Fragile splendour

A book of photographs reflects the magnificence of the Nepal Himalayas but also highlights its ecological vulnerabilities

NEPAL HIMALAYA: A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
Publisher: Vajra Books
Photographs by: Sujoy Das
Text by: Lisa Choegyal
Pages: 299
Price: Rs 1,935

There is a certain magical quality to black and white photographs that often goes missing in colour images. This is particularly true of mountain landscapes. Black and white photos seem to accentuate the contours and highlight contrasts that only an artist's brush delivers more skillfully than a photographer's craft. And yet the incredible photographs of the Nepal Himalayas, soaring over its quaint villages and shaping the lives of its hardy people is a virtual feast for the eyes. Nepal Himalaya: A Journey Through Time is bound to become a treasured possession for all those who are in love with the Himalayas, its ancient legends and who admire the warmth and hospitality of its hardy communities. Photographer Sujoy Das' camera has panned the soaring mountain peaks of the Nepal with the eye of an artist. The accompanying text by long-time Nepal resident, Lisa Choegyal, reflects her patent empathy and love for the country she has adopted and its people. She has been closely associated with the development of tourism in Nepal which draws heavily on the attraction of the unmatched natural assets of the country. As Reinhold Messner, the well-known mountaineer, has observed in his Foreword , "This beautiful book with its stark and startling black and white images captures the very essence of Nepal's mountains and Himalayan peoples, evoking the unparalleled scenery, resilience and charm of this extraordinary country."

The Durbar Square at Patan

The photographs are grouped into nine sections. They cover some of the celebrated and well-known peaks stretching from the Annapurna in the west to the Kanchenjunga in the east, the important trekking trails, including the arduous route from Jomson to the legendary Lo Manthang in Mustang, the mountain villages and their resilient people, including the incredible porters who carry loads several times their own weight along treacherous high altitude tracks and, finally, the cultural and architectural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley which has unfortunately been badly damaged by the terrible earthquake last year. These photographs brought back memories of the many happy days I have spent trekking in these mountains and admiring the rich and vibrant cultural heritage of its valleys, lying as they did astride ancient trade routes between Tibet and India. Lisa Choegyal has given a very good account of this heritage, which is as attractive to tourists as the country's breathtaking landscape. My own favourites are the photographs of the serrated ridges of Malagphulang and Kangtega as seen from Dugla (page 41), the tiny figures of three trekkers dwarfed by the Labuche (page 56), the Durbar Square at Patan (page 108) and two porters bent under their huge loads climbing above Pheriche (page 120).

Bent under huge loads, two porters climb above Pheriche

Tourism has been a great success story for Nepal and there are many pioneers who made this possible. Lisa Choegyal has mentioned several of them, both Nepali and foreign, including a close friend Dubby Bhagat, who died just recently. But tourism in Nepal is facing a crisis. The more immediate challenge relates to the damage caused by the earthquake which obliterated many trekking trails and wiped out several mountain villages. Recovery is unfortunately slow. There is a longer term challenge of ecological degradation exacerbated by the impact of climate change, which Nepal is ill-equipped to handle. Sujoy Das's photographs reflect not only the magnificence of the Nepali landscape but also its fragility. It is difficult to evolve a tourism promotion strategy that keeps numbers of visitors within the load carrying capacity of this threatened mountain ecology. Bhutan has tried to do this by promoting high-end and high-paying tourism. Nepal is in danger of being inundated with mass tourism from both India and China. In the not too distant future Sujoy Das's photographs may well become a visual record of a world that may have altered beyond recognition.
The reviewer, a former Foreign Secretary, was India's ambassador to Nepal, 2002-04. He is currently Chairman, RIS and Senior Fellow, CPR