From working in the kitchen, to breaking rocks, this week’s view of Himachal Pradesh will take a look at men at work, and in one or two instances, at play.

In the village of Giabong in the Ropa Valley there’s a small kitchen or two that produce some fine eats. The first two photographs show a man making some Indian bread for breakfast, and then a bowl of thukpa that was made in the afternoon. Thukpa is a noodle soup that has origins in Tibet.

Carpet making is a huge industry in South Asia and one in which someone can earn a living after only a few months of training. Here a man is weaving carpets in his home.

Nepali laborers are common throughout the Himalayan countries. Due to tough economic conditions in Nepal they work as laborers in the fields and on the roadways through the Himalaya. This is the portrait of a Nepali man with his tools. He was working in the fields in the village of Ropa in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Carrom is one of the most popular games in South Asia and you can find games from Pakistan and North India to Kathmandu in Nepal. It involves hitting colored game pieces into pockets in a manner similar to billiards, but it’s played on a 29-by-29-inch board rather than a full-sized table. Also, fingers rather than a cue stick are used to flick a striker piece, which is similar to a cue ball.

In this image, villagers from Nesang in Himachal Pradesh play a game of carrom. The young men have some occasional work tasks, such as carrying cut barely from the fields, but from my observations many an hour are spent around the carrom table.

The breaking of rocks is one of the most common jobs for laborers as they’re used in the making of roads and for general construction material. A laborer breaking rocks will earn about 120 India rupees per day, which is just over $3US.

In the following image a man breaks rocks in the village of Nesang, Himachal Pradesh.

Along with Nepali laborers, laborers from the Indian state of Bihar are also found working in the Himalaya during the summer months. As the winter snows begin to fall they return to the plains. In this next image a Bihari laborer looks from a window in the village of Nesang.

Following long days of work, comes a little bit of relaxation. This group of men were gathered in the community center of the village of Nesang to celebrate the arrangement of marriage of one man’s daughter. They are drinking a local whiskey made from barley.



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