Jauljibi (Jaul Jibi) is a small market town dominated by its

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

on the Indo-Nepal border, situated at the confluences of the

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

and Gori rivers. Jauljibi refers to the villages and bazaars on both sides of the river. The

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

-side village in Sudurpashchim is much smaller than the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n one in

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

. A

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

, rebuilt several times, across the Kāli River has joined the bazaars and the people of both countries for over a hundred years. Jauljibi is a crossroads where the main road of the Indian district, the Pithoragarh-Jauljibi-Darchula-Tawaghat road which follows the

, is joined from the north by the Munsiary-Madkot-Jauljibi road, which follows the Gori River. It is the confluence of trade routes from Nepal to the east,

Askot Askot or Askote is a small Himalayan town in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand in India. It is the part of Kanalichhina development Block and Didihat Tehsil. The place is also famous for the Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary dedicated to the conservat ...

to the west, Johar Pass to Tibet to the north, and the

Darma Valley Darma valley is a Himalayan valley situated in the Pithoragarh District of Uttarakhand state of India. This valley is located in the eastern part of Uttarakhand at Kumaon division. The Darma valley is formed by the Darma River (also called ''D ...

to the northeast. The town is famous for its annual trade

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

held in November, popularly known as the Kumauni Festival. Thousands of people throng to the fair from the neighboring villages and districts to trade and to enjoy music, singing, dancing and food. The trade fair was initiated in 1914 by the Rajbar (''

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

'') of Askot. Until a permanent bridge was built in the 1960s, a bridge across the Kali was rebuilt in November of each year after the monsoon (summer rains), where in July the increased flow in the Kali had swept away the previous year's bridge. On 17 November 1974, during the annual Kumauni Festival and trade fair, the bridge across the Kail collapsed. Flooding in June 2013 again sweep away the suspension bridge. originally published in 2018 in Hindi as ''प्रलय के बीच''.

Notes and references

Uttarakhand {{Dadeldhura-geo-stub