Ahsaas

16/03/2025

Pahadi Coasters

Beautiful pine needle coasters by women artisans of Ekta and Bharti SHGs.

Contact to place order.

16/01/2025

A range of tea and a lot more from

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14/08/2024

18/10/2022

Trout farms, Barot valley , Himachal Pradesh.

A foreign species became a regional favourite!!
Its not just colonial buildings and railways but also the food, left behind by Britishers in Himalayan regions.
Trout fishes were never found in Indian waters until the 1900s. Introduced by the brits, this fish settled in the cold waters here and what made so intrinsic to the pahadi regions was its ability to survive amidst the harsh cold climate.
Before getting into this cold water, people think twice but for the fishes, cold rivers have become a home and another identity of the region.

13/10/2022

Meet Kala Devi from a small village of Kais, Kullu. She runs a homestay with her husband Kundan in their 100 years old traditional house.
They have beautifully carved the house for the guests. The ground floor that was once used for cattles is now a mud house for the guests. Meanwhile they have also constructed a new unit adjacent to this mud house.
The family lives on the first floor of the house and have verandah in the front where the guest have delicious desi ghee filled home cooked meals.
Warm welcome by Kundan and Kala is through a wooden gate with peacocks on the top
''It was not easy for me to have a fancy gate like this but the karigar
was kind enough to put his efforts into this'' says Kundan with a smile on his face.
Kundan and Kala also plan to expand their house with another floor in a traditional way, keeping the vernacular architecture alive.

06/02/2022

'' Okhali'' the pride of Pahadi aagan (Mortar Pestle).

Again an art piece from street of Almora.

The stone Okhali's in villages are wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Which is seven to eight inches deep. Apart from other usages, it is mainly for 'च्यूड़े', that sisters used for the pooja in Bhai Dooj. The purpose that these traditional methods fulfill is not merely utilitarian but it forms and solidate the community relationship with the use of common spaces.

Captured by:

04/02/2022

The little Jaunsaran...
with her grandfather showing wooden facade of their new house.

Bachhan ji with his grand daughter from village Saltwari.

Ethnically, Jaunsar-Bawar comprises two regions, inhabited by the two predominant groups: Jaunsar, the lower half, while the snow-clad upper region is called Bawar. They are a unique community because they have remained cut off from the external world for centuries, leading to the retention of their unique culture and traditions.

Captured by:

30/01/2022

'' Naula'', the traditional water system.

Its amazing how artwork is used as a medium to celebrate culture.
This is one of art work on the street of Almora.

The tremendous geological and ecological diversities in this Himalayan region led to a glorious profusion of water-conserving structures like Naulas, and Dharas. The structure of Naula is similar to that of a square small stepwell. Water may seep in from fissures in the steps or the base. These structures are part of the community and often linked with religious beliefs.