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The Himalayas stretch across the heart of Asia, running for 2,500 km from Afghanistan to Burma and from the plains of the Indian Punjab as far north as China. They pass through the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, where waters flowing from what the locals call the "hills" have carved out the Kangra valley. Here, the potato has found another of its many homes.
It is May in the Kangra Valley and the harvest season is drawing to a close. The intense heat of India’s summer, when temperatures can soar above 40°C, forces farmers to start work early in the day. Just harvested potatoes are being piled in shaded storehouses.The women help with the harvest and storage, weed the fields, and cook meals for the farmers and laborers. Engaged in their daily chores, they sing to their gods. In every act carried out in the course of their lives, the sacred is bound up with the mundane.
The image of the god Ganesha, for example, famed as a guardian, adorns the gateways to temples and homes. Legend says that one day, while the goddess Parvati bathed, she made a figure of a man from a mixture of dust and the oil from the skin of her leg. She gave the figure life, called it Ganesha, and ordered it to guard the doorway to her bath. Unexpectedly, her husband Shiva - the god who gives all and destroys all - returned home to find this strange figure preventing him from entering his wife’s chambers. Enraged, Shiva cut off the creature's head. Later, when he realized his mistake, he sent his messengers to bring back the head of the first living being they found. They returned with an elephant's head, which Shiva placed on Ganesha's neck, breathing life back into him once more.
Ganesha's courage in challenging Shiva and his tenacity in protecting Parvati were widely praised, and to this day he is honored as a god. His image not only guards houses and temples; farmers keep their potatoes under the protection of his gaze, waiting until the season is over and prices rise. Then their potatoes are sold to merchants and transported in trucks decorated with the images of the gods Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu to the refrigerated warehouses of Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. From there, they will be distributed to help feed India’s more than 1 billion people.
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