Dicing with Death: India – Of God and Men

The world’s most populous country has become the world’s 6th largest economy, and continues to develop, but at two speeds. In the big cities, there’s no shortage of work, and India’s youth is taking over, leaving the countryside increasingly isolated and left to its own devices.

Tenzin is a farmer and the great-grandson of a farmer. For several generations, he and his family have been growing what Indians call “green gold”: peas. It’s a demanding and fragile crop, made difficult by the region’s capricious climatic conditions. “Peas are our only source of income. Without them, my family and I would have disappeared a long time ago”. During the harvest, Tenzin takes his mules down the steep path to the road every morning to entrust his crop to Ramsing, the transporter. But a long and perilous journey awaits. The slightest misjudgement could see them fall into the ravine.

The Indians have a powerful bond with nature. So much so that some live only through it… Such is the case of the Khasis tribe, who preserve nature by building bridges without using cement… Like their ancestors, they direct the roots of “rubber trees” over ravines, the roots grow, harden and over time form a bridge as hard as concrete. Wang Suk maintains them and even builds new ones. “I’ll never see them finished because these bridges take decades to form. I’m doing it for future generations!

On the Brahmaputra River, Kotai wishes his ancestors had cared a little more about the future of his island, or rather that all the countries on the planet had actively fought against global warming… His island is being nibbled away a little more every day by the great river… When he was a child, it covered 15 km2 compared with 4 km2 today! Unwittingly, Kotai also contributes to this erosion: he cuts bamboo whose roots hold back the earth. But when it comes to delivery, he’s carbon-free: “I can’t use a truck, as it would take too long on the track. He travels by raft, his only guides being the rushing currents and the gods he prays to avoid ending up at the bottom of the river, like so many others before him.