Criers In The Wilderness

Scanning the newsstands in Darjeeling, Dehra Dun or Kathmandu, one would not know it, but there exists a variety of periodicals devoted exclusively to the Himalaya. Some target the grassroots, others the urban elite; some are meant for academics, others for tourists and mountaineers. A few are in English, the rest in the vernacular. Some do original reporting while others favour armchair analysis.

Most periodicals available in the hill towns are published in the plains for a plains audience. Thus, even articles about the hilis are simplified and lose their specificity. The Himalaya is not a market to attract publishing moguls from Delhi or Calcutta, even though there would seem to be enough to write about 35 million mountain people and their cultural, economic and physical environment.
The problems that confront editors of mountain magazines come with the territory. Unreliable mail and difficult terrain make distribution   difficult.