Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tribal Heritage Museum- 2700 ft above Sea Level





Mr.S.S.Pangti the retired school teacher was a man of principles and values. Climbing uphill to his house about half a km from the mainroad made me breathless,we were 2700 ft above sea level at village Darkot, District Pithoragarh, but it was worth reaching.This place was only 50 Kms away from the famous Milam glaciers and from the tibet border.To our surprise we found an elderly man perched at the corner of a building structure under construction, giving instructions to masons.

He had a soft voice but his tenacity to sit there and supervise the work at ripe age of 73yrs was worth appreciating.His ardous interest in preserving the Kumoan culture has germinated into an idea for establishing a tribal heritage museum.

Several artefacts were being collected from deserted village, especially the last remains of beautiful wooden carvings used in constructing the Kumoan home that protects from freezing temperatures.

His interest in teaching has remained a lifelong passion.....With an education upto class eight he taught children of tibetan refugees in early 60's.......later on completed graduation and also pursued a Phd...... finally retiring as a history lecturer.

He spoke at length about how his grandfather used to go to Tibet for trading and why his tribe has chosen to stay near Munsyaari. He went on to describe further about the Rajis tribe found in Dharchula at Pithoragarh to the Bhaichung tribes settled in north east.

S.S.Pangti is a highly regarded man in Kumoan who has written few books and also narrated a poem to Anjali as how he would like to be remembered by people on his demise. I and Anjali after meeting him came out truly inspired.

Here's a man truly working for giving back to his people creating knowledge base, trying to preserve the fast losing culture of Kumoan habitat- Its a Mission that he is pursuing with a passion

1 comment:

  1. Hi, I am a student of mba at university of petroleum and energy studies, dehradun.I am starting a firm to promote Indian people and culture. I wanted to know how can I reach Mr pangety. any contact no. or e-mail ID.
    My contact number is 09557552206,
    E-mail ID: sumitsingh08@yahoo.co.in
    Please help me in this endeavor.

    ReplyDelete