“Bas itna hi dig kiya, itne mein kya hoga? Aur deep dig karo!” said Nawang, our uber-cool guide. The sun was killing us with its harsh rays and lifting the 16 kg pickaxe and shovel was just adding to it. But this didn’t deter Nawang from commanding us. For him and his village people working at the field under the sun is an everyday job, but not for us, “The so-called city folks.” Frankly, at an altitude of 4270 meters, doing anything is a task, and here we are talking about digging up trenches. I, along with 8 volunteers from across the globe was part of Spiti Ecosphere’s Trek and Volunteer Programme. Spiti Ecosphere is a social enterprise that has been involved in creating sustainable livelihoods for the local community with a focus on nature and culture conservation. Our basic task was to build a rainwater/snow harvesting system (you can read more about it here) by digging-up trenches alongside a hill outside a village called Demul. These trenches are important for the village because Spiti …