A beautiful side of Uttarakhand, which is still unknown to many people. Where beautiful blue rivers emerges from these huge glaciers. And along with these rivers, there are some very beautiful villages.
200 km away from Dehradun, this place is the Harsil Valley of Uttarakhand. Harsil Valley starts where India's largest river Ganga flows from the mountains of the Himalayas to Gangotri and flows into its first stream, which is called Bhagirathi. And this beautiful river, on the banks of Bhagirathi, is the Harsil Valley.
And not just the river, but this forest of Deodaar and the snow-covered mountains all around. All these together look as if a painting made in childhood has come to life. And as soon as you reach Harsil, you will really see some paintings.
As soon as you enter Harsil, along with peace and tranquility, you will see a lot of yellow buildings here. A lot of buildings have been painted yellow and some paintings have been made on them. This place has a very unique style.
It shows the face of a local lady, shows the local culture, shows the activities of the local people. It's sunny here, but it's so cold here that the temperature is still 3 degrees Celsius. But I am comfortable because I am wearing HAMMO.
You must be thinking, what is HAMMO? So HAMMO is basically a kind of comfortable wear by March. And not just hoodies or pants, but all-year jackets, shorts and a very unique sweatshirt of March, which is called HAMMO Original.
It is super comfortable and best for traveling. There are a lot of small villages in Harsil Valley. But the one closest to Harsil Market is Bagori Village.
Bagori Village is one of the few places in Uttarakhand where you will still get to see wooden houses. There are about 150 wooden houses, which are beautifully built in a straight line. And there are some apple trees next to each house.
And in the silence here the sound of some bells is heard Following the sound, I reached the monastery here. And when I roamed inside this village, I saw locks in most of the houses. Wherever I looked, there were only locks in front of the houses.
And I asked an aunty the reason for these closed houses. Namaste ji. Yes, there are locks in most of the houses in this village.
They have all gone. Where have they gone? We live in a village called Dunda, 18 km away from here.
We live here for 6 months and come back in 6 months. Aunty has come here to trim the apple trees. I will also leave by tomorrow or so.
okay locked again. So people leave the village for 6 months? Yes, only some caretakers stay here Because of the cold?
Yes, because of the cold and snow. Our kids live in Dehradu city So mostly old people stay here? Yes, mostly old people stay here.
It’s good as it is peaceful here Yes, it is peaceful. We feel very awkward in Dehradun city The Rajma grows here and apples, potato so organic vegetable keeps us healthy clean water, clean air You grow and eat here. yes Just live here comfortably.
Where is the water coming from? This water is from the Jalandhri Ghat. from glaciers The top part is made of snow.
Is this Bhagirathi water? This is Jalandhri water. It is glacier water.
So is this clean as you are washing utensils here yes its clean water Aunty told me something special about the culture here. There Lal Devta and here god Buddha is blessing us God has been blessing us here. Do you believe in God?
Yes we believe in both Gods We beleive in this monastery at our front and We believe in Lord Shiva and Goddess Lakshmi. We wear Mangalsutra and all Oh, you are wearing Mangalsutra. Yes, we wear Mangalsutra.
Is this the necklace you are wearing of buddha? Yes, its buddha’s locket And you are wearing Mangalsutra of hindus This is a very good thing. becuase both are gods.
either go from this or that way We have to go the same way. Yes, you are right. Just like their thoughts, there is a monastery and a temple right next to each other.
There are not many people living here. So, whoever lives here, they sit outside the house in the evening and have tea together. And today, tea is made for me as well.
I have brought tea for you. Oh, you made tea for me. Thank you.
Aunty, drink black tea so I made it extra Is this black tea? Yes, I drink black tea. Sit here, I will sit there.
No, no, no, you sit here. No, no, no, you sit here. I will sit here.
Sit in the sun, there is no one there. We sit here in the sun all day. Aunty has given me this tea.
And I came to know that apart from apples, very tasty apricots also grow here. Aunty has given it to me. which are locally known as Chuli.
Which tree is this apricot tree? That one. Is this red leaf one?
Yes, this is a red leaf. Whether you are in Bagori or anywhere in Harsil Valley, one thing that you will see from everywhere is this beautiful Gangotri Range. this range peaks are more than 22,000 feet in height.
And once you see them, it is difficult to take your eyes off them. Whether it is morning, day or night, these peaks look different and beautiful at all times. Looking at these peaks its pretty understood that it is very cold here.
And that is why the people here make their clothes out of sheep's wool. But I saw that sheep's skin is also used here. Is this made of sheep's skin Yes, let me show you this Oh, you don't use a blanket, No, when you spread them beneath you it feels warm then It is warm.
Oh. okay When it gets cold here, it is used to warm here. So you don't need a blanket?
No, you have to cover it with a blanket. so you have a lot of sheeps that's why you have so much skin. Yes, we have a few sheeps.
This Khadi here What is Khadi? sloughter house. okay, sloughter house.
who sells their meat. okay We get it from there. We pick the skin from them.
Oh, I see. Just like that we had a small talk, Aunty offered me tea too. okay It is cold here, it’s just a tea.
No thanks, you have it. you didn’t had lunch so No, no, you have it. you didn't eat since morning.
The aunty who is selling wool clothes, she also gave me tea. yes You are very nice people. You are very nice people.
I have been to so many villages, but no one has given me tea so many times. And not only that, Aunty also invited me for dinner. And for dinner, she made Pahadi Rajma, which is grown here.
We have red Rajma. We have white. This is Pahadi Rajma.
Yes, this is Pahadi Rajma. This is Pahadi Rajma, it is very tasty and special here. And this Pahadi Rajma was really very tasty.
You too sit with us Now I will make it for you. Eat it slowly. Now please don't give me anything else.
And while having dinner, I came to know that the people who lives in Bagori never used to live here. Before the Indo-China war, these people used to live in Nelong Valley. And used to trade with Tibet, for which these people used to walk from Nilong valley to Tibet But after the war, Nelong valley is now in the line of actual control that is why these people were shifted to bagori from Nelong But the amazing thing is that the road from which these people used to go to Tibet There was a wooden bridge on that road that used to go from Nelong to Tibet And you can still trek to that old wooden bridge here which is called Gartang Gali Look how close this cliff is, I can't even stand straight like this And the whole way out of it, which used to go all the way to Tibet from India I mean, people used to walk on this road or go with their animals or mules And this was the salt route of Indo-Tibet trade It's closed now after the Indo-China war But it used to go all the way to Tibet And imagine, so many years ago, these people used to make this road by cutting these cliffs This place is so special It's a good engineering marvel of that time And it's still so challenging to make such a structure and it was made at that time.
It’s a very unique experience to walk on this There is a very small village in these beautiful mountains of Harsil Valley And the way to this village was so beautiful that I walked all the way from Harsil to this village It's good, the view is very beautiful I mean, what else do you need? These beautiful trees, these peaks, snow peaks And there is a river flowing on the side, a very clean river You can hear its sound all the time on the way What else do you need? So I walked all the way The name of this beautiful village in Harsil Valley is Mukhwa Mukhwa is just like any typical village that you can imagine Old wooden houses and some people sneaking from them Some cows and goats coming from under the house Kids playing in the lane Sun shine and cool breeze If you fall from all these, you will feel that the speed of life will decrease again The name of Mukhwa is on Mukhwa temple here And this temple is very special for the people here Because this is the second house of Gangaji or Ma Ganga after Gangotri People here also call it Gangaji's Maika This is the temple of the mother Gnanga, Maika Is it called maika?
yes And Gangaji stays here in winter okay Along with the temple, Mukhwa is also famous for its apples I mean, there are so many apple trees here that people can't even pluck all the apples So there are still apples in this tree? Yes there are, Why don't you pluck them? who will go there?
You don't eat them? Why not? we eat them Do you eat it?
No, I don't need it I had one earlier I would have bring this from home oh, okay Do you let it stay on the tree? No one has gone up, so it is the same It is very common for you that there are apples on the tree that you don’t pluck. yes we are not bother much We are so excited that there are apples on the tree We don't do that much Because there are so many apples We don't do that much That’s all I asked and She gave me a full bag of apples I was just asking, no, no, you keep it, you can eat it It's for eating, right?
Yes, so you eat it, you keep it, it will be useful for you Yes it’s ours we have a lot of apples No, no, thank you Give it to aunty Yes she eats them You eat it too, eat it all You all eat it give it to me as well what? apple through it Yes I will have one Eat the apple Everyone's apple party I brought it for you, you won't eat it No, no, I won't eat so much you people eat please We keep eating Give that guy with camera. Yes, I am eating Eat them all Eat it well Thank you for the apple I don’ t think anyone can go empty hands from these villages Whether it's the Bagori village or Mukhwa of Harsil Valley Nature has made this beautiful valley with a lot of time But who make these mountains home are the people who live here Did you make tea?
Thank you And because of these tiny settlements we get to see these beautiful valleys in the depths of the Himalayas Maybe because of these people, we can also call these mountains our home Bye, aunty. Namastey.
