Coneheads

Pinecones might not be the first thing one would expect to find in India, but here in the mountains of Mussoorie, the hills are covered with white pine trees. As a way to be a more self-sustaining community, and to build a little camaraderie amongst the EMI team, they go out twice a year to search for pinecones. They use the pinecones in the winter as firestarters to help heat their buildings.

Because Oaklands (the main EMI building) is on the top of a mountain, we began hiking down the back slope into the pine forest. It took only 20 minutes to get down with empty packs, but about an hour to get back up with backpacks overflowing with cones.

So if you want to get a picture of what pinecone hunting looks like, imagine a sheer mountain cliff with pastors, elders, architects and engineers holding on to a few puny blades of grass while they stretch and contort their bodies trying to reach a pinecone on the edge of a precipice. Once the pinecone is acquired it is then sent in a relay to other team members positioned in similarly dangerous locations along the windswept ledges.

In a land where there are no trashcans but the ground and the smog is generated at an alarming rate, it is great to see the small steps that EMI takes to be more self-sustaining and eco-friendly.

And as always throughout this trip, it was great to not just be outdoors, but to spend time with the entire EMI team and participate in their everyday activities.
[Dave Terpstra]