Ghoomakad

Ghoomakad (meaning a continuous traveller) is located in village Rakkar.

Ghoomakad (explorers) from all over, with various backgrounds and lines of action, knowledge and expertise live here as family, learn, share and collaborate with each other. We generally take in residents for at least one week, for a deeper engagement and relationships to happen.

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What We Offer

* Located in a village beautifully surrounded by the mountains, rivers and forests - Ghoomakad offers an organic - environmental reform that makes the senses more aware and receptive facilitating Self Discovery, growth and creation.
* There is wide open space with a variety of herbs, fruit, vegetables, ornate plants, wild plants, trees, grass, insects and animals.
* There are two halls which can be used for artistic creativity, software development, workshops, events, musical jams, video screening etc
a kitchen hall (Boat House, ground floor)
a studio/workspace (Lotus, ground floor)
* There are 15 rooms.
* Apart from the space, we offer a variety and depth of talent in technology, mountain survival skills, music and gardening. You are welcome to come here and learn, while building the prototype for your dream project.
* We have a good local support. It is a great possibility for cultural exchange, learning traditional arts and working together where one learns from one-another.

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Food

Fresh home cooked meals are prepared by the members at the space. If you don't enjoy cooking, you can clean the dishes or segregate the waste. The kitchen is open all the time. The village has basic convenience stores that can be used for most supplies. Well stocked shops and cafes are reachable within a 10-20 minute walk from Ghoomakad.

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Travel

Buses to Dharamshala (9km) are available from the crossing at Ghoomakad. Raju bus crosses Ghoomakad three times a day as well. A new government bus has started to ply 3 times a day as well. More frequent bus service available on the other side of river Manoni (5 minute walk) or from Sidhbari (15 min walk).

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Facilities and Tools

Camping site
Self sustainable maker/unlearning space for children and curious adults
Fast broadband WiFI
Bed, breakfast, lunch and dinner. 24x7 open kitchen
Guitars, flutes, harmonica, xylophone, jambe and other musical instruments
Drills, saws, measuring tape
Raspberry Pis, soldering station, multimeter and other electronic/electrical equipment
Laundry machine
Organic waste pit
Microscope
Library
A wooden oven
An extra kitchen, made local style with mud stoves, called Maikhana
Lotus hall with a spare laptop or two
Boathouse hall for cooking experiments, and screenings.
Unicycles and motor bikes

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Local Organizations and Communities

* Jagori Grameen woman empowerment, organic farming and food distribution
* Nishta, an NGO which focuses on healthcare, primary education and waste management
* Dharamsala Animal Rescue
* MyEarthStore: Organic boutique shop at Sidhbari and a farm.
* Norbulingka Institute
* Gyuto monastery and other Buddhist monasteries nearby
There are quite a few more in the vicinity

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Other Village resources

* Government run secondary school
* Nishta's computer center
* Nishtha's medinal clinic
* Grocery shops
* Tailor
* Clothes and curtains boutique
* Fresh dairy product - milk and cow dung
* Carpentry workshop
* Local farm produce
* Mineral water spring
* Village sports ground

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Places Nearby

* River Manoni - Freshly melted snow from Dhauladhar range, running across the length of the village. Great for baths.
* Aghanjar Mahadev Shiv temple by the Manoni river. 20 minutes walk up the road.
* Norbulignka Institute for Tibetan arts and culture, Fatehpur (1km)
* Gyuto Karmapa Monastery, Sidhbari (1km)
* Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development (CORD), Tapovan (3km)
* McLeod Ganj, Bhagsu and Dharamkot (12km)
* Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy & Politics and children's learning center, Palampur (35km)
* Andretta Pottery and Crafts Society, Palampur (45km)
* Billing paragliding area, Bir (55km)

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Past Events

* Jul 13, 2013 - Cryptoparty Dharamshala
* Nov 8, 2013 - Digital Dhasa meetup number 3
* Dec 27-30, 2013 - 30C3 Congress Everywhere linked to Chaos Computer Club's 30th annual Congress in Hamburg
* Dec 27-30, 2013 - Hacked Chess tournament for the local Dharamsala community and visiting friends and hackers
* Dec 27-29, 2013 - Wikipedia Hackathon with school children and Dharamsala geek community
* Oct 10-26, 2014 - Hillhacks temporary hackerspaces and conference hall for workshops, talks and sessions around technology, art, society, earth and life
* Oct 31 - Nov 3, 2014 - Dharamsala International Film Festival To celebrate great independent cinema in the mountains
* May -June 2015 - Second Hillhacks Workshops, talks and sessions around technology, art and society. Connecting with the likeminded.
* April 4th - May 20th 2016 - CodeCamp, in collaboration with Jaaga study. We hosted a camp for around 40 programming enthusiasts to learn coding, teach coding and make their own open source applications, in a peer to peer environment.
* May 21st -June 5th 2016 - Third Hillhacks Workshops, talks and sessions around technology, art and society. Connecting with likeminded