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Village Tourism goes with Sirubari
-Devendra Dhungana
What was once simply a Gurung village in the high
hills of Western Nepal has now a feather in its cap as the first
model village of the country. Sirubari received that attribution
not because of any significant contribution of the government but
as a fruit of untiring efforts of the local people committed to
proving that villages are as good as and even better than cities
to live in.
“The Sirubari you see today is the result of days
and nights of hard work and untiring perseverance. It took a whole
year to pave the foot trails with marble like stones, build public
taps, plant trees along the road and inculcate a sense of
responsibility in the minds of the people for the maintenance of
all these village assets,” says P.Gurung, a local youth. “Besides
men and women, even school boys and girls voluntarily contributed
to giving a face lift to the village.”
Elderly women formed a
Mothers Group and in order to collect fund for development works
in the village, they staged many entertainment (cultural)
programmes time and again and the people willingly donated their
share for the cause of their village. Similarly, whenever there
was anything in the village to celebrate like the wedding
ceremony, birth of a child, money remitted by a fellow villager to
his family members or anyone being recruited in a British army or
the news of promotion of a villager in the government service, the
Mothers’ Group left no chance to give a cultural programme.
Practice has it that longer they sing and dance, the more money
they are expected to receive in return for the tremendous effort
they put into it.
People in Sirubari
have their own notion as to what development means in a village.
It is generally agreed that development in a village means an
access to a motorable road and electricity, along with other basic
things. But a majority of villagers in Sirubari is opposed to the
idea of linking their village with a motorable road. Strange
though it sounds, the well maintained foot-trails to walk along
and other amenities in the village stand a testimony to the fact
that the villages are very serious about continuing to promote
their village as a model of village tourism in the country. “We
don’t think tourists would have much to feel about the rural life
if vehicles start plying here. For tourists, the pleasure of
reaching the destination after walking a well maintained yet
adventurous foot trail will simply vaporise,” says Tara Gurung, a
member of the Mothers’ group.
The distinct customs
and the way of life of the ethnic folks in the countryside can be
of great interest to the visitors. When tourists visit a
particular country, one of the things they always wish to get
familiar to is the people and their culture. Going around the
countryside and getting to know first hand the typicality of any
country is the experience worth taking. The spontaneous courtesy,
hospitality sprouting from the pure heart and traditional values
of the local people are found a galore in Nepali villages. Life in
the countryside is hardly influenced by modernity. And moreover,
culture and environment are virtually in their pure form so much
so that the impression is anything but pristine. These endowments,
managed efficiently with the addition of basic infrastructure will
no doubt be the real attractions for tourists.
Village tourism is a concept that
has lately been introduced in the country. In the case of Nepal,
village tourism bears immense possibilities in that Nepal is
basically a “ village country ” where well over three quarters of
the population lives in villages and depends upon agriculture.
Nepal, being the country of diversities, has colourful people that
come from many groups and ethnic groups with their own cultures
and rituals, giving a sense of newness to the visitors. This,
however, does not mean that every village is viable to develop for
village tourism. Amongst some villages that bear distinct
attractions for villagers, Sirubari of Syangja district in western
Nepal was announced as a model village to see how village tourism
works out in the Nepal. Sirubari was a new destination as part of
observing a mega tourism festival called Visit Nepal ’98.
Just five years back, if a
Westerner happened to pass by Sirubari, children ran after the
visitor as long as they did not get tired and shouted at their
friends to come and share the delight of seeing a ‘kuire,’ a
Nepali equivalent to a man white in complexion. The elderly people
also found a new subject to discuss as to who the visitor was and
why he came to the village and many other questions. But now this
has all become a thing of the past.
Conceiving the idea to
develop the village as a new tourism destination did not spring
all of a sudden. Whenever an outsider visited Sirubari s/he was
taken aback by the degree of development in the village. Visitors
often were prompted to suggest the locals to urge the government
to formally declare it as a model village. Wide stone paved roads
with drainage canals on either sides, homes with solar heating
facilities, water taps at every home as well as along the main
foot-trail, hedges and gardens in every home, flush-system
toilets, rest houses in a village five-hour-walking-distance away
from the nearest motorable road are no wonder a wonder in the
Nepali context. In order to give an insight to the guests, there
are no hotels as such and the tourists have their night stays in
the village houses as paying guests and share the same local food
prepared by the villagers. The local communities have formed
several committees and the cultural committee stages its cultural
programmes in the evening after they retreat from the regular
farming business of the day.
The Gurungs celebrate colourful festivals of both
the Hindus and the Buddhists throughout the year. And what
attributes the Gurung community in a way are their Ghantu and
Rhodi dances. Young virgin girls are selected to perform the
Ghantu dance that marks the herald of spring. A duet called Rhodi
is sung by a group of boys and girls followed up by dances in folk
rhythm. The vibrant traditional rituals of the Gurung community
are there to give an instant ‘sensa’ of Nepali folk culture to the
tourists. Equally captivating to the tourists is the panoramic
view seen from Sirubari. The Annapurna massif including
Machhapuchre, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri and Nilgiri mountain peaks to
the north, the lush green river basins to the south and
picturesque villages like Aruchour and Darau next to it have made
Sirubari a best choice for village tourism in Nepal. Gauged by the
success of Sirubari, its adjoining village, Aruchour, equally
beautiful, has already started a massive infrastructure
development campaign to follow suit.
For both tourism
entrepreneurs and policy makers, the Sirubari success has inspired
that village tourism can be very useful in bringing about an urge
among the local community to improve the infrastructure of their
village. It also helps implant ideas among the villagers to take
to modern way of thinking, rising above their conventional
attitudes.
Judging by the varied
topography of the country and the pluralistic nature of society,
the Sirubari success is a testimony that village tourism can
thrive well in Nepal. Moreover, village tourism needs promotion
for many reasons but chiefly to give the tourists the real picture
of Nepaliness and most importantly, to deliver benefits to the
people in the grass-roots level.
(Devendra Dhungana is an intern (journalist)
working with MS Nepal)
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