Village Stays in India.

Last Sunday, the Times Of India supplement, Times Life, carried an article on ‘Rustication’ or rustic vacations that urban dwellers are increasingly searching for. I am no different. Having been born and brought up in the Maximum City, Mumbai, I have discovered that my heart lies in rustic India, in the beauty of the small, unspoilt villages and mountains, more specifically. There is something so heart warming about staying in villages and farms, breathing the pure air, eating food fresh from the farm and the pristine surroundings. Here’s a round-up of some of the village stays I've experienced and each one has been memorable. Of course there are more to come. Maybe, I’ll do part two on village stays sometime.

I've listed these in no particular order, although I've started with places closer to home.

In the alpine pastures in Spiti.

Velas: I visited Velas in February this year to see the hatching of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles. I stayed at Amol Soman’s spicefarm. The sea, sand, turtles, climbing mango trees, lip smacking Konkani food and lush spice farm made this a memorable experience. The rooms are no-frill, very basic, since Velas is relatively new to hosting people from the cities. But to make up for that is the sea (which I had all to myself when I visited), just a ten minute walk from the home-stay, the verdant spice farm and the relaxed pace of village life, which has not yet become touristy. Room tariff is Rs 700 including food and accommodation if you go as a couple or Rs 1000 only for the stay if you travel solo.

New born Olive Ridley turtles in Velas.

I had the whole Velas beach to myself. 

Amol Soman's spice farm. 

Lunch under a mango tree. The taste increased manifold :-)

A raw cashew nut.

Shreeyog Paryatan: I had visited this sleepy village in Sindhudurg with my husband in January 2015. It was a road trip, passing through sugarcane fields, vendors selling heaps of the fiery Kolhapuri chilies on the road side and passing through the bumpy roads on the ghats. The home-stay is run by the elderly Kadams who will treat you like their own family member. Mrs. Kadam is an excellent cook and even allows you to decide what you want to eat for the next meal and cooks accordingly. 25 kms away is the peaceful and non-touristy Tarkarli beach. Read my review on Tripadvisor. I do not wish you give out their contact details on this forum. So if you are interested, contact me. Tariff is Rs 1200 onwards for food and accommodation.

The vegetable garden in Kadams' house.

Fresh farm produce being sold on the way to Tarkarli.

Mrs. Kadam is a cook par excellence. 

The Tarkarli beach only for us. 

Panchgani: I did not stay in Panchgani, but had gone for strawberry picking in January this year. But if an opportunity presents itself I would stay on a strawberry farm too, so I’ve listed it under village stays. Panchgani is the lesser known and non-touristy cousin of Mahabaleshwar, where people from Mumbai and Pune escape to, during parched summers. Panchgani has stays for all kinds of budgets. Think of leisurely walks, picking strawberries in the numerous farms, eating gavran (village) Maharashtrian thali and basically doing nothing but relax.

Strawberries by the heaps.

Picking strawberries on the farm.

Rows of strawberries.

Rainforest retreat: The Rainforest Retreat or the Mojo Plantation is situated in a village called Gaalibeedu, around 10 kms from Madikeri, in Karnataka. I had volunteered for vanilla hand-pollination and also did a wall-art in one of the cottages depicting the local bio-diversity. The 25 acres of the entirely organic plantation grows coffee, vanilla, cardamom, pepper and fruits like pineapple (the best I’ve ever had), papaya, bananas, etc. The owners Sujata and Anurag Goel will make you feel at home, talk about Nature and bio-diversity with such passion that you are bound to leave from there with more knowledge about the environment and be more awed by Nature’s intelligence. The staff is extremely sweet and courteous. They invited me to their home for coffee in the wee hours of the morning, since I was to leave at 6 am. Tariff starts from Rs 2000 onwards. Website: http://www.rainforestours.com/

Inside the Rainforest Retreat.

Misty mornings with the song of the birds.

Food was delicious to say the least. 

Ravi, one of the staff who was extremely courteous and extremely knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the region.

This cutie pie of a calf took fancy to my bag and wanted to eat it. A refreshing change from the boring grass, you see! 

Sullia: A friend had invited us to his brother’s wedding. The venue turned out to be a 100 acre organic family farm. With sections devoted to swaying coconut trees, towering areca nut trees, square paddy fields, the farm is a peninsula of sorts, surrounded by a river on 3 sides, making the soil rich and fertile. The highlight was seeing and eating the flesh of a cocoa pod, drinking water from a well (ah, so sweet) and gathering arecanuts which  freshly plucked by the dexterous tree climber. The wedding was completely, what we urban people would call, eco-friendly, though for them it’s a way of life and they make no deal about it! This is a friend’s farm which we were fortunate to visit and stay in, so it’s not for visitors :-)

Inside the farm.

See how the decoration is entirely made with leaves, fruit and flowers.

Eating a cocoa pod.

Fresh okra. 

Bhujodi: There was no farm here, but the warmth and love of my hosts at Bhujodi village, where I painted a wall, made this a wonderful experience. The simplicity and down-to-earth nature of these award winning handloom artists, Vankar Dayabhai Ala, his son, Ashok bhai and family makes me want to go back and visit them again sometime. I was kept well hydrated with copious quantities of buttermilk to beat the heat, simple, scrumptious rustic food grown on their farm (which I couldn’t visit), and stories and anecdotes from their lives as artisans. A bonus was watching the entire process of weaving apiece of cloth as the artisans hummed and sang Kabir bhajans.  Since I was painting the wall outside theirhouse, they hosted me.

A cow staring at me in Bhujodi. 

Ashok Bhai posing in front of my wall art. 

Homely food at Ashok Bhai's house.

Kukma: This was another village where I stayed during my Kutch trip. I was put up in a rustic-chic guest house at KHAMIR, an organization that promotes Kutchi handicrafts, and excellently so. I used to wake up before sunrise, grab some masala chai in an earthen cup (kulhad) and walk around the campus being amused and entertained by birds chirping on a high decibel, getting ready to fly off in different directions for food and admiring the gorgeous sunrise on the barren landscape with sparse trees. I painted a wall here too. See the pictures here. The food is simple and delicious and the staff is very helpful. The buildings are made entirely out mud, which keeps the interiors cool in the desert summer and the décor is simple yet elegant. They also arrange for cultural tours in Kutch. Tariff starts at Rs 750.

The simple yet elegant guest house at Khamir. 

Cups of masala chai over sunrise.

Spiti: Well, in trans-Himalayan Spiti, you will be spoilt for choice when it comes to village stays, because except Kaza, the small town, there are only villages everywhere. I stayed at 5 different villages in Spiti. In Langza, I stayed the longest, volunteering in my host’s green peas farm. The job mainly involved weeding. Also helped with some cooking. Then I went to Komic, the highest inhabited village in Asia at the height of 5150 meters above sea level. In 2013, when I had visited there were only 13 houses and the total population of the village was 32 people. Next was Demul, Lhalung and then Tabo. Spiti is spectacularly beautiful from any village, so take your pick. Many backpackers and trekkers just  walk up to a village, knock on a door and ask to stay. Home-stays charge from Rs 150 to 300 for food and accommodation. The toilets are dry compost, owing to the dry, arid land and fragile ecosystem. The people are unbelievably kind and simple, because they have not yet been corrupted by people outside, but that may change soon with the promotion of tourism.

The entrance to Spiti. 

That's me pulling outs weeds on the farm. 

Spiti has many monasteries, their bright, lively colours contrasting with the browns and greys of the arid landscape. 

The highest inhabited village, Komic, as seen from the Komic monastery.

Ruhil Dhar and Kharapthar: I wanted to volunteer for apple harvesting last year so I visited a friend’s apple orchard in Himachal Pradesh, which his family has been managing for many generations. Both are remote villages, so you may not have heard of it. The work was hard for a city girl like me, but I managed to put in 5 hours of work everyday. The workers taught me how to climb trees, balance myself on slender branches, pluck the apples, without destroying the buds, collect them in the bag hung on my shoulder/neck and pass it down to the person standing below, successfully, without falling down. I enjoyed every bit of it. That together with the scrumptious, lesserknown traditional Himachali dishes like siddu, mash ke vade, etc made by my friend’s loving grandmother and served with liberal amounts of ghee, had me return with lovely memories.

The beautiful surroundings at Kharapathar.

Walking through the clouds and fog. 

A fully laden apple tree.

Variety of Himchali/Pahari delicacies. 

There are so many more villages to visit in so many other states in India, I've barely scratched the surface. Hope to visit many more soon. My aim is to visit at least one village in each state :-)

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A Home and Spice Farm-stay @ Amol Soman's in Velas.

The spice farm.

While planning the trip to Velas to see the hatching ofOlive Ridley turtles, I called up many home-stays listed on the Sahyadri Nisarga Mandal’s website. Many of them provided a dorm like accommodation with shared spaces with the bathroom outside the main house, as is the norm in traditional Indian villages. Then I came across Amol Soman’s home-stay, which has 4 rooms with attached bathroom and toilet. What made me zero in on this home-stay was that it has a 2 acre spice farm surrounding it and is opposite the memorial of the 16^th century Peshwa minister, Nana Phadnavis. I spoke to the owners, Amol Soman and his wife Akshata and called them several times closer to the date of departure (read here to know why).

The statue of Nana Phadnavis.

The rooms are pretty basic with each having two double beds to accommodate group bookings during weekends. The no-frill rooms is understandable since it’s a village which is still in the process of gearing up to receive visitors and the turtle sighting is main attraction here. They charge Rs 700 per day per person inclusive of food and accommodation, on a twin sharing basis. If you travelling solo, it’s Rs 800 only for the accommodation and separate charges for each meal.

Simple, traditional Konkani food cooked on a chulha. 

As part of the conservation program, when villages homes were enlisted as home-stays, the SNMCPN had instructed the homes-stay owners to serve only traditional food. That was a brilliant idea, as we got to sample simple Konkani food, cooked on traditional ‘chulhas’ or hearths. Some of the food items I loved were the raw jackfruit curry (a speciality only in coastal areas), and another instant pickle like item made with raw mangoes and garnished with onions. All the ingredients used in cooking are sourced from the farm in the backyard and that lends it an incredible freshness and exalted taste.

On the way to the mango orchard.

Mango flowers.

To add more value to the home-stay, this year onwards, Amol and Akshata have started a few innovative additions to Velas trip, which is otherwise focused only on Turtle hatching. This is to optimize and give visitors a larger taste of the Velas village life.

Rice being cooked on the chulha in the mango orchard.

One was a visit to their mango orchard. We drove upto a distance and from there on it’s an uphill climb to their orchard. It was not the fruiting season yet, so we could see only mango flowers and some small mangoes on some trees. I enjoyed climbing the mango trees, and applied my tree climbing skills acquired during apple harvesting in Himachal Pradesh. There was another agenda in the mango orchard- Lunch under a huge, old and benevolent mango tree. Akshata had got along one assistant and all the ingredients required to cook a meal. And while we climbed trees, rested on a mat in the shade, a delicious meal of rice flour bhakris (flatbread), pithla (a side dish made with chickpea flour) and a raw mango salad were being cooked, on a chulha. 

The food was exceptionally tasty. 

We also went around the orchard with Soman’s son , Sohum, who identified trees, shrubs and plants for us and even had us sample wild berries. Children in the village have such an innocence about them and a connect with Nature which touches me. We saw him and his little sister, climbing trees, hopping around, doing frog leaps and playing simple games reminding me of my own childhood in the 80’s. Anyways, food was ready and having satiated ourselves with a wonderful meal in a charming spot, we took rest under the shade of the trees savouring the taste. In the evening we headed out to the Bankot fort, which was a watch tower for Chhatrapati Shivaji’s army. More on that in another post.

Flowers of the cashew nut. 

A raw cashewnut. 

One more interesting trip was to the beach late in the night, at almost 11 pm. We were lucky as it was Full Moon night. We spent around half hour to 45 minutes on the rocky part of the shore and since it was high tide, we reveled in the spray of sea water as the waves crashed on the rocks before us. It was truly a magical moment as I sat on one of the steps, watching the silver crested waves racing against each other and giving me a foamy embrace with the full moon shining above in all its splendour.  

After reluctantly bidding the beautiful night sea good night, we headed back to the home-stay where Amol spooked us with ghost stories, some of which he has himself experienced. I've heard that Konkan is notorious for ghost sightings, and what’s a late night gathering, without spooky stories!

A jackfruit tree which is over a 100 yrs old. 

Clove chillies in the spice farm. 

This plant is called Ambemohar. When the leaves are crushed it exudes a fragrance like ambemohar rice, hence the name. 

Bay leaves. 

Black pepper creepers. 

I had seen the spice farm and could identify most plants, but requested Amol to take us around the farm again. In the morning, he gave us a tour of the farm, explaining the benefits of herbal and medicinal plants he has planted and also plants like pepper, arecanut, cloves and coconuts which are also sold commercially. It’s a completely organic farm and only natural and organic pesticides are used, not chemical ones.  They sell a variety of items like flattened rice (poha), nutmeg, raw banana flour (which is extremely nutritious and not easily available), black pepper, pappads, (all items are home-made) and bottles of alphonso mango pulp, with mangoes from their orchard and bottled in such a way that it stays good for 3 years if unopened.

Betel leaves. 

Black pepper. 

Nutmeg on the tree. 

If you get a chance, do interact with Amol’s father. He has a deep and intuitive understanding of herbs and medicinal benefits of plants and may recommend some to you if you have any ailments.

Another interesting thing was the ancestral house, adjacent to theirs which has been converted to a small museum of sorts, displaying old family artefacts and traditional farming and home equipment belonging to Amol’s grandmother, which are no longer in use today.

Old home and farm equipments. 

A cradle which is over a 100 yrs old used by generations in the family. 

One may also visit Nana Phadnavis’ memorial opposite their house. Although the internet will tell you that Velas was Phadnavis’ birth place, Amol says that this was his maternal Uncle’s village and only a memorial has been erected. Phadnavis’ descendants have requested the Somans’ to maintain and clean the area around the memorial, which they do everyday. 

The Senior Soman who has an intuitive knowledge of herbs and medicinal plants. 

Our three days trip was coming to an end. We were excited about Turtle watching, but we got to experience a lot more; lunch in a mango orchard, getting drenched in the sea water under the full moon, a visit to the Bankot fort and also enjoying a ferry ride, about which I will write in the next post. As a parting gift, Amol gave us each a coconut from his farm and a hand fan made of arecanut fibre. I requested one more for my husband and will be using them this summer J

Spices, condiments and mango pulp which the Somans sell from their farm. 

If you wish to stay at Amol Soman’s home-stay, you may call him on 02350- 220279. You may have to try the number multiple times, since network is pretty lousy in the village.

Velas waking up in the morning. 

We had a great time for sure, and plan to visit again during the mango season when trees would be laden with succulent, yellow fruit.