Himalayan Gold

   Not Summer, nor winter or monsoon, my favorite season is spring. But not because during the period the heavens turn azure or the winter affected greenery gets revitalized, or the valley gets carpeted with spectacular colorful flora. But because my family gets to earn a lot during this phase. And by a lot I mean, the earnings from just May and June exceeds what we earn during the rest of the ten months.

   For us and our fellow villagers, spring is the caterpillar fungus season. It’s like a picnic for us, not a one day or an overnight one, but one lasting until the first showers of monsoon hit us. During this period, the whole village camps in the valley. The families decide among themselves, who is going to stay behind to cook, and who will spend the entire day looking for the fungus. Basically, some larvae are infected by the fungi, which grows inside its body, and later the parasite forces itself out of the caterpillar’s head and appears on the surface as a small twig.

   Clear vision, sharp focus, and lots of patience are the keys to become an efficient collector. To look for it one has to kneel down or lay down and proceed with focused gaze scanning the area around. For me it’s difficult to find one amidst a sea of alpine vegetation but I’m learning. For those who find it, it’s like winning a lottery. If we are lucky, we may find ten to twenty of these fungi in a single day.

   There is a lot of demand for these caterpillar fungus in the global market, especially in China where it’s used as an ingredient for various traditional medicines. Their ever-increasing price has made it a lucrative source of income for us thereby transforming our socio-economic status to a great extent. Because of the previous year profits earned my father was able to send my two brothers to a school in the nearby city. And he has promised to send me too, two years later. I hope this year’s spring turns out to be more profitable than the previous one.