We have told you about some fascinating places in the world. There’s Cameron Park in the USA, where everyone owns and travels by aeroplane; Whittier in Alaska, where the whole town lives in the same building; and then there’s Svalbard, where the Sun doesn’t set for 5 months and doesn’t rise for 3 months in a year. (insert ISH News links) If you missed watching these videos, you can watch them here! Today, I’m going to tell you about one of the ‘Ghost Villages’ of India. No, no. Ghost villages don’t mean haunted villages but refer to the areas, municipalities, and zillas that have been abandoned by their residents leaving them completely empty or with extremely small populations. Gadtir is a village located in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. It shares borders with China & Nepal and is a ghost village. There was a time when Gadtir had a sizable population and residents depended on agriculture as their source of income but the current land records of Pithoragarh’s revenue department show its population in tens (very few). According to the reports, Gadtir lacks road connectivity, employment opportunities, and proper health & education facilities. This caused its residents to migrate to other parts of Uttarakhand and India in search of better social and economic opportunities. Because of this mass migration, Gadtir is almost completely empty. Its agricultural lands have become barren and wild animals like leopards can often be found roaming around in the streets. While there are several ghost villages in India, Gadtir recently became globally famous as India’s National Award-winning filmmaker Vinod Kapri made a movie titled ‘Pyre’ on the village. It premiered at the annual & prestigious Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival on 19th November 2024 in Tallinn, Estonia. The movie is inspired by a true story. It showcases the poignant love story of an elderly couple in their 80s being affected by the villagers’ mass migration and the plight of old people left behind in the deserted houses of the deserted village. It stars 2 locals, a retired Indian Army soldier - Padam Singh, and a widowed female farmer - Hira Devi, neither of whom had ever acted before. Pyre was the sole Indian entry in the ‘Official Competition’ category at the festival. The Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival had invited both Padam Singh & Hira Devi to Estonia to attend the full festival & the premier of their own movie. Producer Kapri had made all travel, stay, and clothing arrangements for them. However, Hira Devi denied the invitation because she was worried about who would take care of her only companion, her buffalo in her absence. Widowed and alone Hira Devi loves her buffalo and considers her buffalo her primary companion. Her daughter is married and lives in Barani village, while her two sons work in Delhi. She was initially hesitant to take up the role because the filming location was 6 km away from her home, and she didn’t want to leave her buffalo alone for too long. She finally agreed after her elder son, who knew Producer Kapri, convinced her to play the role. Similarly, Producer Kapri again convinced Hira Devi to attend the festival by requesting her daughter to live at Hira’s house and take care of her Buffalo in Hira’s absence. Producer Kapri, Hira Devi, and Padam Singh attended the festival and premier of ‘Pyre’. Hira Devi was happy knowing that her only companion was being taken care of in her absence.

Tags

• buffalo
• ghost village
• uttarakhand

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