A visit to 400-year Old Picturesque Sari Village in Rudraprayag of Uttarakhand

In Continuation of my previous Blog (https://test.biotriktest.online/trekking-to-anusuya-devi-temple-and-atri-muni-ashram-in-2024/)

Photo copyright: Satyabrata Maiti

“এই শহর থেকে আরও অনেক দূরে, চলো কোথাও চলে যাই, ঐ আকাশটাকেই শুধু চোখে রেখে, মনটাকে কোথাও হারাই, কি চাইনি কি পাইনি সবই ভুলে যেতে চাই”

(Translation: let’s go very far somewhere from this city.  Keeping eyes on the sky, let’s  miss our mind. Forget what we wanted to have and what we have not got. )

Song: https://youtu.be/1JGMKgDoyyw?si=aKzAlaULrUYZginJ

Humming the above song of great singer Manna Dey, we started our journey from Mandal to Sari village at 11:30 am on 22-July-2024. Our plan was to stay there two nights in a home stay of our Guide, Deewan Singh. We reached Chopta by 12:50 pm. We encountered heavy traffic jam due to haphazard car parking on both the sides of the road keeping only single lane for to  and fro  vehicle movement. There was no police for traffic control. Some of the vehicle drivers were voluntarily helping the drivers to regulate the traffic.  We lost about 45 min in such a chaotic traffic condition. We reached Dugalbitta at 2.06 pm where Mr Dinesh,  one of our previous guides who is running a hotel also. We met him and had tea in his hotel and then left for Sari at 3:00 pm. We reached Sari village at about 3:35 pm.

Sari is about 400-year-old picturesque hamlet in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand. It is the base for the famous Deoria Tal trek. Sari is known for its tranquil environment, lush greenery, and traditional Himalayan culture. This old-fashioned village offers a place for an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life, providing visitors with stunning views of mountain peaks, serene landscapes, and a glimpse into the rural lifestyle of Uttarakhand.

Sari Village is situated at an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) above sea level, between  30.5181°N and  79.1534°E.

It lies about 12 km from Ukhimath and 20 km from Chopta, making it an ideal stop for trekkers and nature enthusiasts heading to Deoria Tal.

The word ‘Sari’   in  Hindi means ‘everything’ “whole”. Perhaps, the village name came about as Sari because it has everything that is required for a society i.e.,  land, water, arable lands. The village grows rice, wheat, ragi, potato, pulses, various beans, leafy vegetables, other vegetables, various fruits and also has cows and buffaloes for milk.  Village  boundaries are lined with bright-coloured Rhododendrons and Oak trees which are also  common  on the Deoria tal and Chandrashila Treks. The views around the Sari village are magnificent, hill on one side and plateau  in the other side.  It has a primary school and  a handloom unit. Sari as a village is quiet, quaint, uncommercialized and has not too many tourists. The villagers mainly do farming and livestock rearing in their daily lives. Both male and females are engaged in farming. Men normally do hard work like tillage of land and women help in sowing the crop, intercultural operations and finally harvesting hand in hand.   The children spend most of their time either in school or playing.

Since, it was a full moon day, we enjoyed full moon in the evening from the top floor of our home stay before having dinner.

23-July-2024:

We got up early and left the house at 6:30 am with Deewan-ji  to mountain side of the village  which goes to Roni Buguial. We went about 2 km and had a bird’s-eye view of the village from mid mountain top. We spent about two hours and returned watching the cultivation of the village. We also saw a big stone in the shape of a car which is called in the village “taxi patthar (stone)” and often used as landmark by boys and those go for harvesting fodder.

We returned by 9:00 am and  settled in our respective rooms and took some rest after taking tea. We were tired hence did not go out and started watching the activities of the villagers sitting in the balcony.  We had our breakfast, roti, sabji and tea. It was a sunny day and we decided to see the village in the afternoon. At about 3:00 pm we left the house and walked through the village. We saw very old (ancient) traditional houses with stone roofing. In the background of one  such house, we took lot of photographs. We passed  the village school, village temple, a  handloom unit, cultivation fields, village streams, valley, etc. and then went through the Rhododendron path to sunset point. From the top of the mountain we had  picturesque views of the terrace cultivation and sun set point. But we could not see the sunset because of cloudy sky (as usual, Himalayas are unpredictable so far as weather changes). We returned back to market and had pakoda and coffee before returning to our home stay.

24-July-2024:

We left Sari at 7:45 am for Haridwar with heavy heart since our journey that was started on 17-July-2024 would end now and we will soon be again entering into the orbit of urban chaotic life. We reached Haridwar at 4:15 pm and I started rewinding our pictures of journey spool and remembered what Swami Vivekanada said about Himalayas .

“But on the heights of the Himalayas I have a place where I am determined nothing shall enter except pure truth. There I want to work out this idea about which I have spoken to you today. There are an Englishman and an Englishwoman in charge of the place. The purpose is to train seekers of truth and to bring up children without fear and without superstition. They shall not hear about Christs and Buddhas and Shivas and Vishnus – none of these.”

Jai Bharat!

Satyabrata Maiti

Acknowledgement:

1. My Co-trekker, for her cooperation and support;
2. Pradeep, Driver-cum-guide for his generous support and friendly discussions while trekking;
3. Diwan, Guide for providing an excellent stay in his newly built home stay rooms and taking around the village.
4. On line resources were used for the write up.

References:

1. https://test.biotriktest.online/trekking-to-kalpeshwar-temple-the-fifth-of-pancha-kedar-pilgrimage-circuit-in-2024/
2. https://test.biotriktest.online/our-journey-to-badrinath-temple-and-night-stay-at-mana-village-last-village-of-india-in-2024/
3. https://test.biotriktest.online/trekking-to-anusuya-devi-temple-and-atri-muni-ashram-in-2024/
4. https://test.biotriktest.online/trekking-to-tungnath-temple-chandrashila-and-deoriatal-a-thrilling-experience/
5. https://test.biotriktest.online/my-rudranath-trekking-toughest-of-the-panch-kedars-in-2022-a-lifetime-experience/
6. https://test.biotriktest.online/my-madhyamaheshwar-trekking-a-heaven-on-earth-experience-3-nov-2022-to-6-nov-2022/
7. The Wikipedia for giving insight of various subjects
8. Online open source of information