Bayal Village, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh

As I sat close to his weather beaten countenance and a characteristic odour of buffaloes emanating from him, Alam Ali ponders a question put by me “where did your forefathers come from?” The answer probably lies between the lines on his face.

Gujjars - gypsy herdsmen living off livestock and their products - have existed in north India and Pakistan since millennia. With buffaloes their mainstay, and a vast geographical spread, a substantial percentage of milk comes from their deras (or camp).