Our Farmers - Our Backbone

Ashish Negi - Farmer and Founder at Kayang

He has been an apple grower for over 8 years now and after pursuing his degree in Engineering from PEC, Chandigarh and accomplishing his corporate goals with multi-national companies, he decided to return to his homeland in Kinnaur - where he started working at his family owned apple orchards.

While working as a farmer and with the experience of being a vendor for Udaan, FarmX, and Baramati, he realized that it was now imperative to introduce the consumers to their produce directly. His inception project, Kayang comes with a mission to deliver exotic Himalayan treasures cultivated through their traditional methods.

In the interests of speaking a common language of all the farmers in the region and as a founder of Kayang, he wants to utilize technology & social platforms to educate consumers about A to Z of growing apples in India and also why the local produce from their regions should get a chance. He wants to engage farmers at the grassroot level to bring fresh produce and deliver directly to the households across the country while rightfully giving farmers the benefit of this process.

When not working, Ashish loves to pursue his passion for music and has rocked a decade as lead vocalist for a Heavy Metal band 'Wasted Soul'. He likes to collaborate and work on various underground projects with other musicians even today, while he still has a dream of reuniting his band someday and play that classic metal set for the headbangers.

Our Farmers - Our Backbone

Sneh Negi - Farmer and Co-Founder at Kayang

She was brought up in Sangla region of Kinnaur district and knows the inside-out of apple cultivation. Mother of two, she supervises the harvest of her own orchards, works tirelessly on the operations related to Kayang and also provides the creative insights and content for the same.

Before coming back to Kinnaur to work on her dream project with Ashish, she used to work at Kolkata with a renowned chain of skin clinics - Sutvacha. She has been deploying her operational skills quite efficiently at Kayang - which she had acquired while working with her former employers.

She often longs to meet her friends at kolkata and Chandigarh and finds time to see them as well, even though for most part of the year she remains hog-tied with her responsibilities here. Her 4 cows and 1 little male calf on the other hand occupy a lot of her time and are demanding babies she says, but she takes care of them like her own family.

Although she remains engrossed with a pile of daily chores and barely can find time to pursue her other interests, she likes to read books before sleeping and does occasional baking for her loved ones. It is her dream to open a world class bakery and save enough money so as to take her family on a world tour someday.

Our Farmers - Our Backbone

Narender Negi and Rameshwar Negi
Farmers and more

This is an exceptionally progressive duo. The younger brother Rameshwar Negi other than taking care of his family orchards, is an ace mountaineer and has led various expeditions across Himalayas. Back in 2002 with few other mountaineering enthusiasts, he laid the foundation of an eco-tourism and expedition company - 'Dare the Himalayas' which hitherto has accomplished a lot. The said organisation has not only worked to instill the concept of eco-consciousness amongst travellers, but has also provided a great platform for the local youth to channelise their exuberance.

The elder brother Narender Negi is a man with dynamic personality and is usually referred to as Mr. dependable by locals of the valley. He has devoted a great part of his life towards the upliftment of his people and is still a social activist other than being a dedicated farmer. He was also elected as 'Pradhaan' of the Yangpa-I panchayat in Bhaba valley, which evidently remains the most progressive term of a panchayat president in this area so far.

Together these brothers aspire to take their valley forward in terms of education and connectivity and to this effect they had also established a school in the valley a few years ago, which unfortunately had to be closed down due to Covid crises. However, nothing has been able to dissuade them from their vision and they still continue to arduously work in the best interests of the people and pristine environment of their valley. 

Our Farmers - Our Backbone

Shri Hira Singh - farmer

He is an apple orchardist from Kafnu Village in Bhabha Valley. Hira ji is one of the last surviving people of his generation and is aged about 85 years.

He likes to spend most of his time strolling around the valley, the village and his orchards. He is speech and hearing impaired, yet he greets everyone with a kind smile on his face.

Due to old age, he is unable to do much physical work nowadays, but his family continues to take care of his orchards. He has a grandson namely Mr. Vijesh Negi, who is the driving force behind all the work that goes into keeping their orchards in best possible condition now. Hira Ji's family attest to the fact that he feels very connected to his farms and has always treated them like a part of his family.

He is highly respected around the village. People of the valley who know him personally claim that Hira Ji is quite a smart man and has a knack of knowing suitable ways to tackle unforseen circumstances.

With a Himachali Cap over his head and a genuine smile on his face, he is the epitome of what we may call the Kinnauri Spirit.

Our Farmers - Our Backbone

Padam Dass - Farmer 

Padam Ji is aged about 68 years and is a resident of Kafnoo village in Bhabha Valley. He is married to Shrimati Baradrjin and has four children, two boys and two girls. Padam ji has served in the electricity board in past and has retired from the department since quite a while now.

He reminisces of a past that remained burdened with struggles and hardships, but he finds solace in the fact that, he gets to spend a lot of time with his family and lead a peaceful village life. He has a few Apple Orchards in the valley and devotes a lot of time to take utmost care of them. He also likes to spend time with his cattle and takes them out for grazing in the valley regularly.

His residence is located adjacent to the scenic Kafnu lake and view from his home is truly enchanting. Kafnu village is a tourist attraction as it is the starting point of the Pin Bhabha Pass and sees a lot of footfall each year. This has led Shri Padam Ji to develop a keen interest in interacting with visitors from all around the globe.

He believes that he has some unclaimed ancestral land in the valley, but feels impeded due to his old age to take any significant action in this matter.
Although he has seen significant changes in the valley over these years, he still believes that the essence of village life somewhat remains the same here.