Tejam

If you ask a person in Pithoragarh (पिथौरागढ़) about Tejam (तेजम), they won’t factor it into a map. They will describe it with a smile: “ऊपर पहाड़ के बीच में, शांत सा गाँव है.” That is how Tejam lives now not in strains or borders, however in memory and belonging.

Set inside Dharchula (धारचूला) तहसील, Tejam is the type of vicinity in which the air feels untouched, where mornings begin with the cry of a hen and evenings near with the glow of chullha (mud range). It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t try to impress. It simply exists with a rhythm the modern world has forgotten.

Faces of Tejam: Small Numbers, Big Lives

Census data will tell you that Tejam has about 190 people and 47 homes. But numbers can’t describe the warmth in the eyes of an old woman offering you a glass of पानी (water), or the sound of children laughing while chasing each other through the terraced खेत (fields).

Here, life is not measured by clocks. It is measured by harvest cycles, by the call of cattle bells, by the school bell that gathers children from narrow lanes. What surprises many is the literacy rate almost 93%. Imagine a small mountain village where शिक्षा (education) is treated like a treasure. Men reach almost 99% literacy, women around 87%. In the hills, where every walk to school is uphill, these numbers aren’t just statistics; they are pride.

Work Tied to the Land

Most families in Tejam depend on खेती (farming) and पशुपालन (animal rearing). The fields are carved into the mountain’s side like steps. Mandua (मंडुआ), गेहूँ (wheat), आलू (potatoes), and rajma (राजमा) grow in these terraces. Women carry bundles of घास (fodder) on their heads, balanced as if they’ve been doing it for centuries which they have.

Out of nearly 190 villagers, a little more than half are workers. But steady jobs are few. Only around 23 have regular, permanent काम (work). The rest take up whatever the season offers. Harvesting, tending livestock, collecting लकड़ी (firewood), or walking down to nearby markets for day-wage labor. Yet, despite the hardship, you rarely hear complaints. People in Tejam are used to weaving their lives around the rhythm of the earth.

A Community That Holds Each Other

Tejam is governed by the उमाचिया (Umachiya) ग्राम पंचायत. But real governance happens in the courtyards. If one house needs help to bring in crops before the rain, neighbors arrive with sickles in hand. If someone is building a new home, the whole lane joins to lift stones. Decisions aren’t made in offices; they are made under the village पेड़ (tree), in a बैठक (meeting) where voices overlap, chai cups pass, and finally, the community agrees.

It is this spirit of सामूहिक जीवन (collective living) that binds Tejam.

Seasons as Teachers

Each ऋतु (season) changes the face of Tejam completely.

• In वसंत (spring), the hills catch fire with बुरांश (rhododendron) blossoms. Children collect petals to make sharbat, and the red flowers turn into a memory of sweetness.
• During गर्मी (summer), terraces shine green, goats wander lazily, and evenings are spent outside, talking until stars blanket the sky.
• When बरसात (monsoon) arrives, clouds swallow paths, and the whole village feels like it is floating in mist. Work slows, but songs inside kitchens grow louder.
• शरद (autumn) means harvest. Golden crops sway, families gather to cut and tie bundles, and laughter fills the air.
• In सर्दी (winter), frost paints the fields silver. Nights are long, families sit around अंगीठी (fireplace), telling stories of ancestors and gods.

Tejam doesn’t just live through the seasons. It learns from them. Patience from winter, joy from autumn, hope from spring.

Daily Life: Ordinary Yet Beautiful

By late afternoon, women walk back from the forests with bundles of घास tied high. Children carry small sticks of wood, and the air smells of धुआँ (smoke) as families light their chullah for the evening meal. The menu is simple rice, daal, leafy सब्ज़ी, sometimes chutney of भांग (hemp seeds). But food here tastes richer because it is shared, because it comes from the same soil they walk barefoot on.

Strangers aren’t treated like outsiders. If you pass through Tejam, someone will stop you, ask where you’re coming from, and almost always offer chai. That quiet hospitality is the identity of Uttarakhand’s villages, and Tejam holds it close.

Festivals That Bind

In Tejam, festivals are more than rituals. They are the glue of the community.

During Holi, the air doesn’t just fill with रंग (colors). Songs echo in raagas that have been sung for centuries. Diwali isn’t only about lights it’s about gathering, telling stories, and remembering those who came before. Small local देवता (deities) are worshipped with offerings of grains and flowers, processions moving from one hamlet to another, carrying blessings in quiet dignity.

Faith here is woven into life. You see it when someone bows before stepping into a खेत, when the first roti is always given to a गाय (cow), when a diya is lit in the evening, even if there is no one to see it.

Why Tejam Stays With You

What makes Tejam unforgettable is not its size, not its numbers, but its silence. A silence that teaches you more than books do. Here, you spot that improvement doesn’t always mean concrete. It can also imply balance among guy and soil, between work and rest, between culture and the next day.

If you visit, you won’t find accommodations or markets. You’ll find warm temperatures in a villager’s kitchen, stories advised by using elders, and a reminder that happiness frequently hides in small places. Tejam doesn’t shout for attention. It whispers, and if you’re quiet enough, you’ll pay attention to it.

Closing Thought

Tejam (तेजम) isn't always a vacation spot. It is a lesson written in मिट्टी (soil), हवा (air), and पानी (water). It suggests that even the smallest villages bring information that the towns have forgotten. For its people, Tejam is home. For anyone who walks its paths, it becomes a memory one that refuses to leave.