It's the apple-grower’s Chandigarh, a country cousin of Le Corbusier’s modern city. But while Corbusier’s Chandigarh is much-feted the world over for its minimalist architecture, Himachal’s Chandigarh doesn’t ring a bell beyond Spiti.But slowly, it’s flowering into its own, thanks to the hard working tribals who are scripting an economic revolution by using cold desert farming techniques to grow apples at a height of 13,000 feet.Chandigarh is a quaint little hamlet, about 65 km from Kaza, the sub-divisional headquarters of Spiti, with just 21 families, all survivors of the Kinnaur earthquake who were relocated here from Kaurik in 1975. Only three decades of history and today Chandigarh — no one knows who gave it this name — is a model of self-sustained growth and prosperity.“We grow all varieties of apples, mostly Royal Delicious. In October, you will find the air filled with the fragrance of cherry red apples,” says Norbu, an orchardist. Last year, the area supplied 8,000 to 12,000 boxes of apples, and most of these were sold direct from the orchards to a leading corporate—the Adani group. This year, too, the local residents are looking forward to a healthy bounty. But the hamlet wasn’t always so prosperous. The first settlers in 1975 were allotted only a barren piece of land. The heavy snowfall kept the entire belt cut off for almost six months. The hardy settlers made the wasteland cultivable with sheer sweat and toil. They began by growing barley before shifting to vegetables and potatoes. “The fields were not evenly laid. But these people used small stones and broken rocks as retaining walls and resorted to landfills to start apple plantations,” recalls Phungchug Rai, a former MLA and minister, whose father pioneered apple orchards here. With the rains very rare, most plants are watered manually, says Rai. Pema, a 43-year-old tribal woman, says the prosperity is quite new. “Nearly 10 years ago, we began to harvest profits. Before that it was a struggle for survival.”Today, the signs of well-being are scattered everywhere—in the houses of the tribals, their vehicles and even their clothes. The girls like to dress up in jeans while the boys cut a dashing figure on bikes. Just like in Corbusier’s Chandigarh.
