facebook
People Many Moods Of The Mountains With Ronnie & Barty | TL India & SA's Social Cover Stars
Advertisement

Many Moods Of The Mountains With Ronnie & Barty | TL India & SA's Social Cover Stars

From championing slow travel to creating shortform content echoing this thought, Ronnie & Barty get candid about their mountain life.

Advertisement

By: Bayar Jain Published: Jan 10, 2024 06:46 PM IST

Many Moods Of The Mountains With Ronnie & Barty | TL India & SA's Social Cover Stars

Known for their unhurried approach to exploration, content creators Ronnie & Barty have become synonymous with the art of slow travel. With each video, their mountain musings, tranquil trails, and melodic tales converge to create an enchanting narrative. Add to this a harmonious tapestry of experiences that captures the essence of each destination with a unique blend of insight, humour, and a passion for savouring every moment along the way. In a world where 30-second reels and instant story shares grab limelight, the two adventurers remind you to slow down and live carpe diem. 

Editor-in-chief: Aindrila Mitra
Conceptualisation: Chirag Mohanty Samal, Pallavi Phukan, Bayar Jain
Photographs and videos by Ronnie & Barty
Videos edited by Vivek Tyagi

Excerpts from the interview with Ronnie & Barty:

T+L India: What made you take the plunge and opt for slow living in the mountains? 

Barty: As a kid, I’ve spent a lot of time in the mountains. My parents ensured we spent every summer break in the mountains. Somewhere, I always knew this was where I wanted to be. When Ronnie and I got together, we discussed that we’d like to be in the mountains. 

Ronnie: We thought it would be more of a retirement plan!

Barty: Life always throws you curveballs, and this one was major! The easiest solution to get out of the state of mind we were in then was to get out of the city and shift base. That is probably one of the best decisions we’ve taken in life.  

Ronnie: I’m from Manali, so I knew I would return. Like every Himachali, I went to a city to study and get a job. But there comes a point in every Himachali boy’s life when they have a home calling. I think that happens because we know that the [chill life of the mountains] exists, no matter how much we work.  

T+L India: Barty, you’re a city girl. What was the transition period like for you to embrace the life of the mountains? 

Barty: Life in a city like Mumbai is extremely fast-paced, and since I always lived there, I was habituated to that pace. 

The first few months, I struggled because it was tough to break the [fast-paced] mindset and snap out of it. It took time and conscious efforts for me to sync into this new pace of life. You’ve got to mould yourself to how the place and world functions and try not to impose your way of functioning in that world.  

T+L India: You’re known for your dreamy travel videos and signature voiceover formats. What is the creative process for creating these videos? 

Ronnie: We’ve come up with it over the last decade on our own. I don’t think it’s the right way of doing things though – it’s a very long, convoluted way of doing things. 

Barty and I are in constant communication. We decide what the sections of our videos are going to be. We edit the video as we shoot. We’ve covered 100s of events and festivals, now we’ve gotten the hang of it.  

Barty: Since we shoot more documentary-style, prepping is possible only to a certain extent. It depends upon what the universe presents. Luckily, we’ve worked with many filmmakers, so we know what shots we need. We may not know at the time of shooting how the pieces of the puzzle will fit together, but we make sure we get them. When we’re shooting hiking videos, we go with the flow. But for music videos like Just Going, we broke down every single frame and second.  

Ronnie: But this is just shooting. The real magic happens at the edit table. We cull out all the talking bits that we want to use. We’ll cut, paste and line it up. 

Then, the crucial part is the music. The essence of our videos is the music. It’s important to have the right kind of music at the right time. It’s like a jam session – deciding when to use music, and when to use audio. Next, we do voiceovers or VOs– which are well thought out.  

Barty: The VOs are not necessarily fill-in-the-blanks. While shooting, you may not have the right words to express yourself. When you return, you’ve got time to process your interactions. It becomes easier to pen down those feelings in a poetic way. The key with our videos, I feel, is the story. The ‘coolness’ of anything else does not matter.  

T+L India: Any tips for first-time travel cinematographers? 

Ronnie: If you’re ‘cinematographing’, you’re doing a sequence of shots. You’re thinking of a narrative – an intro, crux, twist, and ending. Forget about being a camera person and technicalities like ISO; think about stories. You don’t need a big camera; you don’t need expensive equipment.  

Barty: Today, what is missing is the thought behind why a shot is the way it is – the angle, lens, and movement. That is what a cinematographer should be thinking about. If your audience’s attention is going to things like sound, music, actors, and the like, then it means you have failed as a cinematographer. Understand the emotion you’re trying to convey and choose your shot accordingly.  

Ronnie: Put the shots where required.  

Barty: Watch films on mute and rewatch them with the director’s notes. A lot more is revealed to you then.  

Ronnie: Think like a cinematographer, not like a YouTuber.  

T+L India: While mountains are glorified, what are some challenges of day-to-day living there? 

Ronnie: This is 2023. There are no challenges. We have Amazon delivery at our doorstep. We have Netflix streaming at 4k. Yes, we might not have Uber and DoorDash and things like that, but we have all the creature comforts that you need–from great restaurants and pubs to an amazing party scene. You’re in the lap of nature, so that is the biggest plus of them all! 

Barty: When you decide to move to rural parts of India, you should come prepared with the mindset you’re not living in a tier-one city.

It also depends upon where you’re taking your house. If you are living far away in some remote village, of course, you are going to have problems. You might have to walk two kilometres for five kilos of groceries. But you chose to live in that house! 

Ronnie: In some villages of Spiti or Lahaul, you don’t have water in the winter. There’s no electricity and it becomes cold. But in places like Shimla, Dharamshala, or McLeod Ganj, everything is available.  

T+L India: And the positives? 

Ronnie: As far as the positives are concerned, you can never get bored of these views and skies! Those little things that make your day shine, you feel gratitude towards the universe.  

Barty: A lot of the people who first make the move to the mountains come with a city mindset. But that’s just for a small period; they start embracing daily walks. The positives outweigh the challenges by such a great margin that the challenges seem rather trivial.  

T+L India: In the last few years, over tourism is said to have killed the mountains. What’s your take on this? 

Ronnie: Where are these tourists? We haven’t had tourists in long! [laughs] It’s not over-tourism that’s killing the mountains. It is the lack of good infrastructure. It’s the lack of vision for these places that is leading to a shit show. Himachal Pradesh is massive. There’s so much to explore, but tour operators are just taking you to five [places].  

Barty: We don’t have the infrastructure, good roads, sewage, proper water and electricity, and are not prepared to live through the easy winters we have here. That is the problem over here–there is no vision. There is no 20-year vision down the line. Having said that, we may not be the right people as we’re not the government and we don’t know the challenges they might be facing.  

Ronnie: I don’t think it’s fair to blame tourism because there are towns like Whistler or countries like Switzerland. Sometimes, these places are smaller than Manali! Lakhs of tourists visit these places, and they’re managing. Indians have been groomed to travel in groups. As a result, we have hundreds of people going to one spot. This herd mentality makes it seem like there is over-tourism. It’s not over tourism; it’s lack of tourism planning and irresponsible tourism. 

Barty: It’s not one problem. It’s multiple problems that are leading to issues. 

T+L India: The mountains are believed to be transformative. Can you recount one such experience? 

Barty: I’ve spent every single summer vacation travelling around the Himalayas. I think it was in the eighth or the ninth grade when my parents decided to take us on our first big trek into the mountains where we trekked to Gomukh, the source of the river Ganga. It was a 19-kilometer trek from Gangotri to Gomukh. Even though I had spent a lot of time in the mountains, I had never been into the vast nothingness of the Himalayas. I remember feeling insignificant. I was overwhelmed by that feeling at such a young age. I was astounded by the beauty around me and how it made me feel. I understood what it means to be alive. I understood how much beauty there is in the world and how much beauty is there within me. All these profound thoughts kickstarted a path of self-reflection. 

Ronnie: I’ve been seeing this vastness all my life, but those special sunsets do it for me. If I have to pinpoint one incident, it was when we were travelling to celebrate Holi in Kinnaur. That bought it all together for me! It made me look at the people, their happiness and generosity, and the gratitude with which people were living. The faith in the mountains is next level. Even if you don’t believe in it, you feel the energy when you’re in the presence of other devotees. You start believing in the power of belief and faith itself, if not the actual deity. You start carving your spiritual path. Even though I’m from here, I rediscovered myself being here. 

T+L India: What are some lesser-known treks and trails in India that you’ve discovered during your travels? 

Ronnie: We are the wrong people to ask that question. There are so many people out there who are exploring hard and who have been [doing so] for years. We are amateurs; we just like being outdoors in nature. For us, it’s not about conquering 10 mountains or finding the hidden gem. I find joy in getting lost in the wild. It could be a day hike, two days, or just a 20-minute walk. We’re not out there looking for tracks.  

Barty: And even if there are hidden trails that we’ve found, we try not to geotag these places because we don’t want them to turn into trash pits. By spoon-feeding these names and itineraries, there isn’t anything authentic left about your experience since you’ve piggybacked on someone else’s experience. We don’t like divulging some of the few hidden places we’ve discovered. 

T+L India: One life lesson you’ve learned from living in the mountains? 

Ronnie: We’ve learned thousands of lessons. As we keep getting older, every few years you learn new things about life and yourself. But if I were to give one, it would be finding joy in every little thing that you do–-be it doing dishes, going on a run, or even buying groceries. The moment you change the way you see things, everything seems nicer. Bring yourself to awareness, and change your perspective.  

Barty: To realise that life is finite. I’m not invincible. Anything can happen at any point. I’ve come to accept the impermanence of life. In the mountains, there’s a constant reminder of death – whether it’s with the seasons changing or the fruits harvesting. You’re not separated from death. I’ve come to accept that death is a part of life and that this circle of life is constant. Everything else is fleeting. That helps you not take your life too seriously.  

T+L India: What would you advise as the first steps to slow living? 

Ronnie: Awareness. You have to take time to acknowledge the existence of other living beings and objects. You need to acknowledge and be aware of everything that is around you.

Barty: I think we let life happen to us without consciously taking our life in a direction we want it to. Be present in the now and cherish the moment. Life is not about the past or future; it’s about now. Don’t worry about what is to come or what has happened. Slow living is about taking a step back and not chasing ‘to-do’ lists or bucket lists. Don’t treat your life like ‘to-do’ list. 

Related: Shenaz Treasury: The OG Influencer’s India Chronicles | TL India & SA’s Social Cover Star

Written By

Bayar Jain

Bayar Jain

Senior Content Manager

Equipped with a degree in Sociology (Honours) from the University of Delhi and a postgraduate diploma in English Journalism and Mass Communication from Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai, Bayar enjoys sharing stories of people, places, and different cultures. When not typing her travel tales, you can catch the hobbyist photographer capturing ..Read More

Never miss an update

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest on travel, stay & dining.

No Thanks
You’re all set

Thank you for your subscription.