Mark has made storming progress in the last couple of days and is now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, having crossed from the Indian Punjab into the state of Haryana yesterday and from there into Uttar Pradesh today....
He is now about 50km west of the Ganges.
As the relief map of the country shows, the plain of the Ganges dominates the north of India, separating the Deccan plateau to the south from the Himalayas to the north. The combined valleys of the Indus in Pakistan and the Ganges in India are often referred to as the Indo-Gangetic plain. The lowlying watershed between the two basins and across which Mark has been cycling since leaving Pakistan only rises to 300m and is hardly noticeable in the landscape.
As the relief map of the country shows, the plain of the Ganges dominates the north of India, separating the Deccan plateau to the south from the Himalayas to the north. The combined valleys of the Indus in Pakistan and the Ganges in India are often referred to as the Indo-Gangetic plain. The lowlying watershed between the two basins and across which Mark has been cycling since leaving Pakistan only rises to 300m and is hardly noticeable in the landscape. 
The climate in this part of India is a classic monsoon climate as shown by the climate graph on the left which is for New Delhi. (rainfall on the left, temperature on the right and months along the bottom!) As you can see, it is a climate which is dry for most of the year (when winds are blowing south from the cold interior of Asia) and very wet for a few short months (when temperatures in central Asia soar, causing air there to rise and wet winds from the Indian Ocean to be drawn in across India). The hottest time of the year is just before the monsoon breaks. October is probably the ideal time for Mark as temperatures will be dropping slightly just now and humidity levels will also be falling.
This morning Mark was journeying through the farmed landscape of Haryana (the grey line is not a road but a dry river course which presumeably only carries water duing the monsoon season).....
The view from closer in reveals more features of the human landscape of this part of India...
With hardly any land uncultivated, farming is clearly very intensive. According to Wikipedia "despite recent industrial development, Haryana is primarily an agricultural state. About 70% of residents are engaged in agriculture. Wheat and rice are the major crops. Haryana is self-sufficient in food production and the second largest contributor to India's central pool of food grains. About 86% of the area is arable, and of that 96% is cultivated. About 75% of the area is irrigated." Because temperatures remain high all year round, where there is irrigation, it is possible to grow crops all year. Indian farmers identify two growing seasons - the kharif which coincides with the monsoon and during which rice can be grown and the rabi or dry season when wheat is grown.
The pattern of rural settlement is significantly different from what we are used to in the UK. Here we have dispersed farmsteads while in this part of India, in common with many other parts of the world, settlement is nucleated and farmers will travel daily from their villages to work in the fields.
At one point today Mark passed close to the town of Karnal. A search on Flickr produced a few interesting photos.... 
At one point today Mark passed close to the town of Karnal. A search on Flickr produced a few interesting photos.... 
Apparently dairy farming is also an essential part 
of the rural economy in this part of India and the National Dairy Research Institute (being visited here by a group of female dairy farmers!) is located in Karnal. The strangest photo of all, however, is this litter bin in Karnal . Now, why would they make a litter bin look like a penguin....?!
of the rural economy in this part of India and the National Dairy Research Institute (being visited here by a group of female dairy farmers!) is located in Karnal. The strangest photo of all, however, is this litter bin in Karnal . Now, why would they make a litter bin look like a penguin....?! 
No comments:
Post a Comment