Born and brought in Dehradun and yet this was the first time that I visited the Jaunsar-Bawar region which is a part of Dehradun District. The region though attached to Garhwal and Himachal has a very distinct culture of its own as it was cut off from the other areas for ce
nturies. This is the tribal belt of Himalayas. The lower areas of this region form Jaunsar and Bawar is
in the upper reaches of this region. Jaunsaris consider themselves to be the descendants
of Pandavas and Bawaris are believed to be descendants of Kauravas.In this region, polygamy (among the rich) was widely practised and even Polyandry was a part of the custom (among the poor.....the mythological connection with Draupadi). Things have surely changed and these specific customs are almost dead except maybe in the remotest parts of the region. Overall, it is very closely knit community which has been able to preserve many of its customs and traditions (like how in a wedding the bride and her relatives goes to the groom's side in a baraat) . Due to limited connectivity, it was a backward region for long but after the creation of a seperate state of Uttarakhand, things are improving here especially with regard to the road connectivity.
Like Kasaul and interiors of Himachal, the upper reaches of this region were also once known for cultivation of cannabis, Poppy seeds etc . Kiran Bedi during her tenure in Narcotics control in the mid 80s did a phenomenal job and was instrumental in destroying the cultivation of all drug-plants in this region and that broke the network of the drug syndicate. Today, a few villagers in remote parts may still be cultivating a little bit of it for their personal use but it is nothing like Kasol where weed is widely and easily available.
Chakrata is the biggest town in the hills here and is the cantonment area. It has severest restrictions for the movement of foreigners because here is located India's secretive and Elite force 'Special Frontier Force'. Popularly known as Two-Two army, this is the only unit of army that has ethnic Tibetans in the force. It was created after the Sino-India was in 62. Indian intelligence agencies also conduct other excercises here.During our school days, we all heard how the Frankenstein Monster was created when cadres of LTTE were trained by Indian intelligence agencies here.
The hotel infrastructure isn't that great in this region.
We stayed at Kunain Village , almost 2.5 drive ahead of Chakrata. Very bad stretch of about 15 odd Km of road in between. Avoid traveling in a car with low ground clearance. Kunain village is not a tourist destination but at hardly 20 minutes upward trek from the village one reaches a surreal place with thick Deodar forest and beatiful meadows. Unexplored, unexploited and untouched. Not a single tourist in sight here and this is a blessing in disguise.
Well, any place looks beautiful if you have a good company and trip to the Kunain village with school friends is certainly a trip worth remembering for a life time !
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