Recontextualising Migration Journeys: The Temporal Experience of the Balti of Uttarakhand and Shimla

The Balti people (Scheduled Tribes of India, 1989) are neither refugees nor in exile. They have crossed borders permanently and live on both sides of India and Pakistan after the partition. The political histories of both of these areas, Ladakh and Baltistan, were fused together till 1947, the Ladakh Wazarat being divided into Leh, Kargil and Skardo districts, Leh being the capital of Ladakh. This article is an ethnographic case study of the Baltis living in Uttarakhand and Shimla. This article looks at their migration journeys and focuses on the cross-dwellers who came to India from Baltistan, Skardu and Khaplu, during the colonial period, and stayed on after the partition of India in 1947. The field of migration is the locational geography into which the migrant population has settled down over the years. In the context of Balti migration into India, this field of migration differs according to the period of migration. The field of Balti migration manifests two broad trends—an expanded field of migration and a shrunk field of migration. The findings lead us to see three patterns in the process of Balti migration—a seasonal migration, a chain migration and an initial male migration. This has been traced in the article in the context of Balti migration.