Om Narayan's Papad at 7000 Feet.

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A man of modest bearing, Om Narayan hails from Bihar. Growing up without either of his parents around and with his differently abled left hand, Om is a self-made man. He was to marry this lady back in his village, who, anticipating fiscal uncertainties accruing to his hand, abandoned him weeks before the knot could be tied. Disoriented and alienated, Om decided to escape the humiliation by leaving behind the punishing topography of the northern Indian cow-belt altogether. Heading upwards till he reached his elder sister’s at Dharamshala some eight years back, Om decided to never look back. Void of the warmth of parental love, lack of agricultural land, humiliation and imposed solitude made escape the only path for Om.


Struggling with the cursing eye of time, Om sailed through to finally see the day as a successful entrepreneur weaving a crispy tapestry at 7000 feet above sea level. Holding on to a cane basket, a blue plastic bucket and a never ending supply of self determination as fixed assets, Om Narayan now sells crispy papad and tongue-tickling chana to adventurers and wanderers visiting the Bhagsu Fall. Putting up in Dharamshala with his sister, Om travels some 7 kms uphill every single day to his workplace situated on the lap of nature. Amongst the essential paraphernalia that forms his workplace are the stone extension by the Bhagsu Fall upon which he sits on his comfortable haunches and a grassy moist support to rest his back.

Crunching on his hams, Om looks down the waterfall as he gets acclimatized with me and goes on.
“Paise bohot zyada nahi hai bauji par khush hu. Mausam theek hai aur bohot saare naye log dekhta hu har din. Abb wapas nahi jaana”.
His work hours, he says, begins at around 12 noon and stretches till the last rambler walks down the concretized pavement on his/her way back from the mouth of the Bhagsu Fall. Trading on these non-standardized snacks, he says is difficult not because his’ lacks in quality but because of the indifference of the hygiene-conscious, branded-chips-eating, class-conscious tourists. Selling at a unit price of INR 5 for a papad and a plate of sprouts at INR 10 he bags some 400 INR each day.


Headfirst, climbing up with all physical effort, I am sure many of us are going to miss Om Narayan’s establishment at a wink of an eye. But if you are to be fortunate enough to stop for a photograph at the considerably flat terrain near his establishment you might as well like to munch upon Om’s crispy snack. Few steps ahead of The Smile Café, on the way to the mouth of the Bhagsu Fall, is Om Narayan’s mobile joint, where I insist, you must stop on your trip to Bhagsu Fall. If not for a gastronomic pause, then maybe for a momentary contemplation and a lesson on entrepreneurship and self-determination.


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