Kothi village, Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh

If Kalpa is thought of a bride, Kothi can, undoubtedly, be its 'sindur' (vermillion) and I am sure those who ever visited Kothi while staying at Kalpa know by heart that I am not exaggerating. Indeed, Kothi possesses such beauty that definitely holds you spellbound. It is situated a bit lower area of Kalpa HPTDC guest house. From words of mouth of local people and the waiter of the HPTDC, we have come to know of this place. We then decided to go there on the very next day. And WHAT A JOURNEY IT WAS! It is about 5 km away from HPTDC Kinnaur-Kailash Hotel. Our Tempo Traveller seemed to be a bit large for the roads that lead to Kothi. However, with the help of Navigation of Google Map, we started our journey amidst the Apple orchards of Kalpa. Truly, I have never seen such beautiful scenario in my whole life. Here and there, only Apple trees loaded with ripen apples of different colours-red, green, golden. It seemed that as if we could pluck apples from the window of the car but we didn't. Somehow, we thought this kind activity may bother other local people and moreover, our conscience. At the entrance of the Kothi village, there is a huge gate crafted with wooden works. So, we had to walk at least 500 meter. But, those moments of walking seemed to be everlasting ones to us since here for the first time we encountered the hospitality of Himalayan people and of course the people Kinnaur people. Just we stepped 10-15 meters from the main entrance, we came across a Kinnaur family basking in the sunlight. They had a a green apple tree on their lawn and I was busy taking pictures of some kids of the family who were watching us with an amaze bewilderment. Suddenly, I requested them to give us some apples. And they were very kind enough to accept our request and asked me to pluck apples myself. I was so happy that immediately I took a few snaps of myself plucking those Green Apples from the trees. There I saw an angel of Kinnaur and she is really a Kinnauri, an apostrophe that really suits the woman of this region.

A Kinnauri at Kothi village, Kalpa

Kothi is a village on the lap of Kailash-Kinnaur range of Himalaya. The very first thing one can encounter in his visit to Kothi is the Durga Mata temple. The temple bears the same typical notion of a fusion of Hinduism and Buddhism which is a feature of the temples of Himachal Preadesh. When we entered the temple, it was a prayer time of Durga Mata and it is the custom of them that to enter the temple one must wear the typical Himachali cap on head and we did same and entered the temple. They worship the Goddess with their own customs and tradition. They use huge musical instruments like sehnai, flute type instruments and tasa type things. 

Devotee and musician of Kothi

During their worship, I noticed that they were very devoted to their Goddess and since I was taking pictures through my camera, they asked me not to take any picture of Devima. The Temple has a huge bell in front gate and there is a main mandir some small rooms for the devotees surrounding this main mandir. Overall, we had a great time inside the temple.

Musical instrument for worship

After spending an hour and so, we came out of the temple and started to roam about in the village. It was fantastic to see such an independent village in this remote area of India. It had a huge Shiv Temple just opposite the Durga Mata Temple though we could not get into it since the gate was locked. There was small falls that runs the village with its gushing sound day and night. We spotted some grocery shops, a post office, a doctors chamber, a primary school in Kothi village.

Gram Panchayat, Kothi

and of course the village is surrounded by many Apple orchards though we could not spot any apple inside the village. However, visiting such a place on the lap of Kinnaur-Kailash Range just above Reckong Peo seems to create a dreamlike state in me now especially when I sit to write my blog on Kothi and I recall again again the images that we lived once thousands of miles away from the our busy city life.

Durga Mata Temple, Kothi

See the video https://youtu.be/yPcnFkNTmV8

Experience say:

1. Walk upto the village from the main entrance to enjoy the beauty of nature;

2. Do not hurt the local sentiment of devotees;

3. Do not take picture of the Durga Mata at main temple;

4. Do not buy apples from the local who are selling apples since they charge huge for the it;

5. Enjoy the beautifully crafted wooden work of the village;