What if you came across a child named ‘Dollar’ or visited a house with no doors but only ‘stand alone’ door frames, a village with only males in tune of hundreds or be astonished to see cobras hanging from ceilings? Welcome to India, a land that arouses beauty in every traveler and yet is always surprisingly bizarre in some ways. The mystery, the land holds is enormous and the ensuing list of Indian villages will make every visitor and more so even the reader turn heads.
Snapdeal.com Nagar: Village named after online couponing company
Location: Shiv Nagar, Uttar Pradesh
All of us are aware of the couponing site ‘Snapdaeal.com’ but how weird would it sound to come across a village named on it. Making a difference by understanding one’s responsibility towards the society, Snapdeal.com adopted Shiv Nagar, a remote Uttar Pradesh village with the initiative to provide fresh water for the residents by installing 15 hand pumps. Not only that, for the past 20 years it has well excelled in the endeavor. The appreciation the villagers evinced in lieu of the service, was to name their village after the couponing site.
Ralegan Siddhi :The sustainable village of Anna
Location: Parner Taluka, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra
Who could have ever imagined of a drought torn, poverty stricken village will become a symbol of self sustenance in a span of 25 years. A role model for villages across the country and a lesson for the so called leaders of our country, Ralegan Siddhi speaks loud of how the initiatives of a common man, the revered “Anna Hazare” and the locals could bring about a mammoth change in the infrastructure and functioning of a devastated village.
The success can be attributed to the adoption of some judicious programs like tree planting, terracing to reduce soil erosion and building of canal to store water. The use of renewable energy sources for the construction of community biogas plants, solar energy to power the street lamps to generating electricity from windmills, all makes India proud while the immense applaud from World Bank Group adds to the pride.
Shani Shingnapur: Village with no doors
Location: Nevase taluka, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra
Indians by nature have always been religious. Many stories in the Indian mythology evince this invincible trust in God. One such example is the Shani Shingnapur village, a remote village in Maharashtra that stands the test of time.
About 350 years back the ‘huge black slab’ that depicts Shani Maharaj flowed with water and got stuck in the village premises. From then on its believed due to indefinite blessings of the ‘devta’, the locals do not have doors at the entrance of their houses. It is said since ‘Shanidev’ is the lord of justice, no one even dares to steal or break into the village houses which have only windows and curtains attached to the door frames.
Barwaan Kala: Village of Unmarried people
Location: Kamur hills, Bihar
How intriguing would it be to come across a village with about 121 bachelors, people as old as 40 years waiting to get married! This is the reality of this hilly terrain village in the heart of Kamur hills in Bihar.
The residents of the village, majorly males await the arrival of brides from nearby villages but a major road block in the pursuit is the lack of roads to connect the villages. As if that was not enough, the fate of these unmarried villagers is further marred by the tag of “wild life protection village” which requires special permissions from the government to construct any infrastructure in the village.
Shetpal: Cobras coexist with humans
Location: Sholapur district, Maharashtra
If all of the above was not enough, a startling example where cobras and humans co exist peacefully, is bound to make the eyeballs roll. This village nestled in the Sholapur district of Maharashtra is another surprise. The houses here are built with rafters that house cobras, so one can come across a live cobra in one’s house and still not jump with horror, how weird is that? It is even strange to note that till date no one in the village has been affected by cobra bite.
Kodinhi: The ‘twin’ village
Location: Malappuram district, Kerala
Being touted as ‘twin village’, this village in Kerala, South India boasts of about 220 official sets of twins, the actual number being close to 300-350 according to the local doctor, Dr. Krishnan Sribiju. The astounding fact remains a great subject of study for medical professional across the country. The huge number of twins in the village with the number of them rising every year, the locals have even formed “Twins and Kins Association”, TAKA to assist the families in bringing up and educating the ever brimming twins.
Bhadrapura village: Village with weird names
Location: Near Bangalore
Sounds hilarious, but if you could come across a village where people were named on amenities they lacked, how would you react? If the person sitting next you was ‘dollar’ or ‘high court’ or for that matter even ‘bus’, would you smile with surprise or be taken by shock? Welcome to Bhadrapur village in South of India where the nomadic tribe ‘Hakki-Pakki’ name their children based on real English words.
