Unlike any palatial hotel stay, for any guests desiring calm and cosy stay in a natural setting, Kashmir¡¯s Sagg¡¯s mud made spacious cottages make you feel very different.
Set up in the mountains of central Kashmir¡¯s Ganderbal district and on the foothills of River Sindh, Sagg Eco village is the valley¡¯s first and only ecologically sustainable village.?
Fayaz Ahmad Dar, the founder of Sagg said that his eco village zooms back to Kashmir¡¯s cultural and traditional past. ¡°Sagg is an eco-cultural, recreational, educational farm with camping facilities besides hosting, facilitating individual and group recreational stays,¡± he said.
It is all different at Sagg, from unfastening the wooden doors of eco village to the bewitching smell of flowers and trees, clear sky, calm mountains, cold breeze and galaxy of stars. It makes you feel that life is here.
¡°First of all, we have set up this village completely on the basis of old tradition and culture that we have forgotten somewhere and I am trying this in the twenty-first century,¡± said the 37-year-old social entrepreneur.
¡°This is completely a unique village where you can see we have created the things in woods and wicker. We have made small kothas (mud houses) and cottages out of mud so as to tell how old people use to live in the past and what we are missing now. We are also serving the food in the mud made utensils,¡± Dar said adding, ¡°It is also the favourite spot of the visitors to de-stress and they find peace of mind.¡±
As per Sagg Eco village¡¯s official website, it reads, ¡°Called the hidden gem of Kashmir, Sagg Eco village facilities include nomadic mud huts, village hostel and camping, garden cafe, indoor and outdoor recreational spaces for all age groups, separate male and female washroom blocks that include composting and flush toilets, and hot and cold showers.¡±
¡°We organize special recreational camps and expeditions for children and families in which our female guides also participate. Here, the breathtaking natural beauty, the local cultural wisdom and the famed Kashmir hospitality will help you kill the stress, rediscover your peace and rejuvenate yourself to the core.¡±
Dar said he loved to remain in mud. ¡°For over 20 years, I studied and worked in different cultural settings and varied fields ¨C including educational, organizational and developmental practice, administration and research. But I always had a love for this mud,¡± he said.
Working from the office boy to assistant and then counseller, Dar has seen a lot of ups and downs in his life. ¡°In 2009, I was in Delhi and planned to come back to Kashmir but later decided to pursue a programme in the USA. After spending a year there, I came back and started meeting like minded people. In 2012, he launched Mool (Root), a charitable trust working for sustainable socio-economic development through participatory capacity building, sustainable development, and rehabilitation in Kashmir. Mool was also working for ecological sustainability by using eco-friendly systemic practices. It is where the Sagg got its birth,¡± he said.
Spread over 11 kanals of land, Dar launched Sagg Eco village in 2016.
In April, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir did a five-day online workshop on ¡®Ecological Entrepreneurship¡¯ in collaboration with Sagg Eco village.
As per the statement, the jointly organised workshop, under the World Bank-ICAR, funded National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) for the institutional development of SKUAST-K, aims to provide practical knowledge and hands-on exercises for the participants interested in entrepreneurship to understand and start developing the mindset and competence required for ecological entrepreneurship.
In March, the first-of-its-kind festival on ecological entrepreneurship ¨C Kashmir Festival for Ecological Entrepreneurship was held at Sagg Eco village.
Sagg Eco village, the first and only eco village in Kashmir and Mool Sustainability Research & Training Center in collaboration with Next Mile Co., a Mumbai-based sustainable business consulting firm co-hosted the event.
Sagg also offers eco-educational tours, seminars, career planning, goal-oriented capacity building programmes, coaching capsules with personalized feedback, mental health programmes, facilitated day workshops and seminars for youth, students, teachers, parents, farmers, professionals and entrepreneurs.
¡°Recently over 60 students from an Anantnag school came for the camping and learnt about ecological entrepreneurship. Students from schools and colleges are showing a lot of interest,¡± he said.? ?
Since Sagg has become a brand name in Kashmir, it also produces its own products which are completely organic and healthy to eat.
It includes vegetables, fruits, poultry, and meat. There are a number of products that Sagg sells, like Kashmiri wuer (a traditional mix of herbs and spices), wild honey, dried apples, lotus stem, pickles, and jams. Sagg also provides a wide variety of handcrafted lifestyle products based on eco-friendly processes. ¡°We make the stock from natural and pure ingredients,¡± Dar said.
Dar said that since their main focus is youth, they have kept the minimum and genuine rates for all. ¡°We have kept Rs 500 per person including the breakfast while as Rs 3,000 for a mud hut which accommodates four persons including breakfast also,¡± he said.
He said that since the tourism Industry is reviving in the valley, he too is witnessing a good flow of visitors. ¡°We are hopeful that this will continue,¡± he said.
For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.