Dam the Lepchas

As we wound our way up and down the steep roads of the Himalayan landscape and crossed the Teesta river to enter Dzongu, my host, Gyatso Lepcha, stopped his four-wheel drive in front of yet another boulder blocking our road, a result of the landslides that still shake the mountainside since the earthquake. Far away, towards the west, hidden behind the mist and clouds was Khangchendzonga, the third highest peak in the world and the guardian deity of the Lepcha people who believe they were created to protect and worship the peak. Dzongu extends across a mere 78 sq. km. geographical area. Its vertical terrain, rising from 700 m. to 6,000 m. above mean sea level, is a diverse, snowy, mountainous landscape with steep valleys, narrow gorges and flanking slopes clothed in dense forest. Three climatic zones prevail in this natural wonderland – tropical, temperate and alpine, each with its distinctive ecological touch. Bordering the Khangchendzonga National Park, Dzongu straddles the Himalayan and Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspots, that host many endemic vertebrate and invertebrate species, it is also home to about 4,000 Lepchas, the only residents of Dzongu. Outsiders, even from within Sikkim, need a permit to enter. Predictably, there were many ‘outsiders’ at the district administration office applying for a permit at Mangan, the last checkpoint before you enter north Sikkim. The majority were workers from the plains in their white hats, orange trucks, red bulldozers and yellow earth-movers, headed for the Panang-Panan Hydropower-project site. Outside the buzz was about the crores of rupees from the Central Indian Government and the millions of dollars from the World Bank earmarked for the state in the aftermath of the September 2011 earthquake.

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The Gods must be Angry

The Lepchas, the indigenous people of Sikkim, are shaken up. Literally. Many consider the earthquake of September 2011 and the destruction caused at sites of the Teesta dam project in their homeland, Dzongu, in north Sikkim, as a sign of the wrath of the gods for disturbing the sacred ecology of this unique Himalayan landscape.

There are only about 4,000 Lepchas -- a ‘primitive tribe’ as recognised by the state and ‘original indigenous inhabitants’ as acknowledged by the Indian Supreme Court -- still living in Dzongu. They consider themselves protectors of this amazing ecosystem at the foothills of the main deity, Khangchendzonga, the world’s third highest mountain. It is their relationship with the mighty mountain and ancient legends of the natural world they live in that is at the heart of their agitation.

For the past seven years, local inhabitants have been questioning the Teesta hydropower project and actively protesting against the 24 dams being built on the Teesta river. Many have undertaken 100-day hunger fasts demanding that Dzongu be spared.

Dzongu is an earthquake-prone and geologically fragile area; blasting and tunnelling in the mountains to change the course of rivers is not the cleverest way to generate electricity, say the Lepchas. They have quoted from climate change studies questioning the long-term carrying capacity of dams on the Teesta, given the rate of glacier melt and changes in weather patterns. They have pointed out that Dzongu, all of its 74 sq km of vertical terrain, is an important part of the Khangchendzonga National Park and that any conservation effort in these parts would be pointless without protecting Dzongu. They have listed the myriad species of butterflies, birds, plants and trees that survive in these mountains that constitute part of a greater Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot. Tired, thirsty and hungry, they shouted their protests before being arrested and force-fed. No one paid any attention to their warnings. 

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The land of the Lepchas

After a hard day's hike up and down Lingthem to document the damage done by the Himalayan earthquake, I had almost packed up for the day when I was presented this picture postcard scene of Dzongu, the land of the Lepchas.

Sipping Tongba in Dzongu

Tongba better known as Chaang, the preferred drink of the Yetis according to the legends of the mountain people, is a bamboo cup full of fermented finger millet served in a large wooden glass, to which you add warm water and sip it slowly with a bamboo straw called Pipsings.