It brought people from many countries and all states of India to my guesthouse. For me, tourism has been my greatest teacher. In a way, the pandemic has given us an opportunity to introspect, go back to our roots and look for sustainable solutions. Now, all ardently hope that normalcyand tourism will return to the valley soon. Some went back to farming some took up pottery and some got involved in government work schemes. Local people, who were employed at over a hundred homestays and guesthouses, returned to their villages. Then, with the 2020-21 pandemic and lockdown, tourism came to a complete standstill in Jibhi Valley. Local businesses and tourists continued putting a burden on nature. Villages turned into towns with many concrete buildings. People built homestays and with rapid tourism growth, the region changed rapidly. Things changed significantly after 2008 when the government launched a homestay scheme. My business kept growing but it took years for tourism to take off in Jibhi Valley. I still remember the summer of 1992 when I put a signboard outside my first guesthouse in Jibhi Valley! The village residents, however, were sceptical about my success.
#Vexx artist three marker chaleng windows#
When my family finally relented, I renovated the house keeping its originality intact, just adding windows for sunlight. I pleaded with my father to ask the tenant to vacate the house so that I could convert it into a guest house. We had two houses – a family house and a traditional house, which we often rented out.