India: Vertigo at the End of the World | Deadliest Roads

Tenzin is a farmer from Himachal Pradesh, in the Himalayas. He lives in a remote village in the Pangi Valley, 3,000 meters above sea level, where roads and telephone network have not yet arrived. To sell his peas, his only source of income, he must walk, with his mules, 24 kilometers to reach a track where a truck awaits him which will take him, on an unpaved and vertiginous road, to the first town. . Despite the danger and a vehicle whose steering is half faulty, he has to go quickly so that his peas keep all their freshness and sell at a good price. The slightest driving error can be fatal. The farmer does not complain. “Before,” he said, “people used to come on foot to stock up on wheat and rice twice a year. » When he crosses a feared pass, the peasant stops at the temple to pray to the goddess Durga. “At each of my visits, I ask him for his protection. Thanks to it, I avoid accidents and I have success in my business. » The Indian government has undertaken to pave the road, but the workers who work with archaic means only progress 2 kilometers per year. Directors: Frédéric ELHORGA; Antonin MARCEL