A Woman with Rocklike Determination
This interview transcript was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-70, May-Jun 1992)
Vimla Bahuguna is not known to the world outside as is her husband Sunderlal Bahuguna. This, she told me, is the first ever interview she has given at length. This frail and diminutive woman has been a full partner with her husband in the Chipko movement and she asserts it with the calm confidence of someone who has selflessly given her life to the cause of her people. Every line on her face speaks of her compassion and the mammoth struggle that her life has been.
Madhu Koshwar
How did you and Bahugunaji come together in this field ? Bahugunaji and I come from nearby villages. I was born in Malideval in Tehri. He was born in a nearby village called Sirai—the villages are two kilometers apart. He was born in 1927 and I was born in 1932.
My father worked in the Forest Department. We spent a lot of time amidst nature in dense forests. I got my love of nature from these early experiences in the forests. Tehri was then aprincely state. We hadnoproper provision for educating girls. Even for the boys there was just one intercollege in the district. For, the girls there was just one school that went up to eighth standard…