Kuvarasi
District Chamba, Himachal Pradesh
Position – N32 21.193 E76 27.356
Altitude – 2259 metres
Part of Treks:
A true village still untouched, 14 km from the nearest road at Lamu, 35 km from McLeodganj on the Indrahar trail, much lesser as the crow flies and even lesser as the tunnel drills. The short distance from Dharamshala makes you wonder why did we ever bother building all the winding roads to Chamba district, a distance of mere 35 km on foot to Kuvarasi ballooned to 201 km by road and 14 km on foot. You can reach Kuvarasi on the 4th day from McLeodganj if you trek easy, 2 if you trek tough. While trekking this trail, I figured locals do this in a single day!
Organic farming, apple orchards, huge Deodars, a Nag temple with an even huger Deodar, some game meat if you are in luck, beautiful wild flowers if you are in season; comprise the attractions of Kuvarasi. Part of the Indrahar trail, the village is often used as a resting place by trek groups and advertised as so by trekking sites. The courtyard of the Nag temple is the usual halt. The age of the village is uncertain. Two things are certain though, it was located at a different place earlier and has ruins to show for it and the settlers came from Bharmour region in Chamba and were shepherds.
Most current occupiers of the village are landholders or shepherds or both. Some are government employees like the primary school teachers, local medical staff and forest employees. Then there is the migrant population which migrated to Kangra valley a couple of generations ago and come back to their ancestral village once a year to manage 
their fields, which are contract cultivated by those living in the village. And, there is a Forest Rest House as well. The fields support apple, walnut, corn, syul, wheat, rajmah (kidney beans), potatoes. Every single bit of crop here, till September 2009 was organic, fertilized only using cow dung and only for local consumption. And sure enough, it did taste better.
The Nag temple at the village is as old as the village itself and has a few legends associated with it. The benevolent Nag devta rules his realm with an iron hand. So, while it makes sure all honest followers are prosperous, all erring parties are duly and hastily put to task. It is said that once a group of Italian WWII prisoners made their way from the Yol army camp to the village and one of them entered the temple with his shoes still on. The Devta extracted immediate retribution for this as a slate from the temple roof fell on the man's foot, cutting it into two.
While at Kuvarasi, make sure you stop at least for a day and take a relaxed walk in the Deodar jungle around. You will be in for some surprisingly large deodars, even ones which have a found to live and thrive on vertical slopes. Communication with the outside world is limited to a satellite phone, which thankfully doesn't work more often than it does. Then there has been an invasion by the Shahrukh Khan promoted Dish TV. All in all, still quite an isolated village with limited communication, untouched jungles, some beautiful views, clean air and cold water communal baths. Road with civilizers is slated to reach Kuvarasi in another 3-4 years time. Make hurry while the offer lasts!!
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