You could call it ‘pind rewind’, pind meaning village in Punjabi. Its official name is Nawapind Sardaran, and it is now the all-new destination for the traveller keen to experience a slice of Punjabi rural life. Led by a group of women—sisters Gursimran Kaur Sangha, Gurmeet Rai Sangha, Manpreet Kaur Sangha, Gita Sangha and Noor Sangha, and their mother Satnaam Sangha—this quaint village in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district is treading the path of sustainability. It recently bagged the Best Tourism Village of India award from the Union Ministry of Tourism. The village, which combines rustic beauty and cultural wealth, now lures travellers from across India.
The Sangha success story starts way back in time. The seed for the Nawanpind Sardaran phenomenon was sown when Narain Singh constructed a haveli—the Pipal Haveli—here. In 1886, his son Beant Singh, great-grandfather to the sisters, constructed a home, now referred to as the Kothi. “My father died in 1982 and the house became a hurtful space. My mother moved into town, and our visits to the village became fewer,” says Manpreet, a licensed massage therapist and yoga instructor.
When the youngest sister was to get married in 2008, the family decided to host the wedding at the Kothi. Gurmeet, a conservation architect, renovated the family home. “We wanted the restored building to respond to the original design,” Gurmeet says. When the Punjab government started a farmstay scheme in 2009, the family procured a licence. “I moved back from the US the same year, and in 2010 decided to run the place as a homestay,” Manpreet says.
Around the same time, Gurmeet bought Pipal Haveli and renovated it. While the Kothi took around seven months to restore, the Haveli, renamed The Pipal Tree was finished over three phases from 2007 to 2021. “It has been a labour of love that also fostered cultural and knowledge exchange between all those who worked on it,” she says.
Today, both ancestral properties, set in a land known for its bucolic beauty, are popular with tourists. Surrounded by rich yellow mustard fields, The Kothi and The Pipal Tree showcase the character of a traditional Punjabi home built. The location—near the Upper Bari Doab Canal—creates a picturesque setting. The canal was one of the first irrigation projects constructed in Punjab during the British Raj, and irrigated lands in the Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Lahore districts of undivided Punjab.
“With no-itinerary stays, our visitors often end up visiting the dairy farm, learning how to cook Punjabi food, taking a tractor, tonga or gadha rides, visiting nearby historical and ecological sites, and even helping with seasonal crop activities,” Manpreet says, adding, “Nawanpind Sardaran is sacred ground for us.” The sisters have launched conservation efforts to protect other historic houses, trained local artisans and women in traditional crafts and sustainable building practices, and launched initiatives such as greywater treatment chambers with phytoremediation techniques.
Gursimran runs a goat herding enterprise with the help of local youths, and plans to scale up the farm. Gita has created a self-help group for women, with her “Bari collective” helping 60 local women skilled in embroidery, crochet and knitting and sell their work. Noor, a lawyer, helps with the legal and administrative work. “While growing up, our life was imprinted with the village flow. Now we want to give back,” Manpreet says.
The homestays have meant direct employment for a dozen residents from the village and indirect employment for approximately 50. Manpreet wants to now delve into the wellness tourism space and open a retreat in the village. “This is where our hearts and minds are, and where all of us returned to be closer to our roots,” she says.
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