Khilang, a hidden paradise in the Annapurna

My long wait to listen to an oral narrative finally came to an end. And here I was sitting in a bus ready to visit a tiny village located in the Annapurna mountain range in Nepal. It was less than a week back when I was suggested to visit a village named ‘Khilang’ near the Pokhara Valley.  I immediately looked up on the internet about the village and I could find negligible information accounting to almost nothing. That’s when I decided to pack my bags again. 

I had to board a bus which would take around three hours to reach Khilang from Pokhara. But the locals in Pokhara perhaps missed informing me that there wasn’t a pitch road leading to the village through the mountains. Nonetheless, I boarded the bus on 14^th February from a place called ‘Khaukola’ just outside the Pokhara city. For the next three hours, I was in a dust chamber, with the driver trying his best to manoeuvre through the unconstructed gravel road leading up the mountain. I started comparing this journey with all the other travels I had undertaken in the past, and nothing seemed to be scarier. After much twists and turns, I managed to reach Khilang.

Khilang is a small settlement of around 120 households, mainly the Gurung community. From here was visible the massive snow caped mountains of the Annapurna Range. My first sight of the village was beyond words, and soon I forgot what seemed to be the longest and most dangerous bus journey of my life. Khilang is a hidden paradise in the Himalayas.

Khilang village overlooking the 'Madi River'

As per the locals, no tourist had ever stayed in their village. Just in front of the bus stop in Khilang was located their only school named the ‘Shreesthan Pati Primary School’. As I sat in the school office discussing my plan for the next couple of days, I could visibly see people peeping inside the windows, staring at me, and murmuring in their local Gurung dialect. Maybe they were curious to know who I was and what brought me to their village.

Soon, I was guided through the narrow uneven stone lanes through the settlement to stay with a lovely couple in their 60s named Daya Prasad Gurung and his wife Hosuba Gurung. They were one of the very few people who could also speak the Hindi language. They lived in India for major part of their lives, as Hosuba Gurung proudly told me, “All my four kids were born in India”. People in the village live with modest income, and some of them even shared with pride that they served in the Gurkha regiments of the Indian Army. You can surely see the ‘fauji’ in them, irrespective of their age. The wrinkled faces and grey hair told stories of knowledge, bravery and experience.

My lovely hosts in Khilang

On the evening of my arrival, the locals organised a ‘barakhana’ – a community gathering to feast. The women folks were still staring at me and could not come to terms to the fact that I being a woman travelled all along just to visit their village.

While I was overwhelmed by their hospitality and affection, I was constantly looking out for the stories. And soon, Daya Prasad Gurung narrated me the story of their sacred forest ‘kuliphi’ and how the community has been conserving and protecting the forest since ages. In the forest they have the ‘thanku asthan’ which the Gurungs worship. The ‘asthan’ which symbolises the holy area is guarded by a stone boundary which spreads up to a kilometre as per the locals. As per their belief, the ‘asthan’ of ‘thanku devta’ in the form of a ‘stone’ was brought to its current location about 500 years ago from a place called ‘Komu’ in the Himalayas.

“This forest is like any other forest. But for us it is scared. We revere and respect it”, Daya Prasad ends the conversation for the night.

I not only listened to the entire narration but also got an opportunity to visit the sacred forest, barefoot, the next day!

Boundary of the 'thanku asthan'. Women are not allowed inside the premises of the forest demarcated for the 'asthan'.