KumaonKhand: The Bend in the Road That Led Back Home

Jul 28, 2024

Some journeys begin with a map, and some begin with a heartbeat. KumaonKhand is a story of the latter — of a young man who followed the unconventional bend in the road simply because his spirit told him it was time to come home.

Pavitra Joshi calls it reverse migration. But in truth, it was a return to the source.

He grew up in Almora, in the quiet grandeur of the Kumaon Himalayas — a landscape that shapes you without ever announcing its influence. The mountains teach you resilience, slowness, humility, and the rhythm of nature. But like many dreamers, Pavitra ventured outward first.

An ENFP — the same personality type as Robin Williams, his hero from Dead Poets Society — he carried the same spark: a love for adventure, an instinct for storytelling, and an almost sacred belief in the magic of taking the road less taken.

At Hansraj College, University of Delhi, his creativity found a stage. He joined the Hansraj Dramatics Society. He founded Kavyanjali, the first Hindi Poetry Society of the college. And his first professional paycheck? It came from a poetry recital — words woven from the heart.

Yet, even as life moved forward — through his master’s degree in Social Entrepreneurship at TISS Mumbai, through projects, cities, conversations — the mountains kept calling. Some call it nostalgia. He calls it destiny.

Then came the pandemic. The world paused. And in that pause, Pavitra heard his own voice again — the one that remembered who he truly was, and where he truly belonged.

So he took the bend in the road. The unconventional one. The ENFP one. The one that leads not outward, but inward.

He returned to Almora after almost a century of generational migration — a return so rare, it felt like stitching a broken thread back into the fabric of time.

In 2021, he incorporated KumaonKhand Agro-Innovations & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. in Kasar Devi — a place revered for its energy fields, sages, artists, mystics, seekers.

KumaonKhand was not just a business. It was a reclamation. A remembering. A responsibility.

Here, Pavitra began working with hemp — a plant with ancient roots and regenerative potential — building a social enterprise grounded in local livelihoods, sustainability, circularity, and the unique ecological fragility of the Himalayas.

As his research grew deeper, so did her purpose. He realised:

The Himalayas are not just mountains. They are the Third Pole — a lifeline that 2 billion people depend on.

And if the mountains were to thrive, then innovation, community, research, and entrepreneurship had to meet — not as theories, but as lived practice.

Today, KumaonKhand stands as a testament to what happens when you choose courage over conformity. When you choose home over hurry. When you choose to build with a place, not on it.

Pavitra’s journey is poetry still in motion — a blend of adventure, purpose, and the quiet determination to ensure that the Himalayas remain not just a symbol of beauty, but of survival and hope.

Because sometimes, the most radical thing you can do is return to where your story first began —and begin again.