Yes.... Im talking about Malana Village.
This beautiful yet mysterious village has so many stories and blogs for a very obvious reason. But I want to take you through Malana Village having lot more to explore.
Malana was not part of Indian Constitution for a very long time. It was only three years back, that it joined Indian Constitution. Before Indian constitution, it had its own rules, growing cannabis was the main source of income, and it was not open to tourists.
Before this, No external person, outside the Village was allowed to enter. An old man used to sit at the gate of entry to this Village to check who is going, why and for how many days, if the person has permit or not. The Man used to sit where there is green banner saying "Way to Malana Village".
This place has such mysterious history and beliefs that it has taken a lot of courage to even find a place to stay here at night. But definitely, it was some experience. We stayed for one night and explored all these aspects of this small village, which is a bundle of questions, mysteries and unknown beliefs. I chose to enjoy, know it more, explore and then come back home with experiences and new information.
You will find small guesthouses to stay for night and small cafe that could serve you food as well. There are not much facilities and its quite raw. And yes please dont mess with commoners here.
I got chance to see the plantation but I was not allowed to click pictures. Even the pictures of their magic rituals are completely secret.
This is beautiful place and amazing mysteries, if you wanna know and enjoy , its a must visit but with all responsibilities of a responsible citizen and without disturbing their cultural beliefs.
To start with, From Delhi we drove over night to Reach this place. This is on way to kasol, but there will a route change for Malana. You cannot find it on the way directly to Kasol.
The actual boundary of Malana Village starts from here, and there is some trek of about 5kms, quite easy one, so anybody can do, but if the soil is slippery it could be dangerous too.
There is a beautiful river and a bridge on the way to the residing villagers.
But now, this place has come under Indian Constitution and all the Indian laws are applicable. Also, Tourists can visit this place.
There are no places as such to park your car. We parked the car on the road, just opposite the Green gate ( the mainterance) to Malana Village.
The trek from here starts.
So after the trek, you will be able to see some small huts and a little village. Thats right. It is MALANA.
So as we talked about the Politics behind this Village. It is governed by its own rules. and Thus it is also unique its culture.
People here are very warm but only for known people. For outsiders, they will not treat you well as you are an outsider. Though, this is changing slowly. Once you are friends with people here, they will show utmost level of hospitality for you.
The festivals and food is also very different. They consider themselves lineage of warriors from the Ashoka times. The clothing style is also very different. The houses are all wooden houses, spacious and warm. and its a small well and closely knit village.
As we all know, this place is known for hashish cultivation. One can find small cafe as well on the way while trekking.
Apart from political background, culture and "stuff", this village has one more hidden facts.
Strong belief in magic and supernatural energies....
Yes. you will see that they keep safe the skulls of animals and humans to talk to energies from the other world. There are Babas you will meet, who are known among the common people of the village to be expert in this magic skills. They are known to remove or do black magic as well. I'm not sure how much is it scientifically proven, no such investigation is yet done. But this is a strong belief and culture here. No one is allowed to touch any of their buildings or such instruments ....of their magic or spells. The use blood of animals to clean and purify their magic areas and also use little of human blood to caste it, or talk to energies of other world.
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