Himalayas - Sojourn

Have no clue on when my tryst with Himalayas began often I wonder, was it watching Himalay khi Godh main and Himalay eak koj as a child, or was it seeing the mountains during the travel and reading about them in Geography; but it intensified with my first trip to the Trans-Himalayas. 

Himalayan ranges can be grouped into four parallel longitudinal mountain belts Outer, or Sub-Himalayas (also called the Siwalik Range); the Lesser, or Lower, Himalayas; the Great Himalaya Range (Great Himalayas); and the Tethys, or Tibetan, Himalayas. Farther north lie the Trans-Himalayas in Tibet proper.

Each mountain belts vary in width, and have distinct physiographic features and  geologic history. 

Himalayas constitutes an imposing crescent-shaped mountain range extending for over 2500 km from the south of the Indus Valley beyond Nanga Parbat in the west to Namcha Barwa in the east. The range varies in width from 350 km in the west to 150 km in the east.

The Siwaliks are sometimes considered to include the southern foothills of the Assam, Bhutan Himalayas, to the bend of the Brahmaputra River. The range proper, to which the name Siwalik (from Sanskrit, meaning “Belonging to Shiva”) was formerly restricted, is the 200 miles (320 km) of foothills in India extending from the Ganges River at Haridwar, Uttarakhand state, northwestward to the Beas River.

Gharwal Himalayas (shrines at Badrinath, Kedarnath, and Gangotri) form part of Siwalik range.

Lessee, inner, lower or middle Himalayas has an average elevation of 12,000 to 15,000 feet (3,700 to 4,500 metres). It includes portions of the western (Punjab), Kumaun, Nepal, and Assam Himalayas ranges.

Gharwal and Kumaun together form Uttarakhand or vice versa. Referring to the rich religious myths and lores associated with Uttarakhand, E. T. Atkinson has said: 'To the beliefs of the great majority of Hindus, the Kumaon (Himalaya) is what Palestine is to the Christians.

The Great Himalayas contain many of the world’s tallest peaks, including (from west to east) Nanga Parbat, Annapurna, Mount Everest, and Kanchenjunga.

The Trans-Himalayas, mainly composed of granites and volcanic rocks of Neogene and Paleogene age (i.e., about 2.6 to 65 million years old), are bounded by the Kailas (southwest), Nganglong Kangri (north), and Nyainqêntanglha (southeast) mountain ranges and by the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Zangbo) River (south). Unlike the main Himalayas, the mountains are not divided by deep river gorges and lack a definite alignment. 

These various altitudes make Himalayas formidable with varying climate, biodiversity. The Himalayas are drained by 19 major rivers, of which the Indus and the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) are the largest, each having catchment basins in the mountains of about 100,000 square miles (260,000 square km) in extent. The three great rivers of East Asia are the Salween, Mekong and Yangtze (Asia's longest). These rivers help human prosper in the Himalayas.  

Me in front of the Brahmaputra on the East Phase of Kailash.

With an elevation of more than 4,000 meters above mean sea level, the Tibetan Plateau physically dominates the geographical map of the world. The entire plateau stretches for almost 3,000 kilometers from west to east and 1,500 kilometers from south to north. It holds the Hindu Kush Himalayan Ice Sheet, considered as the largest ice mass and reservoir of fresh water apart from the two poles, hence the name ‘Third Pole’.

https://www.thetibetpost.com/en/features/44-environment-and-health/6941-tibet-the-third-pole-and-water-tower-of-asia

From west to east the Himalayas are divided broadly into three mountainous regions: western, central, and eastern and it stretch across land controlled by India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, and China. Unfortunately some have even  divided Himalayas in the name of religion and call them Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist Himalayas.  Irrespective of the man made border, Himalayas are a proof that divisions are baseless and from here you can see the rainbow 🌈 not up above but in line or even down below.

The geology of the Himalayas is a record of the most dramatic and visible creations of the immense mountain range formed by plate tectonic forces and sculpted by weathering and erosion. The Himalayas, which stretch over 2400 km between the Namcha Barwa syntaxis at the eastern end of the mountain range and the Nanga Parbat syntaxis at the western end, are the result of an ongoing orogeny — the collision of the continental crust of two tectonic plates, namely, the Indian Plate thrusting into the Eurasian Plate. The Himalaya-Tibet region supplies fresh water for more than one-fifth of the world population, and accounts for a quarter of the global sedimentary budget. Topographically, the belt has many superlatives: the highest rate of uplift (nearly 10 mm/year at Nanga Parbat), the highest relief (8848 m at Mt. Everest Chomolangma), among the highest erosion rates at 2–12 mm/yr,[4] the source of some of the greatest rivers and the highest concentration of glaciers outside of the polar regions. This last feature earned the Himalaya its name, originating from the Sanskrit for "the abode of the snow".

From south to north the Himalaya (Himalaya orogen) is divided into 4 parallel tectonostratigraphic zones and 5 thrust faults which extend across the length of Himalaya orogen. Each zone, flanked by the thrust faults on its north and south, has stratigraphy (type of rocks and their layering) different from the adjacent zones. From south to north, the zones and the major faults separating them are the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT), Subhimalaya Zone (also called Sivalik), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), Lesser Himalaya (further subdivided into the "Lesser Himalayan Sedimentary Zone (LHSZ) and the Lesser Himalayan Crystalline Nappes (LHCN)), Main Central thrust (MCT), Higher (or Greater) Himalayan crystallines (HHC), South Tibetan detachment system (STD), Tethys Himalaya (TH), and the Indus‐Tsangpo Suture Zone (ISZ).[5] North of this lies the transhimalaya in Tibet which is outside the Himalayas. Himalaya has Indo-Gangetic Plain in south, Pamir Mountains in west in Central Asia, and Hengduan Mountains in east on China–Myanmar border.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Himalayas

From east to west the Himalayas are divided into 3 regions, Eastern Himalaya, Central Himalaya, and Western Himalaya, which collectively house several nations and states.

Result of human intervention and mindless constructions effect the mountains. Mountains look mighty but they are fragile both structurally and ecosystem wise. Washouts, landslides, and hindrances during the journey are proof of entropy. Wonder if it's right being part of unwanted crowd disturbing the tranquility of the mountains. But they keep attracting me. So I decided to read about them; look for the details in youtube. 

This is how earth could have been once upon a time. 

https://youtu.be/zbtAXW-2nz0

Initially there was only 1 big mass of land called Pangaea. This in due course of time broke into two viz Gondwana and Laurasia with tethys sea in center believed to be in the Mesozoic Era. Plate tectonics continental drift theory,  Pangaea are all part of the geo history of the Himalayas. 

Himalayas are created by Indian subplate hitting on the Eurasian plate and creating the uplifted edges. As the land moved and collided, the water flew out of them and settled in low lying area.Tethys sea is distributed to various seas and oceans . Water doesn't have a form except in poles. New rivers and seas emerge over a period of time.

Journey to the Himalayas requires one to be physically and mentally fit with constant walking,  trekking experience would be an added advantage.  Goodness from Himalayas come ground up, with awareness,  clarity, endurance. Getting a feel for the terrain before the real trip is made is important. Pace yourself. Don't give up. Find your own base camp in its depths and explore from there. Ek Kadam ek Saans ...ek Kadam ek Saans is the way to Uunchai. One step forward. Breath. Both at the time of preparation and when you climb as in life. Breath. 

https://www.grida.no/resources/12806

Stretching over 3500 kilometres and across eight countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan – the Hindu Kush Himalaya are arguably the world’s most important ‘water tower’, being the source of ten of Asia’s largest rivers as well as the largest volume of ice and snow outside of the Arctic and Antarctica. Together these rivers support the drinking water, irrigation, energy, industry and sanitation needs of 1.3 billion people living in the mountains and downstream. Ten large Asian river systems originate in the HKH – the Amu Darya, Brahmaputra (Yarlungtsanpo), Ganges, Indus, Irrawaddy, Mekong (Lancang), Salween (Nu), Tarim (Dayan), Yangtse (Jinsha) and Yellow River (Huanghe). These ten river basins cover an area of 9 million km2, of which 2.8 million km2 fall in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Downstream, millions of people depend on the waters from these rivers for domestic use, agriculture, hydropower and industry. The rivers are fed by rainfall, meltwater from snow and ice, and groundwater. The amount of water from each source varies by river. It also varies depending on the location within each basin. https://www.grida.no/resources/6702

Mountains are hazardous places, even under conditions of natural climate variability. In the Hindu Kush Himalaya the key climate-related hazards were identified to be: Floods and flash floods; Landslides; Heavy snow and cold extremes; Avalanches; Wildfires; Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs); Reduced snow cover; Melting glaciers; Slow onset rising temperatures; and Ecosystems degradation.

Next in pipeline is 'Himalaya A Human History' by Ed Douglas.

Am deeply convinced that Himalaya + Indus River = Hindustan.

It was the land around this area - which was one, once upon a time that was called Hindustan and people living here were called Hindus. Just as Pakistani, or Malayali is not a religion Hindu was no religion at all.

With time, splits and fragmentation, mergers and demerges, the landscape changed, conflicts intensified and world live in a cold war, on the verge of eruption anytime from anywhere. Why? Because of mere misunderstanding, ego and complex. These stems from Individual, and you can see at all levels in every society, whether it be within family, district, state, province, county, country, Nation and International. Cause we are all one. 

Most important lesson, Himalayas have taught me is - If you don't grow, you will start going down. Nothing in life is stagnant. Keep growing, if you do not want to go down.