Cleaning up the mountain ranges with environmentalist and Healing Himalayas founder, Pradeep Sangwan

Environmentalist, trekker and founder, Healing Himalayas, Pradeep Sangwan is a simple man with a simple mission. In this episode he recollects his most unforgettable trekking experiences from cleaning up garbage piling up at the busiest mountain trails, to sharing hearty meals with the warmest locals, Pradeep delves deep into his passion for inspiring others to undo the damages of the numerous adventure schedules. 

Join us on a journey to uncover the truth of undertaking great climbs and achieving greater milestones of clearing garbage piling up on some of the world’s highest mountain ranges during Pradeep Sangwan’s memorable trekking trails.

Transcript

Go-Beyond Podcast – Pradeep Sangwan Transcript

Speakers:

Akshay Kapur

Pradeep Sangwan

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Akshay:

Welcome to the Sony Pictures Networks Go Beyond Podcast where we go beyond conventional boundaries and summit new heights.

I'm your host Akshay Kapur. Every climb begins at base camp, every summit is reached with preparation, every climb takes courage. But what perhaps no one can account for is the many experiences that come along the way that the views at each stage of the ascent paint different perspectives and open our eyes to new horizons. Embodying this in more ways than one is Pradeep Sangwan, a mountaineer living in Himachal Pradesh. Pradeep completed military school and even explored a brief career in event management before finding his true calling in the mountains. Over the years exploring the mountain trails Pradeep encountered people from all walks of life from city dwellers looking to escape in the mountains to shepherds to whom the mountains were home and a source of livelihood. It was during this time that he also began to notice the increasing amount of garbage piling up along the side of these trails and he realized the range of livelihoods this garbage would have an impact on. To tackle this, he founded Healing Himalayas, a nonprofit organization that organizes large scale treks to clean the waste from the trekking trails in the mountains. In just the last six years Healing Himalayas has cleared nearly eight hundred tons of waste from these trails. 

Today Pradeep dedicates his life to preserving the vast ecosystem that these Himalayas have to offer. Pradeep welcome to the Go-Beyond podcast we're thrilled to have you on the show. How are you feeling today? 

Pradeep:

Well thank you so much that was a very lovely introduction, and I'm really doing good. It's a new year, so we are very freshened up with our energy. And taking the sustainable approach again into 2022 and let's see how it turns out.

Akshay:

Absolutely. I think Pradeep you've lived in the mountains for many years now, but when did you first fall in love and feel connected with the mountains? 

Pradeep:

I think it was back in college because lots of my friends used to talk about trekking the mountains, Himalayas, and there was so many stories so that was a bit fascinating for me. But you know it took me some time to fall in love with the mountains because from a distance everything seems very good. But when you start going into the mountains, start living there, you start trekking then you realize there are so many difficulties related to the local lifestyle, livelihood and things like that.

Akshay:

I remember last time we spoke you told us this story of a fifteen-day trek that you went on and that is when you really started feeling connected with the mountains. 

Pradeep:

Yeah, actually one of my friends, he suggested me that you know let's do something crazy. So, we started trekking from Manalli then we did a pass. It's called Hamta pass. Very beautiful, very scenic pass and then we had to reach this beautiful lake called Chandatal Lake and from Chandatal, we had to trek down to Surajtal Lake so and it was a tricky part because we were just two us and we had to carry almost about twenty kilograms each because we had our luggage, we had the food, we had the tents, we had sleeping bags, mats and ice axe also, rope also to cross the river so there was so many things around our shoulders. And in the first day we did about thirty-five kilometers.

Akshay: Wow!

Pradeep: We met a few shepherds also along the way and they, always invited us for a cup of tea and that was a sort of luxury for us. You know cup of tea at that altitude and that too made by somebody else. So, that was fun.

Akshay:

When you say at that altitude how high up how high up were you? 

Pradeep:

Ah, that was about forty-eight hundred meters so somewhere around fifteen thousand ft.

Pradeep:

It was very dry also like there are no trees around there but because the landscape changes beyond three thousand meters you trek through the tree line, then the meadows and then the rocky patch just pure mountains and nothing else. 

Akshay:

Right

Pradeep:

So that's where it’s most difficult because the amount of oxygen drops down to a significant level and you have to trek and trek and trek. So anyways, so we started interacting with those shepherds and they were kind enough to offer us tea and there are hardly any trekkers, so they were quite welcoming just to see us that you know come and stay with us. We’ll offer you food and lots of stories also, but we had a target in our head and that we had to race to this particular destination and so the point where we had to reach Tappoyoma. So big river in Tibetan language is called Tappoyoma, and the next morning we had to cross it so after trekking thirty five kilometers in a day the next morning you are like completely jammed and…

Akshay:

(Laughs)

Pradeep:

And it was also raining to be, we were very surprised to see that it was raining in that area because there’s hardly any rain because Spiti is a cold desert. It's just snowfall or nothing 

Akshay:

Okay 

Pradeep:

But in last ten years the whole weather pattern has changed and it has started raining a lot because of the rain we were not able to cross that river in the morning and we were, disappointed but there are no choices when you know nature has decided something that you can't really fight with nature. So we thought that there were so many shepherds they were calling for us and they were like you know come down and stay with us. So why not just utilize this opportunity and stay with them for a few days and in the meantime, we also broke our stove, so we were not able to cook anything, so we just had chocolates. So I went to this the very nearest shepherd, there were 2 guys Hansraj and Bharu.

Akshay:

Okay

Pradeep:

Then I asked them you know boss we're really hungry man just give us something to eat anything that you have and he got us Kadi chawal. “Main bata nhi sakta, matlab khana maine khaya hai bhut sare jagah pe but usse best kadi chawal maine zindagi mein kabhi nhi khaya ha” I still relish that taste in my mouth.

Akshay:

Mountain Master chef.

Pradeep Sangwan 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, they were.

So these 2 guys you know the daily routine they follow one has to stay back in the hut and then second one has to go with the herd sheep’s and goats. That's how they divided their responsibility one will prepare the food and another one will go along with the sheeps and goats and then evening they'll come back and sit chit chat laugh about certain things cook food, and then eat and sleep. I got fascinated with the kind of lifestyle because at that point of time I was sort of thinking to escape everything because the whole world was chasing a particular dream that you know get a job get married get settled build a house and then live for yourself or your family. And I was already beyond that concept because people retire at the age of 60 and settle down in the mountains, I retired at the age of 23 or 4 and settled down in the mountains and doing something very very different because see if you if you know, do something like this now it is a bit easier because the whole world is believing that they are nomads and they work from remote areas they live in the mountains they started cafe or a hotel or a home stay everything makes sense now but back in 2009 it never really did so, 

Akshay:

Right

Pradeep:

I sort of connected with Hansraj and Marru and the kind of you know life they had so I told my friend that this is once in a lifetime opportunity. Let's stay for a while and live with them and see how they live their day-to-day lives.

Pradeep: 

That's where the idea of Healing Himalayas came into picture and I thought that why not take this education and this education comes from the beautiful community, I must take this knowledge all across the globe or especially the Himalayan region, a very fragile ecosystem that needs to be nurtured and preserved and that's where the journey of Healing Himalayas started.

Akshay:

Right. I love that this is, sort of the inspiration behind Healing Himalayas but have you always been fearless as an individual because to do something like a 15 day trek where you're just two people walking through the mountains to walk thirty five kilometers in a day to be able to live with people You have never seen before and never heard of before in a completely new environment takes a lot of guts, I can imagine so have you always been fearless?

Pradeep:

Not really, because you know I lived in a very comfortable zone so you know breaking out from it was really difficult and It takes a lot of courage to start something like this and I thought about it for a long long time it took me a few years to sort of execute the idea on ground and I was very very scared initially, but once I started doing it the process became very easy for me because I was already connected with so many people in the mountains. I had the experience of trekking I was connected to the local community. So, the process of execution became very smooth and that gave me courage. That's where I realized that it's doable and I can do it and there was a lot of motivation that I got from my friends not from my family though, but from my friends. So that so everything aligned. In just six years we were able to see so many things just not because that I was there but also because there are so many people who came out and they were looking forward to a platform such as Healing Himalayas 

Akshay:

Right? And since you talked about friends and family, I have to ask you how did your family and friends react to you suddenly venturing into the mountains, going into trekking and to moving into the mountains were there any challenges that you faced that you weren't prepared for?

Pradeep:

Um, well you know how friends are right? they like yeah yeah, do it go for it man we are there for you and they were literally there. Because see living or studying from a boarding school and studying there. I was more connected with the friend circle rather than the family because I was there with them throughout my life but the emotional connect with your family that is always there and if they are not aligned or not support you enough then it hurts you mentally not physically. 

Akshay:

Right?

Pradeep:

So, first few years were very challenging, and I didn't go home for two years I never had enough money also I somehow bought this vehicle for myself and then eventually I ended up selling it off because I started Healing Himalayas and I was not able to pay for monthly EMIs and that was the only time that I had EMIs since that that time I never you know got into a situation where I had to pay EMIs but again it took it took a couple of years for my family also to understand what I'm doing. After a couple of years when they saw that he's being reluctant about it and he's going to do it so they started believing in me eventually and in the fourth year I think my father became a part of my cleaning drives so that was one of the achievements for me.

Akshay:

Oh wow!

Pradeep: 

Biggest achievement.

Akshay:

I think that’s fantastic. I have to ask you that you mentioned that you make it a point to spend 10 to 15-days every year with a shepherd in the mountains right.

Pradeep:

Yes

Akshay:

So can you tell us about some of the fascinating people you've encountered and over the years of your treks and how interacting with them has changed your perspective on life.

Pradeep:

Hmmn… so I'll tell you the latest one, a couple of years back like because we were not able to make it to this community last year, so last to last year we went down. There's this trek called Pin Parvati trek it connects two valleys Kulu Valley, Parvati and Pin Parvati. So, on the other side it is Pin Valley and this side is Parvati valley so Pin Parvati Pass it's called and we were there to meet this shepherd who is almost 60-65 years of age and he spends about six months there at the altitude of forty five hundred meters and I thought that why not, understand from them that how exactly the environment has changed, or a shepherd's point of view for climate change.

In a very layman way and not in a very scientific manner, he said that these are my last few years that I would like to spend in the mountains and because after that my physical condition won't allow me to sort of you know trek this much and we were surprised that at this is also you're doing it and you're still trying to expand it. That's amazing because you know beyond fifty most of us we sort of give up on trekking itself and you are here spending time alone and he was alone all throughout like four to five months he stays there alone.

And, uh, his point of view was directly related to the amount of snowfall that used to happen and you know the amount of snowfall that is happening now. So if the snowfall increases you know the amount of water in the rivers increases and the strength of the nutrition value of the grass that is there that will increase you know because this grass at the altitude of two thousand meters also so why do they need to go to the altitude of five thousand meters, Because the nutrition value at that altitude is higher than the value at the two thousand meters so that's why they end up trekking so much. That's why they spent five to six months there so that the, you know their herd become, healthy enough to sustain the winters also

Akshay:

Right.

Pradeep:

But because of less snowfall the nutritional value in the grass has decreased to a significant level and then they used to cut down the wool of the sheep thrice in a year earlier, back in time in 80s 90s but in 2000 it has come down to only once in a year so it has a direct impact on their livelihood and also the whole perspective related to climate change that the amount of footfall that is increasing in the Himalayas. The anthropogenic activity increasing in the Himalayas, how exactly it is affecting the livelihood of a shepherd who's not remotely connected with these climate change activities so very, very simple point of view but very effective also very hard hitting.

Akshay:

So Pradeep, you were saying that you had documented this, is that available anywhere if any of the listeners want to check it out.

Pradeep:

Yeah, it's available. It's on YouTube also it's on my personal Instagram handle also.

Akshay:

Okay, fantastic, that sort of builds on the idea of what we were moving towards because you talk about climate change and then obviously Healing Himalayas is a way in which you're trying to preserve that ecosystem. So, I have to ask you what are the sort of uphill climbs that you had to face in order to surmount actually getting it started?

Pradeep:

Yeah, the biggest challenge was to get people out of their comfortable zones houses and you know spoil their weekends absolutely because nobody was ready for it. 

Akshay:

Right.

Pradeep:

But, to gather double digit of our volunteers, It took me almost one year. We started with one then three then four and by the end of 2016 we were eleven for a trekking route. So, first time when we went out for a trek route in Kheerganga there were eleven trekkers, and I was very happy to see that then we made it up to eleven trekkers. But yeah, getting volunteers to go out for a cleaning drive, that was one. Second, collecting that waste and bringing back to the base and then how exactly are we going to dispose It's material that can be reused, recycled but how exactly are we going to do that because the cleaning drives that are happening are in a very remote area but the recyclers are in a city, so how exactly are we going to transport it so there were real challenges like practical challenges that how exactly are we going to do it. So, I started interacting with these rag pickers, the real contributor to the cleanliness. In India especially. So, I started interacting with them that how exactly are you managing this? You collect a lot of waste and how you are you recycling it?

Then they sort of aligned with the process so whenever we used to organize a cleaning drive, I used to inform couple of rag pickers then you come and we'll give you this amazing material free of cost because it's neat and clean, segregated and most of it is packed which holds significant value in the market. 

Akshay:

Right, Right

Pradeep:

So then I collaborated with these rag pickers and they started taking the waste. And then third part was how exactly are we going to be consistent about it like do we have to do it on a weekly basis or a monthly basis. So, I decided that we'll take it slowly in the first six months I'll explore multiple locations of the mountain, the Himalayas and then see what are the challenges related to the locality and that was the way forward to me.

Akshay:

Understood. How did it grow from this initial challenge of just motivating individuals to come and help you out, to this ah wide scale you know across different cities and different areas of the Himalayas sort of this mass activity that has become today.

Pradeep: 

So I think for me, it was mainly the social media. I started exploring social media in 2016 before that I was hardly there but because of these activities I had to showcase the work that we are doing to engage more people.

Akshay:

Right

Pradeep:

So, the first and the most important aspect for us to get volunteers or visibility or engagement was social media in the first couple of years and then by the end of I think 2017 or somewhere in the beginning of 2018 couple of celebrities also saw that this guy is doing something in the mountains and Himalayas, and they sort of started reposting whatever I posted on social media and that that's how we grew.

Akshay:

I think that's absolutely fantastic! I Love the fact that you talked, about social media because my next question was going to be about social media arguably the rise of social media and blogging has definitely driven more people to holiday in the mountains and wanted to understand how has this really impacted your efforts with healing Himalayas?

Pradeep: 

So actually, this is the community who believes in trekking for a purpose is still only five to ten percent, but the community who just want to trek and explore is ninety percent so we have a long, long way to go that's for sure.

Akshay:

Right.

Pradeep:

And so as of now what I have seen is that the community that treks for a purpose is lagging behind the strength or the number of volunteers or the trekkers is way less than the community who is trekking without a purpose. There are bloggers out there who is taking people through the new destinations, but they are not showcasing the collateral damage being done by this excessive tourism so that community still needs to grow. But from where we have started and where we have reached right now we have created a lot of difference in the sense that there are people out there who never wanted to trek aimlessly but they have this platform now. I would like to you know, create more platforms who are there to guide you in a sustainable direction where you don't end up hurting Himalayas with the mountains. So yes, the community is growing but we are still lagging way way far behind. It shouldn't be you know on the day of world environment day or earth day.

Akshay:

(Laughs)

Pradeep:

It has to be inculcated in in a way that it is it, it becomes a part of your lifestyle, part of your blog, part of your YouTube videos, part of your influential videos I'm not asking everybody to leave their jobs and become a shepherd or become somebody like me. But at least take those ideas and implement those ideas wherever you are it's not about mountains, in the plains, you can take these small simple ideas and inculcate them into your lifestyle and make it more eco-friendly and make it in a way that it doesn't create any burden, For example, you know, using a reusable bottle should not become a burden it, It becomes such a part of your you know lifestyle that it is integral rather than that creates a burden on your mind that you know oh I ought to carry this bottle also now man there are so many bottles out there I can buy it from anywhere but we need to be conscious in that direction and bottle, just one example, there are thousands of examples.

Akshay:

Right, Absolutely. I think that leads us right into the final question of our conversation today. Um, which I think has been in many ways, an eye opening and enjoyable one for me I'm sure the listeners will also find it so, but I want to paint you a picture Pradeep, you're on top of Mount Everest and you have this magical loudspeaker the whole world can hear your voice right now so drawing on all that you have seen and heard and observed from your time in the mountains what message would you like to share with everyone listening?

Pradeep:

Wow man, I wish that could happen. 

Akshay:

(Laughs)

Pradeep:

See, what I'm trying to do is very simple you know, and it is as simple as picking up a bottle that has been thrown and putting it In to a dust bin. That's it! There's no Rocket Science attached to it. It is very very simple. It's all related to the attitude That's all! there's nothing beyond that and if all of us can come together and do or follow these simple ideas of life I always say that I'm a simple man trying to change the world in the most simplest way and this is the most simplest way for me.

Akshay:

Hmmn…

Pradeep:

That just if you throw something on the floor or anywhere in the mountains also in the plains also you are not just throwing a bottle or a wrapper, you're just you're also throwing your negativity in the world. And you know after consuming so much of negativity. At some point of time, I thought that I also became very negative but then I need to you know channelize that into a positive aspect also.

Akshay:

Hmmn...

Pradeep:

We just focus on ourselves in the long run we tend to you know, become successful, we take care of our family, we take care of the immediate people around us and nothing beyond that, but we need to expand our horizon. We need to expand it so that we can also take care of the wildlife out there, the water bodies out there…

Akshay:

Right

Pradeep:

…the natural resources out there. We need to expand that horizon and we need to bring back that sensitivity that we have lost along the way to become a more settled or established human being so this the one thing that I would like everybody to listen and actually implement it on ground because we are not just talking and talking and discussing and discussing we are actually implementing those ideas.

There is so much of knowledge out there. There's and so much of technical know how out there but nobody is actually using it. So, let's start using it and the simplest way to use it is to change your lifestyle. That's it.

Akshay:

Fantastic I think on that note Pradeep, thank you so much for taking the time to join us on the Go-Beyond Podcast. I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I'm sure our listeners will too.

Pradeep:

Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity and I hope this opportunity becomes like that I'm shouting from the top of the Mount Everest, and everybody is listening to me. 

~ Ends ~