Over the high passes

Christina Noble was fascinated by the self-sufficient migratory lives of the Gaddi, a shepherding people of Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayas. For a year she travelled with them, following the flocks on their traditional route and camping with them at their grazing grounds. Her journey took her through some of the most dramatic terrain in the world: from the plains of the Punjab up and over the high, snowy passes into Lahoul; through the forested Kulu valley to the broad, well-watered terraces of Kangra, in the shadow of mountains towering 13,000 feet above. It took her from spring through to winter, through all the seasonal changes to landscape and lifestyle. And it took her into the midst of the people who had so irresistibly captured her imagination. As she travelled she began to realise why the Gaddi have survived; how their sense of themselves has developed and adapted through the centuries to meet the pressures of today. She came to understand the cultural structure underlying their lives; their history, myths and customs. She made friends with individual characters, and hospitable Deori in Gadderan became her village home. With unsentimental affection, Christina Noble describes the people and places that have become part of her own personal mythology. Illustrated with her evocative photographs, "Over the High Passes" is warmly written, beautifully observed: an intensely vivid and detailed insight into a way of life that is at once harsh and romantic - and unique.