Religious Festivals at Sunder Nagar 2013 in Random Clicks

Colony Ground on Dussehra Evening, 2013

Sunder Nagar Lake on the eve of Lord Ganesha Visharjan 2013

October 2013 Navratris- Jawahar Park, Sunder Nagar, Mandi(H.P.)

Banon- A Core village of Himachal Pradesh, India

Hi,

 It gives me a great pleasure to write about a village where I was born. If you go to the villages of Himachal you will find that the lifestyle of people is different from that in towns. I am sharing here with you a glance of Banon, a village located at tehsil Joginder Nagar of district Mandi.  This village got its HRTC bus service in the year 2010 so, you might never have heard even the name of this village. 

A view of Sun-rise in the monsoon days at Banon, Drubbal, Joginder Nagar

This is one of the several villages of Himachal which share similar lifestyle and transportation history. It was possible with the sincere efforts of our MLA and previous HPPWD minister Thakur Gulab Singh that many such villages of Himachal Pradesh got their road facilities in the first decade of 21st century.

A satellite view of the village and the surroundings

In the previous decades people used to walk vertical distance of 2km from the nearest bus stop at Drubbal to reach their home, they had to walk on their feet through the jungles to reach the GSSS Drubbal, which affected the studies of the children of the village because, this gave them opportunities to run here at there and miss the classes.

View of the Kunkar, koon- Manh, Mandi from a bird's eye view from Banon, Joginder Nagar, H.P.

 There is one benefit of this daily trekking that is, among about 30 families in this village about 10 have or had one or two family members who served in the Indian military or paramilitary forces. Mr. Bhuri Singh, Mr. Beni Madhav and Mr. Tej Ram Sharma are retired ITBP personnel and there are many others others, Mr. Puran Chand who himself is retired army soldier and now both of his sons whom he has nicknamed as Lucky and Mintu also serve in the Indian military.

Mr. Suresh Kumar is serving in Indian Army and after his uncle Mr. Bhuri Singh is second member from the previous joint family. Like Mr. Tej Ram his son Mr. Manoj Kumar is also serving in ITBP.

Mr. Jagat Ram, Mr. Surrender Singh and another Mr. Roop Lal Sharma are retired military personnel. There are 6 to 7 families living in Machwan, another village at half kilometers where three families also military service history. Many of other rely on their private jobs at nearer places of Himachal.

Agriculture is of lower scale and there are very few about 6 families who earn their living from agriculture, cattle, buffalo, goats and sheep alone. These people belong to the Brahman cast of the Hindu mythologies.

Here is a video showing the love of these people to the cattle and buffaloes:

So, they have other options open for them, they do other things like cooking and serving meals in the various cultural occasions like marriages as a occupation, locally named as 'bot-chara'. Other occupation which according to the Indian traditions is open to all is serving as Pundit(Purohit) to others in the nearby region.

If one becomes famous then they can earn good name and fame in this profession because only Brahmins can opt for this. Mr. Gauri and Mr. Jiva Nand are two famous pundit from this village. Agriculture is a tough job because bulls are used to plow the fields in the mountain because no other reliable mechanical means are known to them.

 They have to guard the rice and maze crops from the rabbits, monkeys, bears and other local wild animals. Monkeys are a very big problem throughout the state and this is the reason that lands are becoming barren day by day.

Similar to their crop fields, their grass lands are tilted at about 80 degrees so cutting grass is another challenging job. Along with the LPG and electrical appliances they also rely on the wood available at the jungles or from the trees at their fields. In earlier times about 2 decade earlier wood was the only fuel known to them.

Hanging the grass bundles on trees, Banon, Joginder Nagar, H.P.

Children after coming from schools help their parents in the work. They don't have a dispensary in the village and they rarely need it because they eat the purest and and work hardest. It will be a challenge for you to find someone overweight.

Women has to work in the fields throughout the year, their husband being out of the village for earning money. All of them are aware of and have televisions at their home but they rarely have the time to waste on it.

There is plenty of water available from the taps at their homes which is possible with a sufficient water supply scheme, which traps the water from a nearby stream, pumps it up into a storage tank at sufficient head and then distribute to the 4 villages using the distribution system. People have the best air to breathe in the whole world and that is the reason that people come to such places to meditate and find peace.

A view of Banon in monsoon season from Machwan, Joginder Nagar, H.P.

There is a holy temple of Goddess Chaturbhuja at a 2 km feet distance and 8 km via vehicle.
They follow all the Hindu rituals and celebrate all the Hindu festivals and holidays with all the resources they have.

One thing the children surely miss is the facility of a good playground and one thing that elders miss is the facility of a good market. There is Joginder Nagar and Dharampur at 30km and 16 km far but none of them is good enough. They need the new techniques of the agriculture and someone to deal with the wild animals specifically, monkeys.

They need that single road to be metalled(bituminous surfacing) because the road gets blocked in the monsoon season for about 2 months and also it is quite risky with the higher gradient of the road.

Some people do not dare to drive to the village due to this degraded road condition because at some places gradient appears more than 1 in 16(IRC recommendation), which is the design gradient for the village roads.

Address of Banon:

Village : Banon

Teh: Joginder Nagar

Dist: Mandi  (H.P.)

PIN - 176123

I hope that you will help to spread the word so, please leave a comment and share this with your friends.

Thank you for your kind visit!

An Evening on My Bike at Sunder Nagar- Keran road.

 Hi,
Keran is a small village near to Sunder Nagar, Himachal Pradesh. This post is a result of an evening on my Bike on this beautiful single lane road from Sunder Nagar to Keran. This was Dussehera time so, I clicked pictures of the statues of evils which were ready to be burnt at the night.

Statues of evil ready to be burnt on the eve of Dussehera 2013 at BBMB Colony Ground at Sunder Nagar, Himachal Pradesh

"where are you Sir?" I called up Mr. Tarun, my one batch Senior at NIT Hamirpur and presently my colleague and new found friend at JNGEC Sunder Nagar,. " I am at college, where are you?" he asked.

"I am in Sunder Nagar" ( I was on the bank of Sunder Nagar Lake, with my motor cycle standing next to me.). I want to go for a Geri(local word for stroll or short ride) on my bike, suggest me the best nearest place please?". He is from the Sunder Nagar, and so I thought that he will know some place which I have not hunted down yet.
 I have visited all the local temples like Shitala Temple, Hateshwari Temple, Murari Devi, Mahamaya temple  and Drauradhar temple, because I have this freaking tendency to go to the places which symbolizes the peace and beauty even alone on my motor cycle if no one is along. All these temples are placed at beautiful nature spots of Sunder Nagar.

A road entering the mountain of Keran Road,
Sunder Nagar 2013

Last rays of Sun on mountains on the way
to Keran, Sunder Nagar 2013

" well ummm...." he was about to tell something, " You were saying about a road which goes up from the BBMB colony to some place.." I added. " okk ok.. It is Keran, go there it has a beautiful road to reach.". He told me the way to go to Keran, and instantly I was on the NH-21 and then I took the way to BBMB colony and finally I was on a singular road. This was beautifully constructed on a beautiful mountain which was filled with green trees and other shrubs.
Mountains were shining in golden color with the last rays of the Sun of this Sunday. I enjoyed the nature filled with the greenery all over. You can get a view of the Chambi village. I think it was a maximum of 2 Kilometers ride(Sorry I forgot to calculate the exact distance) from Sunder Nagar. Road after climbing this beautiful adventurous short stretch ended up. I kicked on the bike stand and asked the man who was about to enter his home, "Is this Keran?"

A view of Keran Village of Sunder Nagar (2013)

"Yes this is, come and sit and have a cup of tea" he invited me to have a cup of tea. I was impressed and felt welcomed but, I was in hurry to go back so. I only asked him few questions about the trek to the other side of the moutain and came back.

I inquired him about the trek which goes up from the village to the top of the mountain and then descends to other side to reach at the famous caves near to the Chatrokhari, Sunder Nagar. According to him, once the grass is cut this is safe to walk on the trek.
It was Mr. Tarun's plan to go on a trekking on this short route so, he has asked me to inquire about the trek.

Thanks for your kind visit!

Trekking from Barsu (Bhatwari) to Dyara Bugyal, Uttarkashi | Trekking Tales

Hi, I am here to tell you a short trek story.
This was around October of 2009 when I experienced this trek from Barsu to Dyara Bugyal with Sachin my batch-mate from college. He is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering and before leaving Barsu he wanted to trek up to the heights of the mountains.

Location Details of Dyara-Bugyal

The Barsu village was at a road distance of 9 km from Bhatwari and to reach the top mountains of Dyara Bugyal this was another 9 km vertical trek on foot. Barsu is a beautiful village in the mountains of Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. Bhatwari is at a distance of 35km from Uttarkashi.
Barsu village/camp is a very beautiful village and a scenic spot and a lake inside the village is like a toast on the burger.
This was the only reason that I felt happy sometimes to stay in this village. Sachin, Dipanjan, and Vidya Sagar Bodh, we all are batch-mates from college and we stayed here in our early days with Patel Engg. Ltd.

• Planning

My friends were not much happy because frequently there was the problem of water and electricity cuts. I was happy for the natural beauty of the place, of course, I also wanted the electricity and water but people pay to go to such places and it was provided free of cost to us by our company of work i.e. "Patel Engg. Ltd.".   Shortly after his joining the company, Sachin decided to leave the company because he wanted to pursue further studies.

Dyara Bugyal - Uttarkashi -courtesy - uttarkashitourism.com

Me already wanting to see and feel the Dyara Bugyal heights perhaps, more than Sachin wanted, we both decided a Sunday to be the day of our trek.

In the Jungle on a 70-degree sloped Mountain

Getting a guide was an initial idea which was disposed of due to my changeable mood. We started to walk up from the Barsu in the morning of Sunday which was shining with the first rays of the Sun in its entire visible region.
After asking a villager we came up to know that it is a 9 km and almost vertical trek, also he told that there is a shop on the top where we could get water and something to eat so, we didn't bother to bring the water bottles even. This was stupid specifically for Sachin because I am a mountain boy and I have such experiences but he is from planes.

Sachin looked about 70kg with a height of about 5'7" and I was as usual 5'5" and 55 -60kg(fluctuating) so, I think we both were almost fit Sachin being a little overweight and me a little under-weight right?
  We kept walking on vertical steps, through the Jungle with high trees of Deodar.


Not afraid of the Gaddi (shephard) Dogs!!??

On the base of those sky-touching Deodar trees, we reached a hut where no person was available to provide us water. Only two jungle Dogs were sitting firmly on the slope of the ground outside the huts. Being strangers in their palace, of course, I got afraid. What if they started "bhaaow!bhaow!" and one of them biting my leg and another one Sachin's ass? (I know I am cruel..:d).
They were matured enough to do that. They were reluctant to turn their heads towards us. I think at that time Sachin's balls were in his throat which was clear from his talk and honestly mine also.

We inquired the insides of the hut but, found none. The ground outside was filled with the short green grass and humid air on its top. We kept on walking and finally, we reached a spot which seemed to have an area of two football fields(tilted at an angle of about 40 degrees with horizontal), filled with flowers and grass which gave us the feeling of walking on a mattress.

Sachin makes a short video

 Sachin put his camera on and he recorded himself and me on the camera. At the top end of this grassland, we found a pond and a number of buffaloes with ringing bells on their necks, which echoed the whole place. It was a soothing sound and for a minute I was imagining myself as the guide (Gujjar). Sachin demanded to go back from this spot, maybe he was tired and hungry. Somehow, I don't have any recorded video now to show to you. 

Whistles and the Water

  I tried to change his mind to accompany me and then finally I asked him to stay at the same place till I come back from the Dyara Bugyal which, looked like only half an hour distant from the spot. He agreed and I went on alone. He started whistling as I was at small heights and I responded back.
This was for encouraging me. The path was totally jungle but, it was asses-sable and traceable.

 I reached the top and found some people living up there who, in Himachal Pradesh is locally known as "Gujjar". Basically, Gujjars are the people who raise and trade domestic animals such as, Buffaloes, cattle, and sheep, etc. This was a perfect place for them in the summer and they had to move to the planes in the winter because there is nothing to eat for the animals except snow.

I drank a glass of water offered by a lady which, told me about the shop on the other side of the mountain.

Finally what a Beautiful Scenic spot

I tried my best to figure out the hut/shop which, the lady pointed to be on the other side of the mountain but I got lost on those planes on top of the mountain. Trees were not the hindrance but it was the planes which has 360 degrees directions to go but the distance was large on all the sides. For instance, I forgot about the shop and hunger.
The reason was a variety of colorful flowers which were endless in counts and were spreading throughout the plane. First of all, such a large plane on top of a mountain was itself a surprise for me and then there was this short grass which gave a feeling of walking on the mattress. I was at an altitude of 3035m from MSL.
A man was sleeping inside and being tired and hungry me, it was tiring to call up him loudly.  The Sun was on top so, there were chances of getting sunburns on my face. Finally, after 5 minutes of calling he appeared and told me that there is an arrangement of the water, tea, and biscuit only. I agreed to have water and biscuits. I took 5 packets of the biscuits(Parle-G) and ate two of them.
 I was told that there is a trek from this place to Gangotri so, I tried to travel on my eyesight to the farthest tops of the nearby mountains hoping that I would find the trek but I think a guide was needed for that.

Lost and Found

If the arrangements were full, I could have stayed there in a tent or camp but, I had to go back to Sachin with the biscuit packets and I had no tent arrangements either. I descended back to the same path and after a time of about 45 minutes I was at the same grassland filled with buffaloes but, Sachin was absent.
I searched almost all corners of the place but he was not there. I could not imagine anything because I was skeptical that he could dare go back alone. Maybe I underestimated his courage with dogs because later he told me the story of him befriending those dogs on his way back.
I reached Barsu huts at around 4:00PM. Vidya and Dipanjan were in there, and after searching every corner of our small rooms, I asked for Sachin.

They told me that he was with me and had not come back. I felt terrible, I told them the story but they seemed less bothered maybe because they were more confident about Sachin than I was. There was a 'dham' (an occasional feast) organized by villagers at Barsu and Sachin enjoyed it till 6:00PM. He told me when he showed up.

Thanks for your kind visit!