This", "Send It To Someone With Whom You Would Like To Visit This Place" are some of the popular reel captions. And in many ways, they are true. Mountains do call you, and you are attracted to them. A video of a beach might not be as appealing as a video of a majestic white mountain, whose peak is hidden by clouds as if they are saying, "Do you think we'll let you see everything from down there? If you want to see the peak climb it!" It has something to it, which is why, I guess, Pandavas traversed these mountains in the search of their final aim rather than thinking about going down south and thinking, let's see where this ground ends, instead of finalising, let's see where this mountain ends. But even Pandavas and other travellers like Guru Gobin Singh kept on moving. They never thought about building a permanent settlement and dying at that place, like we do in our cities. We build our homes knowing very well that our funeral pyre will be lifted from this very porch whose brick I am selecting at the brick shop today.
Today, the sentiment is different. I find so many people aiming to settle in the mountains and make it their final life goal. I find nothing wrong with it. But most of them seem to plan their whole lives based on a one-week vacation they had in these places. Of course, it will feel like home when you break the routine and go to a contrasting place. Ah! I wish I could hear these birds at my home as well. Ah! What a fresh morning this is, etc., etc. When I go to different places, I meet people who are far ahead of those planning their migration, sitting inside a 2 BHK. They have already left, opened up a cafe, and made the mountains their home. So, as someone who is aiming for that life, do you think they still share the same sentiment? Umm, sometimes, and sometimes not.
In 2022, I went to McLeodganj and stayed there for 2 weeks. I was staying at a place managed and leased by Raghav. He was "something" in the IT industry, yes, he told me that he is "something" in an IT firm. He had dreamt of having a place in the mountains, just like so many of us, and had executed the plan by leasing out a multi-storey building and converting it into a workation home with high-speed Wi-Fi and a place to work from. He was happy to be sitting in his common room, where people come and go, and if anything, he always tried to include all people in his conversations. He had a few favourites, whom, when present, he would forget everyone else and talk with. If they weren't present, he would talk about them. I felt he was not that open to meeting new people and befriending them, which he said was one of the reasons for moving to the mountains. He had a partner who had invested with him, and he visited every couple of months. Raghav stayed there full-time. "Why don't you go to Triund?" he asked me, suggesting a plan for the coming weekend.
"I have already been there", I said and continued, "What are your plans?"
"I will be here; some consignment is coming for one room," he said. "Where did you go last?" I asked him because, as many people think, if you are in the mountains, you will keep trekking regularly. When he started to tell his story, I figured the gaps between his treks had increased since he opened this property. Earlier, he used to be on a trek every couple of months, then it increased to once a year, and then as of now, once every 3 years. When I asked him about the property, he was happy to tell me about the management and how different people manage different things there. I found out that this property had become his job now. He managed everything from food to accommodation to laundry to cleaning. In addition, he had to be present there when a new person came, especially a foreigner, because nobody else could describe his mission of why he opened a cafe and provided a place like home other than the person who did it, i.e. him. He used to work till 7 or 8 PM. In the morning, he would finish his office work, and in the evening, he would finish the property work. He told me that work has been increasing each year, and no one else can handle it. It had been 3-4 years since he had opened, but they were still not in a shape to hire someone to handle accounts. "We are paying 15 Lakhs lease for this property, which takes most of our profits," he told me.
Clearly, he had completed his dreams of moving to the mountains, but nothing more had happened. Now, when he looked outside the windows, he saw trees and rivers instead of highways and traffic. Everything outside had changed, but he was still stuck, just like he was when he was in Delhi doing his job. Now his job had changed, but the fantasy is not the same. I noticed he never sat in the balcony, but all visitors would. He never ate Siddu or momo, he always had regular north indian snacks and meals. Nothing had changed in his life except the location; the dreams of living like a retired person, all by themselves with a lot of time and trekking regularly, had shattered, and so did the perception of mine for this life.
In 2026, I went to Shangarh. A small cafe called "Floyd's cafe" became my regular coffee place, and sometimes I would eat meals there too. I visited all the cafes in Shangarh, but the absence of any person there and the owners made me sit there every day. He was also probably the first man in my life who owned a cafe and talked informally with me from the first sentence. "Kahan ruka hai tu?", he said as the first sentence after I ordered the coffee. It was surprising but comforting as it showed how casual people have become, especially the new generation. The old generation would pull out swords if you don't respect them in every aspect. But now it doesn't matter much. He did not know my age, but still, he always talked like that with me. He was a half-bald, very skinny guy named Naushad. He wore specs and smoked joints all day long. He always had a piece of hash in his pocket, and you could see him rolling a joint the whole day. "I always dreamt of having a place in the mountains. That's the life I always dreamt about. Being here, opening a cafe, and having a chill life," he told me once.
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| Floyd's Cafe in Shangarh |
I asked him about the cafe, and he said it's new, but we are working on it. He used to prepare the meals himself and had hired one local cook whom he referred to as "Didi", who took care of indian meals like Parathas and Rajma Chawal. 90% of the time, she would just be sitting outside talking to someone on the phone and soaking in the sunlight. He would often come to my table and sit with me to talk about life, treks, and his cafe. He told me he is doing a sales job along with this. "Why? If you dreamt of coming here always," I asked, and he said it's very tough to break even on mountains. "Properties like Zostel and Hosteller arrive and take away all our customers," he said. It was quite evident. Raghav in McLeodganj was having a lot of customers, but that's because McLeodganj is a popular place, and he paid rent accordingly. In Shangarh, I met only a couple of other people who were staying for more than 1 or 2 days. It was more of a weekend getaway, and travel agencies had included it in their package to entice people by showing off the images of lush green meadows. Such people only gather at the eating joints close to the meadows.
"I have been to Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait, you name it. I was the best salesperson my company had," Naushad said and continued, "I worked in a startup as a sales guy. Made their revenue jump 10x. Went everywhere. You know, once I met the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi. He is infamous for not closing any deals on Indian startups, but he closed the deal with me. Now I have changed my company, and I work for a clothing brand located in the US. Helping them expand their operations in India." Naushad always told me his stories about the corporate life and how he is thinking of working in this company. Surely, he would end his sentences like, "Once I am done, I will leave all this. Just trek and trek and trek". A common pattern I noticed. He was still seeing the same dream which he had seen when he was in Bangalore.
"Do you trek often?" I asked.
"I have trekked to the Shakti glacier. Have you heard about it?" he said while pushing the rim of his specs frame upwards with one finger.
"Ummm, no."
"You should go there once. It's really good. So you have to start from here, then you go there, and you know it's so hard. I broke my knee. If it were any other guy, he would have quit and returned. I continued with the broken knee and completed the trek as well. Came back with the same knee. You know many people can't complete the trek. You should try that once," he said. Over the days, I realised he talked about the Shakti trek almost every other day. He did not have any other story or trek to tell. He had moved to the mountains, but he was living the same life. It was much slower than the city, but he never talked about mountains and his inner fulfilment in them. He was not as busy as Raghav, but he did not have the money to sustain himself. He was losing money on the cafe and was burning his job money here. He had been living there for 3 years, but he did not tell me any hidden locations or nearby beautiful villages. I started to believe that he was living somebody else's dream. A dream that he saw on Instagram, and found it "cool" among his peers. He lived there and ran a cafe, but it was like meeting a traveller who actually lives in Bangalore.
In his cafe, a person started visiting whose name was Gagan. Around 5 feet 2 inches, curly long hair with many white strands, clean-shaven, and big dreams. Dreams of moving to the mountains and retiring there. A dream I have been listening to for ages from the people living in the cities. He was the type of person who was too confident in themselves and keen to snatch the centre stage. They always speak in jargon terms, embellishing their portfolios and making sure nobody else has any chance to speak much. He used to work at HP in sales in Bangalore and was a resident of Coorg. Then, he switched to architecture and then to interior design. He visited Shangarh with his friends a year back and stayed there as he found it too "peaceful" and "mesmerising". Yes, he used those terms. He told me how he suffered the merciless winters here and wore 3 pairs of socks just to get out of bed. He did not bathe for 1 month in December, he said. "I love it, man, I love it here", he would often say while continuing his sentences as, "I have a friend, you know who is doing some interior work with me. Look, look." Most of the time, he would show us his past projects and current progress. Honestly, no one was interested in seeing a wallpaper in a cafe in Bangalore. But he would show us everything.
He told me that he left sales in 2017 after working there for 6 years. By that, I figured he was around 37-39, depending on when he went for the job. One month earlier, he leased out a building and started repairing it for the next summer, which is the summer of 2027. He would show us the progress of that building and invite us to visit him almost every day. None of us went because it was too far, and roads in Shangarh are in extremely bad condition. They are so bad that Gagan had to modify his bike and put a sidecar on it with two additional wheels so he can travel easily in Shangarh. Apart from being the sole promoter of his work, he was also very ambitious.
He imagined his property to be the most unique in the village with all modern facilities. "No one coming from the south should bear the extreme cold that I had to face. So I will provide heating here," he said, "Zero degrees is the fridge's temperature. It's like living in the fridge all the time." There was hardly any time when he was not talking like a sales guy. "You know what? Shangarh is not a popular place", he said to Naushad and me, "We should do something to make it popular."
"Like what?" Naushad said.
"Like I was thinking", he put down his cigarette on the ashtray, "to have a big music festival here like they have in Manali."
"It's a national park; alcohol and events, including parties, are restricted here," said Naushad.
"C'mon, these forest guys will take 5k maximum. That's not the problem. I can arrange alcohol also. I was just thinking if people would come."
I saw Naushad, and he was not interested, but still, he kept acknowledging him because it was extremely hard to make him feel he was wrong. Gagan would keep arguing, giving examples, and showing photographs until he had proven that he was right. "What do you think, Rajora?" he asked me, and I said, "Well, I wouldn't come to such an event."
"Why not?"
"It's just not my thing," I said, but he understood what I meant.
I also saw Gagan talking to his friend from Bangalore twice on video calls. Different friends both times. He would never talk about his passion and ambitions for spoiling these mountains. "You are living the life, man!" his friend would say, and he would acknowledge and ask them to come to Shangarh.
Two days later, I found out Naushad had hired him to paint his walls with some popular old bands' images and some trippy graffiti. I had not expected this from Naushad, and instead of discouraging such people, he gave him more work and encouragement to continue. I believe Naushad was the same guy as Gagan, but not as aggressive as him. Gagan, similar to others, was the same guy as he was in Coorg and Bangalore. I thought he didn't want mountains to live in them; he just sees a business opportunity. "I gotta eat, right?" he said to me when I asked him the reasons for doing that. "50k per month lease means I need to earn 50k at least." I later found out he did not have much money. He borrowed some from his friends and put up his savings. I don't think 50k is his upper limit. He saw that as a business opportunity, and as any capitalist who sees mountains as a business hub, he will continue to mint money from it till he can, in ways that might not be morally ethical, and illegal.
All these three guys dreamt of living and retiring in the mountains, maybe get into the FIRE club, but all three of them could not live on what they thought, or I may say so, what they told everyone they thought. One wanted to travel but got so busy with the property that it became his full-time job. One had no money and couldn't go anywhere. One came on a vacation but found it too tempting to resist a golden opportunity of exploiting a remote Himalayan village. He just couldn't see other people making money and felt he could be behind the race in the next five years. Retiring in the mountains is not that easy. It's not like you pick up your bags and migrate to a different city. It needs real changes in the person. These people move physically but stay the same mentally and spiritually. None of them could spend a single day alone. Gagan, when his labourers were on holiday, would spend the whole day at Floyd's cafe. They fantasised about the life that they were not ready for. I found the same characteristics in those people as well who are currently in cities, but are seeing the same dream. Life with a cafe is not as joyous as it seems, and if people can't live like locals and start bringing their cities with them, what's next? Naushad would show me reels of other remote villages of Uttarakhand and Himachal. He knew that since he moved here, it had become the same as living in the city. "I am at a fixed place, haven't been anywhere except Vietnam", said Raghav one day.
Talking to them and other people on my travels made me feel that moving to the mountains can be joyous only when it comes from the inside. If we start finding happiness from outside, as most of us do in the cities, we will only be exploiting these places for our benefit. I often find people living in remote villages outside India leading a peaceful life. They follow a similar pattern. They would wake up, take care of the garden, go to their favourite spot, work if they have some, see the sunset, and come back. Some would contribute to social causes as well. That's it. Same routine for the last 10 years. When I ask people in India who have moved to the mountains, "Why did you move here?", they would often say, "Oh! I love living in the mountains. So much peace. I am bored with the city. etc etc." But when I ask the same question outside India, I hear answers like, "I am happy here. I find peace in myself here. I wanted to do something for the mountain people. etc., etc."
The contrast in their answers is enough to tell you who values what in the mountains. It is extremely sad that I am sitting in a remote village, and it still feels like a co-working space where people are talking just about sales, business, and startups. This is the reason I contemplate that people who move to the remote mountains outside India live in a small house for decades peacefully. But here, they are always restless or move back to the city or keep expanding their business. It's never just living and doing something. It's living here and making the most of it because if people are coming, they want a place to stay, to drink, to party, and I can't leave that opportunity. And this cycle never stops. Because you did not come to the mountains for the mountains and their people and the ecosystem, you came for yourself.
Let me know what you think.
Harish
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