Torture – A Human Art of Making Money

We all know about the breathtaking beauty of the spic and span Indian state of Sikkim. From the misty Gangtok, to the snowy mountains, to the stunning semi frozen lakes, to the high altitude passes; Sikkim offers everything that a nature lover craves for.

Being one of them, I was equally attracted to the paradise and was excited when I planned a trip with my family this May 3rd, 2016. This was an aftermath of my bike expedition through the Spiti valley in Himachal, when mesmerized by the inexplicable prettiness; I added every nook and corner of the mighty Himalayas to my travel wish list.

But this blog is not about the beauty of Himalayas, it is in fact about the life of an amazing four legged creature that dwells in these high altitudes of the mountain ranges. For several year it has been used by the human kind for supporting their living and making it livable; From extracting milk for consumption, to rearing for wool, to making transportation less tedious in the tricky terrain. If you have not guessed by now then, I am referring to the magnificent and charming animal YAK.

I have never witnessed the treatment these creatures receive when used for the above mentioned requirement. However, I surely have seen how they are treated, Oh wait! How they are mistreated when used for offering joy rides to the bustling flock of tourist. It should suffice to say that it is nothing less than a matter of worry and shame for us.

I am a person who makes ample amount of research before visiting any place, and surfing through the web forums, I found Yak ride as the highest to-do activity around Tsomgo (Changu) Lake in Sikkim.

Prior to this trip I witnessed these amazing mortals near Tso pangong during my bike trip to Leh-Ladakh in September 2015. In no time I fell in love with them and captured them in my camera while they were grazing in grassland 100meters away from me. They were set so free; with no human around they looked natural and happy.

The sheer possibility of encountering them again in Sikkim became my reason for excitement about the Yak ride at Changu lake. The fact that they would be so close to me, and I would be able to capture their natural activity in my camera so closely, excited me.

But alas! All my excitement ended up turning into anguish, when I witnessed the ill treatment the creature receives at the hands of humans who claim their ownership in greed of earning money.  With a nose band tied through their nostrils, their movement was controlled in such a harsh way that it was difficult to tell which among the two the beast was. The free will of movement, that I fell in love with in my previous encounter, was nowhere to be spotted. At points it seemed that the constant pulling of ropes might tear apart the nose of the wretched animal. All this torment only to give a ‘fun’ ride to the tourists.

Yaks were continuously whipped to make them move, nudged and tormented to climb the hills while carrying two tourists at a time. No one (including the tourists) seemed to bother about the pain that a creature as alive as themselves, was going through. At this point, I decided to capture a few Yaks that were resting around the lake and while doing so, to my horror, I observed a Yak whose nose indeed was torn apart, still the human devil made it work, by tying nose band to single nostril.

It stood helplessly in a corner, not even aware that he was temporarily not a bread earner for its so called master who had not a trace of grimace for such torment. The latter was infact gaily chit chatting around with tourists, who too had no apparent desolation. They were opting out this Yak as it was injured and negotiating price for another Yak.

On further inquiring with some of the locals, I even got to know that the owners of these yaks own a few luxury cars as well which are rented out for tourists, earning them significant sums. This brings me to my next question, as the need for all this animal torment.

I agree to the fact that these animals are tough and have high resistance, but who gave us the authority to treat them the way we want to? Are we humans, who consider ourselves highest functioning living creature, so paralyzed that we are dependent on animals to make our own livelihood? And this is not even the saddest part. The fact that we tourists/travelers being so educated, support this relentless animal harassment, makes is appalling.

The owners charge enormous sums for these rides, for instance, they charge INR300-INR500 for a 100meters ride. Logically, we are deriving joy by hurting these children of God, so much so that we are ready to pay huge sums to satisfy our sadistic and dominant tendencies.

In conclusion to my account on the ill-treated rangers of Himalayas, I humbly request all my fellow blog readers not to support any form of animal harassment happening. You do not have to raise a voice against it, I only appeal you not to indulge in it yourself and create awareness as much as possible. I do understand that it is very difficult to make the Yak owners understand the same as its money that drives them and not sentiments. But if we travelers/tourists change and stop supporting atrocity, then the Yaks will surely have painless life in time.

Please spread this word to your friends/family so that we can change at least little by little.

Thanks for reading this blog.

Thanks to Ms Vaanya Bhatia for proof reading.

Your's Truly

Shravan Kumar E P