A few minutes away from Manali, there are some beautiful villages, you may not have even heard of. Such nearby villages of Manali that remain covered with feet of snow during most of the year. And some villages among them appear to several hundred years old. But you can see the most beautiful view of these mountains from such villages only. And one such village, lies just 15km away from Manali. Its name is "Sethan". Nestled in the mountains of Pir Panjal, this small village, is so small that, th
ere are only 10-12 houses. And you can see this beautiful view of the high peaks of Dhauladhar from each and every house of this village. It is a very beautiful place, where I'm present, right now. And I had no idea, that there is such a beautiful place nearby Manali. Like Sethan is so beautiful. No matter where you look around there is a view point everywhere. It is that beautiful. But you pay a heavy price for residing at such a beautiful place, which is this several feet of snow accumulated i
n front of these houses. As we say Sethan is a small village, it has only 10-12 houses. But the way to these 10-12 houses is so tough at this moment. There's at least 4-5 feet of snow all through the way. And at some point it's way too much of snow, It starts from the floor and reaches up to roof. From the floor of the houses to the top of the roof, covered in the snow. It is that much of snow somewhere. Canon EOS R50 is supporting me in today's travelling, I will share the details about it late
r. Right now, Let's explore the Sethan village. Let's roam in the streets of Sethan, and meet some people here. As you can see there is so much of snow, because of the same reason the people who live in these houses shifts to the villages downwards. Because as you can see it's so difficult to move around here. It is so difficult to stay at this place, pipeline freezes with ice at night. That's why most people shift to the villages downwards. Most houses are locked here. People who run hotels and
homestays reside here only. Hotels and homestays are always open. People who are staying back, are shoveling snow from their homes right now. Namastey ji!(Greetings) Are these stairs? Yes Yes Stairs! Ohh there is snow on the stairs. Is this your house? Yes, that is my home. okay okay! That's why I'm making stairs, Ohh you have to build the stairs. Yes! Where are you from? I'm from Delhi. Ohh Delhi. Yes Yes! So, you come here to visit? Yes, I just come here to explore. Isn't it too much of hard
work? Yes, more the snow more the hard work. Absolutely right. How many feet will this snow be now? This is at least 9 feet of snow. Okay, so this one is 9 feet. Although, there is only 4-5 feet of snow Okay, 4-5 feet of snow. But when 4-5 feet of snow falls on this high staircase, It will become even higher. Yes, it is completely filled. So, you also remove it from the roof too? No, it brushes itself off. Okay Okay, there is a sloped roof, so it must have fallen itself. You please continue to d
o your work. Well, there is an advantage to having so much snow. "Igloo". Sethan is one of the few places in India where you can see Igloo. And because of so many Igloos here, this place is famous by the name of "Igloo Village". There is so much snow here. It is so cold here, that an igloo-like structure can be built here, and can stay here. And you can even stay inside it. So many Igloos, so many beautiful views, Only one thing was missing, And that wish was fulfilled by the next morning. And i
t is very unexpected that there is such good snowfall here. It seems so beautiful. Already it's such a beautiful place, now it looks even more beautiful. Light snowfall is happening, just like cotton. Very light snowfall. It's snowing, yet the sun is shining somewhere. I am seeing this for the first time, means it looks very beautiful to look at. The sun is shining but it's still snowing. Hamta Valley also starts from where Sethan village is. But as you move further towards Hamta valley, till th
e end of the road, looking at the views, it seems as if perhaps the path to heaven also starts from here. As far as the eye can see there is only a clear white world. In fact, even looking at it from the front, it is difficult to believe that I too am now a part of this beautiful scene. This snowy world was only one side of Manali but the other side is completely different from it. Right now, whatever locations I'm visiting or whatever villages I'm traveling to, I am traveling solo. And while tr
avelling alone, the biggest problem for me is to shoot myself. Because to take the shot I have to stand in front of the camera by placing it on a tripod. So now who will set the focus? How do I know that if I'm in focus or not? But this problem has now been solved by Canon EOS R50. Because of its fast autofocus, I am always in focus. So now there is no need to worry about focus even being away from the camera. And one more tension has also gone away, to keep the camera steady while shooting. Eve
n if I shoot a video while walking, the video is still recorded very smoothly, because of its stabilization feature. Be it day or night, because of its low-light capabilities, l can now shoot at any time. So now with this camera I don't miss any moment of my solo travelling. Before going to this nearby village of Manali, let me tell you one special thing. The place we know today as Manali was earlier known as "Dana Bazar". It was a stopping place for the traders travelling from Ladakh and Spiti
to Silk Route. But today Manali has progressed a lot with time, and now every modern shop and facility is available here. But in a village just 20 km away from Manali, time stands still. A village made up of beautiful wooden houses that are years older is known as "Rumsu". And as beautiful are the "Khatkuni Houses" here equally beautiful are the views of these high mountains peeping from behind them. Located at a height of 7,500 ft, this village looks as peaceful from a distance as it is full of
energy from the inside. Children playing and blabbering! Namastey Ji(Greetings)! What are you going to take in it? It's empty. Going to take something? Going to get some wood. Okay, wood. Why wood? Needed for burning. Needed for winter, as it also snows here. Yes Yes, Where do you get it from? From the Forest. Okay, Okay. Namastey Ji(Greetings)! What place is this? Temple of the deity. There are so many of them. Yes, Yes. Are there so many temples? 2 or 3 of them, one is this. One is along this
road, and one is downwards, in the village. All are these belong to different deities? No, all belong to one. Okay. By roaming here for just a few minutes, I could see every color of Himachali lifestyle & tradition. Be it the traditional houses here or the temples of the gods, or some people out to graze the herds. Namastey Ji(Greetings)! Where are you taking these sheep to? Jungle. Okay, Jungle To graze them. Okay, okay. How far away is the forest? Way too far. Standing here at this point, I f
eel as if I have gone back who knows how many years in time after visiting this village. The whole vibe here, the way people are living here, some are collecting wood from here, some are picking up grass to graze the cows. some are collecting wood to burn. The entire lifestyle here, the entire way of life of this village, all these things reminded of the old times. And the entire village is like this. As if it has not been touched by modernization yet. But this place is a mixture of something n
ew & something old which comes 4 Km before Rumsu. "Naggar". Naggar is a small town located near Manali. But this is exactly the place where many beautiful villages like Rumsu can be visited. And there is one such beautiful village, just 10 km away from this place. It's name is "Nathan". Situated at a height of 6,000 ft, only 300 people lives in this village. On one side of which is a beautiful and dense pine forest and on the other side is the beautiful view of the mountains of Dhauladhar. Natha
n is also full of "Khatkuni" style houses like Rumsu. But this time I tried to find out the reason for having such a house. Your house is also built in "Khatkuni " style? Yes! Khatkuni. What is this "Kathkuni" style of home? Can you tell me? Kathkuni, you can see this stone, it is an old house Yes, yes It is such a design, that you will see only wood in the corner. Yes, yes. You won't be able to see any stone in the corner Yes! That's why it is called "Khatkuni" "Khat" means "Wood" and "Kuni" me
ans Corner. That means wood at the corners. Yes. You will find only wood at the corners. So this is how you make it so high, by just using wood and stone? Yes, by using wood and stone. When the houses are built, there are joints between them, Okay. Two pieces of wood go together and there is a joint between them. The joint is called "Mokdi"(local language) ,which is also made up of wood, used for the interlocking. It is square in shape and has to be peeled, it is a very laborious task. Okay, oka
y. The biggest reason for building such houses with wood and stone is "Earthquake". Himachal or these beautiful mountains of the entire Himalayas that we see today are formed because of a earthquake and a collision between tectonic plates that has happened millions of years ago. In fact, even today these Himalayan lands are not stable. But these "Khatkuni" houses of Himachal remain standing like this even after earthquake. Because these houses are built by interlocking wood and stone, And that's
the reason, each layer of these houses can move a litttle. And because of this reason, it reduces the possibility of any crack or breakage due to any earthquake to zero. And the proof of this is that they continue to stand strong even today, after several hundred years. There is one another amazing thing about these houses that they can make honey. So, in the Khatkuni houses, they practice bee keeping. Yes, we make it at the time of construction only. What do we call it? Mana. Mana means " Hous
e of Bees" Now you can also find framed ones, it is the new method. Yes! So these are in all the houses here? Yes, in each and every house. There is a bee house in each and every households. The things that I came to know about in these villages perhaps I would not have known all these by living in Manali. That's the special thing about these places. There is a rawness, there is a reality, an untouched culture and all those things that make Himachal and these villages different. All those things
are still here. If you ever come to this side while roaming Himachal, then I don't know about Manali and Shimla but if you come here you will get to feel the real air of Himachal. Himachal's real home, their style of living, Everything of that a real Himachali village or a Himachali place should be, you will find here. If you have come to Himachal then you will get to see the Himachal at these places. I came here alone in these villages but I am not going alone from here, rather many memories a
nd many stories are now going along with me Come Upstairs, Let's sit comfortably. Okay, I will come from here. And perhaps this is the difference between villages and cities, where you are alone even among many people and somewhere you are not alone even among fewer people.
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