Wise Wall Project, Saur

The Wise Wall Project, an initiative by Project FUEL and FUEL Foundation transforms villages into living classrooms, turning the walls of the same onto blackboards and canvases that uncover striking yet simple life learnings. These lessons are further designed and presented to the world through various mediums on our platform. The project aims to ignite a movement of transforming the long forgotten villages into open-air galleries, exhibiting human wisdom for anyone and everyone in the world to see and benefit from.

The initiative in Saur, sponsored by RoundGlass and supported by Due North uniquely addressed the problem of migration to urban spaces.

RoundGlass is committed to enabling individuals to live their Journey of holistic Wellbeing and Meaningful Living™.
DueNorth is a unique tourism adventure in the Himalayas of Uttarakhand fostering rural development, heritage communities and local crafts.

Saur is now the first village in recent history to have a documented database of life lessons from an entire community exhibited on the exterior of every house wall including the abandoned ones.

In Saur, people practice a unique tradition. Every time it doesn’t rain for a long period, the villagers gather together in the temple courtyard with the village musicians and they say, “hum baarish maangne ja rahe hai” (we are going to ask for rain).

Several years ago, goddess Durga came in the dream of the village blacksmith and she told him that her tiger had been injured and was by the river, and asked if the blacksmith could tend to it.
Obviously frightened, the blacksmith told the other villagers of his dream and they said you must go and help the goddess and her tiger. So he went to the river bank at midnight and found the tiger that the goddess had referred to in his dream. He tended to the tiger and the goddess was so happy that for several years she would visit the village. The morning after her visits, people would discover her footsteps and bring the soil home for worshiping.

The mural on this wall was conceptualized from the story that came from an old woman who has migrated out of the village. She recounted her favourite memory as the one in which she went to collect grass with her friends in the forest and they would find a spot to sit and sing for hours at a stretch.

There’s a special anecdote from history - back in the day, only the head of the village had a radio that was given to him by the Government of India, to stay up-to-date with news and current events.

All the villagers would gather around his house daily to find out what the news was. Turns out Aakashvani Lucknow was their station of choice.

'Panch Patthar' is a folk game that used to be played by young village girls back in the day. It involved five pebbles, a lot of balancing, and a smart mind to cheat and win.

'Garhwali Nath' is the most famous and distinct ornament of the Garhwali culture. This piece of jewellery is a must have for every bride.

The house we painted this portrait on, had had a wedding three months ago. It was only befitting to celebrate the daughter of the house wearing such a beautiful nose ring.

The rose wall was the first wall of painted patterns. Inspired by the local flora and fauna, we decided to take something mundane yet beautiful and let that fill up the space. The result, a long wall of roses that looks extremely beautiful from a distance.

This wall was dedicated to Birender ji, who was the person from the village hired to support us during the project. He asked us to paint a guy, painting a painting. We called it Paintception.

In Garhwali weddings, the man and woman are both made to sit in palanquins – yellow for the men and red for the women.

She carries a pink pouch around her neck to keep her mobile phone, which she uses to talk to her children. We named her as Digital Dadi.

When we asked her what we should draw on the wall of her house, she told us to draw her portrait so that people remember her even after she is gone.

“I was working in Dehradun around the freedom struggle. When the partition was announced, the riots broke out in the country. I saw people being killed in front of my eyes. We were 7 boys from the same village working there and over night we decided that we have to go back to our village to save our lives. We trekked for two days, hiding in several spots to make it back. After the situation improved, I wrote a letter to the Deputy Director I was working with before escaping and requested him to send my salary by money order if possible. He actually did send Rs. 36 as the sum total of my salary. I couldn't believe someone could be so kind and generous amidst such hatred. That was a defining moment of my life.”
Life Lesson: “Look for the light amidst the dark”
-Amir Chand, 93

“In my time, girls were not permitted to go to school. People, then, used to say that if you teach girls more, you will have to give more dowry. So, I only studied till 5th. I hope people today understand the importance of education. Today, getting educated is a luxury and must be a priority.”
Life Lesson: “Study well”
-Seema Devi, 49

“I didn’t get a chance to study. For as long as I can remember, I have always been working. Before my marriage, I was taking care of the cattle in my maternal home. After marriage, I was doing the same. The situation is still unchanged, though now my daughter helps me. But there has never been a moment of peace or relaxation.
Life has become comparatively easy in Saur. Earlier, we would trek up to the top of the mountain to collect grass. We would stay there collecting grass from 8 in the morning till 8 in the night. We would get so hungry throughout the day. Now it is easier to collect grass from the nearby areas. Even the road is closer to the village. All the basic necessities are available. There is electricity and water in home.”
Life Lesson: “All is well as long as you are self-sustaining”
-Geeta Devi, 50

Laced in rural wisdom, celebrating authentic conversations, narrating folktales and reviving an age-old fair, Saur Village festival is a two-day village experience festival. It serve as a platform for generating means of livelihood for the villagers, in-flow and showcase of talent and a revival of local arts.
With the festival becoming an annual event, we hope to initiate the rebuilding of Saur by bringing attention of the community, local authorities and tourism enthusiasts on its rich cultural history.