Chandra Prakash Kala was born and brought up in Sumadi - one of the popular villages of Garhwal in Uttarakhand state of India. He studied Life Sciences at the HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar before doing his PhD on the 'Ecology and conservation of the Valley of Flowers National Park' at the Forest Research Institute (Deemed University), Dehradun. He has published over one hundred seventy five articles and half a dozen of books, which include "The Valley of Flowers: Myth and Reality" and "Medicinal Plants of Indian Trans-Himalaya" His decade long strenuous study of the 'Valley of Flowers' laid the foundation stone for tagging it in the list of World Heritage Sites. He served many institutions, including the Wildlife Institute of India, the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, the National Medicinal Plants Board, and the Indian Institute of Forest Management with various capacities. In two decades of wandering, he visited widely across innumerable valleys and mountains of the Himalaya and the Alps.

Rese�a del editor

Being blessed to wander in some of the most fascinating hills and valleys of nature, I have been endeavoring for long to put these stories together. I offer here the elements that appeal most to me during my wanderings in the jungles, meadows, villages and towns, especially in the abode of gods and goddesses – the Himalaya.

I pick up one of the tales as a title of the book 'Nanda's Neelkanth'. Neelkanth is one of the several names of the Lord Shiva, the Hindu god. Many snow-clad peaks of the Himalaya are named after the gods and goddesses and Neelkanth is one of the most magnificent peaks. It attracts every human soul not only to its brilliant hues and majestic snowy peak but Neelkanth, as the Mahadev, also remains the source of spirituality for billions. Likewise, His consort, Nanda who is adorned with innumerable names including the Gaura, has been venerated in the form of beautiful mountains of the Himalaya. The quiet and unquiet woods, the elusive and elegant wildlife, the people and their culture and their struggle for living are the other elements in this bouquet of experiences.

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