Spiti’s richest village
Morang was a hamlet of just five homes, but it was known far and wide not just in Spiti valley but even beyond. Thanks to Meme Chukpo. Meme Chukpo was the smartest trader of the region. He was also the richest man in the valley. He could sniff out an opportunity to make money where most others saw none. He sold yaks to the Changpas and the best Chumurti horses at the Lavi mela in Rampur Bushahr. He had traveled far and wide to trade. But Meme Chukpo had one festering fear. He was weary of people who came to his door seeking financial aid. Over time, he had devised an ingenious way to deal with such requests.
Each time he returned from a trip, he would look up to the sky. Now, if you have ever been to Spiti the first thing you might notice is how few clouds there are on most sunny days. There is barely a cloud or two in the bright blue sky. Meme Chukpo made it a habit to look for such lonely clouds. He would keep some money for domestic use and then dig a hole in the ground under the cloud and hide the rest of his money there. Surely this was the safest place to hide his treasures, and the easiest place to find it if he ever needed it. So busy had he been toiling away making money that he’d hardly ever noticed the magnificence of the rising sun, or the song of a whistling thrush, of flowers that flushed the valley in spring, or that of the slow movement of clouds in the sky.
Each time someone walked up to him seeking financial aid, Meme Chukpo would smile and say ‘I would have helped had there been some money in the house. I’m sorry, but I have none.’ He felt glad that he wasn’t lying after all. All his treasures were buried away under the cloud.
Meme Chukpo went through life working hard. Fortunately, he never faced a time when he had to fall back on the money he had buried under the cloud. But many years after he passed away some children accidentally found a pot of money in a pit under the ground. It was probably one of many pits that Meme Chukpo had dug around Morang.
Some people still dig the soil around Morang hoping that they might find one of Meme Chukpo’s treasures that he’d buried under a cloud.
Meme is a title used by everyone to refer to their grandpa or an elderly man in Spiti.
Changpa is a term used to refer to the residents of Changthang – a region in the northern part of Tibet and the eastern part of Ladakh. Changpa are a nomadic community known to rear goats that produce the famous pashmina. They have had ancient trade links with people of Spiti.
Chumurti horse is a local breed of horse from Spiti. It is known to be a very sturdy variety, especially adapted for high altitudes.
Lavi mela is an annual trade fair that has been held in Rampur-Bushahr for many centuries. Trade fairs were and still are very popular across Himachal Pradesh.