CONQUERING THE MOUNTAINS
The Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand, where I live, consists largely of the Kumaon Range of Himalayas, stretching for almost 320 kilometres south to north. It starts in the plains, or Terai, with the state of Uttar Pradesh to the south, the Himalayan country of Nepal to the east, and ends in Johar Valley bordering Tibet. My home, at an altitude of 1,400 metres, isn’t far from the plains. The district of Nainital in the foothills of the Kumaon range is a green, ecologically vibrant region, home to tigers, leopards, and elephants of the Jim Corbett National Park.
If one travels north through Kumaon, the land keeps rising. The dense, moist, and deciduous forests gently transform with altitude. Sal and mango give way to pine and deodar. As one travels further in the hill towns
