QR Homestay

QR Homestay Qurai is a homestay in the hills of Kumaon. It is very solitary, and very close to nature. Do visit our website, www.qrhomestay.com, for all the details..

We have forgotten what it is like to drift off to sleep under the stars, and to be wakened at daybreak by birdsong. When flowers and seasons talk to us, we don’t understand. Quarai is a hidden nook in the hills. It sustains a simple way of life. When I stumbled upon it, ten years ago, it was all but forgotten by even the locals. By chance, I became friends with the one man who still lived there. I

kept going there, whenever I could. Quarai kept inviting me, to remember, and to understand. We built a house like they used to be built, with the stone of the mountains and the hardwood of the forest. We set about trying to revive the fields that the wild boar and jungle fowl had claimed for themselves. It has been a long time that we have been dreaming up this little world. We feel it is now real enough to share. We do not have electricity. We draw our water from the spring. We grow our vegetables, and milk our cows. We chop our wood, and cook over a wood fire. Feel free to bathe at the spring. Feel free to lie under a tree and drift with the clouds. After sunset, you can relax by the fire. It will keep you both warm and safe. This is leopard territory, and the next home is a distant light twinkling down in the valley. You are in Devabhoomi, the abode of the Gods. You might renew your acquaintance with them. You are in reserve forest, where pine gives way to oak and rhododendron. You might wander aimlessly amongst them. If all this makes sense to you, feel free to find yourself at Quarai.

When a photographer visits, you know..(I will post one stunner at a time)
02/10/2024

When a photographer visits, you know..

(I will post one stunner at a time)

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/when-our-guest-is-a-photographer
21/05/2024

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/when-our-guest-is-a-photographer

Then it is a treat for us, at QR.In the rains, the clouds cover the views of snowy mountain peaks.Just for moments, they part to give a glimpse of what they are hiding, and the photographer does the rest...photos courtesy Ms Indrani DuttThe view from our rooms now look magical..The hills are green i...

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/in-place-and-time-a-mela-and-some-memories
15/05/2024

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/in-place-and-time-a-mela-and-some-memories

'I once went to The Somnath mela, 40 years ago... It is being held today. Do you want to see it? We will eat 'machchi-bhaat,' Kailash said.And so we set off for Masi, down by the Ramganga river.'There used to be fish stalls all over.. and that entire valley was a bull fair on this day. No one tills....

11/10/2023

Rain drive, Ranikhet.
Love the little streams that form and gush onto the road..

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/rainy-drives-in-kumaon
12/09/2023

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/rainy-drives-in-kumaon

Imagine that you are driving to my place in the rains. Rolling green hills. Gently winding roads. No traffic, after Ranikhet. You are listening to the rain pattering on the car roof. You realize you have turned off the stereo an hour ago. You can stop anywhere, and it's a photoshoot. The clouds are....

found this photo... from so long ago. haven't met this guy in a while.
28/06/2023

found this photo... from so long ago. haven't met this guy in a while.

17/02/2023

What a poor thing a calendar year is! What is, is a living, flowing, unbroken circle of seasons and activities. We kill it, straighten it out like a dead strip of leather, with holes punched every thirty days. We tie on this leash ourselves, and then complain that we are not free! Anyway, 2022 has p...

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/2022-whatever-that-means
17/02/2023

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/2022-whatever-that-means

What a poor thing a calendar year is! What is, is a living, flowing, unbroken circle of seasons and activities. We kill it, straighten it out like a dead strip of leather, with holes punched every thirty days. We tie on this leash ourselves, and then complain that we are not free! Anyway, 2022 has p...

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/october-harvests-and-hints
02/10/2022

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/october-harvests-and-hints

You can feel everything changing. It is in-between now. Light, dark. Warm, cool. Lush, dry. Man, animal. Goddess, mother. In a death struggle. In an eternal embrace. It is shrouded in mist. It is as clear as day. The last rains recede. Nanda Devi will soon emerge from behind the last clouds. Springs...

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/the-humble-pine
10/09/2022

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/the-humble-pine

These are the thoughts of Dr Supriya, my friend and colleague, who visited QR in August. She is a nature lover, with a deep knowledge that matches her passion for the environment. My last few trips to Kumaon brought me face to face with one of my prejudices, an inexplicable shunning of any stay in a...

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/the-englishman-s-style
20/08/2022

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/the-englishman-s-style

QR is all about a minimalist hill life. Its beauty is its immersion in nature. But there has been another way that beautiful living has been visualized in these parts. It was born in the dreams of the English Saheb, who sought out these hill stations, far from the heat and dust and crowds of the pla...

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/when-doorways-die
06/07/2022

https://www.qrhomestay.com/post/when-doorways-die

A generation or two ago, almost everything that a community used was made by local craftsmen. They used materials available locally, and their artistry was infused with both meaning and function. In that sense, the homes they built, the clothes they wove, they food they ate, were part of a people's....

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Village Ganoli
Dwarahat

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