Posted by Today was a day full of fun and festivity at the Harmony Hall at Thanedhar, Kotgarh. The entire Stokes clan had gathered from all corners of the world. The eldest, Mr. Vijay Stokes had organised a traditional dham. It was a reunion of sort for the people here as they were meeting the entire family after a long long time. The younger generation of the Stokes is now settled in the United States and only Mr. Vijay Stokes stays here in the Barubag Hills. Mrs. Satya Parmar, wife of the late Chief Minister Mr. YS Parmar had also come for this occasion who also hails from the Stokes family. Here are a few pictures I clicked without intruding into the privacy of the family. To know more about the Stokes family and the Barubaug hills read Stokes legacy in Kotgarh.
Stokes residence, The Harmony Hall, built by Mr. Satyanand Stokes in the early 20th century.
Natti starts with the ladies taking the lead
And goes on for hours!
The Arya Samaj temple built by Mr. Stokes
The temple has inscriptions on the walls with no deity in the temple. Mr. Stokes was an Arya Samaji after all
Another look at the temple
Some great views from the Barubag top. A view of the Kotgarh valley
The distant hill tops looked so near. The farthest hills are that of Rohru
An amazing view of the Satluj
Another view of the Harmony Hall
Also see pictures of welcoming the new bride in Kotgarh and a trip back home to Kotgarh
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nice pic……..
Amazing pics
Wow!!!!!!!! What majesty? I wonder if there are carpenters still who know the art.
Great picture and very informative. Btw is there other literature about Stokes besides “An American in Khadi”. I was told that this book is a biography of his.
Thanks
‘American in Khadi’ has been re-published as ‘American in Gandhi’s India’. The book has been written by Stoke’s grand daughter Asha Sharma. This is available on Amazon. I think there is no other book which covers Kotgarh and Stokes better than this one.
This book is available on Google books. Read an excerpt
here
Here’s God’s plenty.Thanks for sharing the magnificent photographs- Nityin!
That temple is amazing, Nityin! Thanks for sharing.
awesome pictures Nityn… specially the one with Rijta clad women….
:):)
Thank you everyone for the kind words. Had a great Sunday after a very long time.
PS: Never knew this post would be such hit. There were 139 page views alone for this post today
As a little boy, when I lived in Princeton, a frequent visitor to my home, was Vijay Stokes. My father, who was doing research in Physics, and my mother enjoyed Vijay’s visits. Vijay Stokes remained a lifelong friend of my family’s. He probably does not know that my Dad died 2+ years ago.
What I remember of Vijay was that he was in a big hurry! He came to Princeton to do a Masters. When he found that no one prevented him from taking extra work load, auditing classes, etc., he went at it with a vengeance. As I recall it, he broke all Princeton records by earning a couple of Masters degrees plus a doctorate in a little over two years. I think he had a girl in India who he wanted to return to and marry!
That is a great info Shelley! Now looking at his simple life style here, you will be surprised! I did not knew he had a doctorate.
Many thanks for your great feedback.
I’ll double-check those facts in a couple of hours. I will lunch with my Mother and she should remember more exactly.
My mother says that Vijay just wanted one thing when he came over (quite frequently, I gather). Aloo! Any kind of ‘aloo’ would do!
She also recalls that he only stayed at Princeton for about a year and a half. And, yes, he earned two Masters and a Ph.d. in that time. He was betrothed to a girl in India and so was in a hurry. He then went and taught at Kanpur IIT.
Great info Shelly.. keep them coming.
Sorry, delayed replies from my end as am traveling these days
Great pictures. Where is the clan photo?
Well, I missed out on that one
Hi Nitin, very nice pictures of HH, Barubag, Thanedhar, Satluj valley & the nati. Thanks & keep up the good work. Love, Deepak.
Thanks Deepak ji..
thanks for the link. the article on stokes legacy is quite useful. So you are a photographer too. great pics.