Kushalrani Gulab of the Hindustan Times recently visited our beautiful property in Kerala and left a glowing review in her newspaper . Avery unbiased and honest opinion of a journalist who is used to the hustle and bustle of Mumbai .

Monday morning at the office recently was rather more peculiar
than Monday mornings usually are. I had just returned from a three-day trip
that had so effectively relaxed me that I felt as though I?d been away from
work for three months. What was the cover story this week? I?d known what it.

was even at 10 am the previous Friday, when my flight landed at Coimbatore
Airport. But by 10.01 am, the scent of fresh, green foliage and the practically
pollution-free oxygen I?d inhaled in the last one minute had clearly gone to my
head. I?d forgotten all about Mumbai. And by 2 pm, after I?d been at the
Kairali ? The Ayurvedic Healing Village or a couple of hours, I?d forgotten
even that I work for a living. No wonder Monday morning ? and reality ? was so
very puzzling.

The
Big Easy
I hadn?t known what to expect when I was invited to visit the Kairali ? The
Ayurvedic Healing Village in Palakkad, Kerala, endorsed by the National
Geographic Traveler as one of the top 50 wellness Meccas in the world. I?d
never been to the state before, so all I knew about it was what I?d read in
travelogues ? that it is green, beautiful and the perfect place for
fresh-from-the-Arabian Sea seafood. Which sounded good, but I was to stay at
the Kairali ? Ayurvedic Healing Village. And I hadn?t a clue what a health
resort would be like. Likely to be self-righteous and grim? Ayurvedic, so pure
vegetarian? Early to bed and earlier to rise for earnest yoga and meditation?

Well. It was pure veg so there was not even a hint of seafood
(and since it?s a Healing Village, the food was also low in salt). It was early
to bed simply because the Healing Village is not close to any town, and aside
from TV and books, there wasn?t anything else to do. It was, therefore, early
to rise, but not for earnest yoga if I didn?t want to do it (though I did).

But self-righteous and grim? Far from it. It was quiet, peaceful, filled with
smiley, helpful people who?d chat if you wanted to chat but leave you alone if
the only company you wanted was your book.

To my surprise, I didn?t languish in this non-urban (the Healing Village is set
in 55 acres of land, 45 acres of which are devoted to growing organic food for
its kitchens), slow-paced environment so different from my own. I thrived. And
I hadn?t gone there with a specific ailment, so imagine what might have
happened if I had.

Sure
Cure
Usually, you go to Kairali with specific ailments or complaints. It is a
Healing Village after all, and its Ayurvedic hospital with doctors and trained
therapists, is the reason for its existence. Though there is a swimming pool,
library, gym, business centre and curio shop within the Kairali premises (not
to mention the fact that every room is actually a charming little villa), this
isn?t really a place for the ordinary holidaymaker. It?s a place for a cure.

Which means a three- or four-day break here, though possible to arrange, is not
really encouraged. A week is the minimum you?d require if a health programme is
to do you any real good; ideally two weeks to a month. In any case, before you
sign up for a stay at Kairali, you have to consult either online or on the
phone with one of the two Ayurvedic doctors of Healing Village who will advise
you on the kind of package you could take.

Treatments are holistic (and hooray, they include massages!), and this is where
Kairali?s relative isolation helps. Aside from providing peace and quiet of a
kind you?d never find in any city ? also essential to your good health ? its
distance from the towns that dot Palakkad district means that you?re more or
less protected from being led off your health programme?s straight and narrow
path.

Wander WomanNot that you have to stay within the premises of the Healing
Village all the time if you?d rather not. You could hire a car and take off for
a bit of sightseeing, shopping and perhaps the occasional non-sattvic meal.

So on Sunday morning, even though I could have wandered off to the sit-out by
the waterfall with my book and sat around doing nothing for longer, I consented
to get into a car instead to see a bit more of Kerala than Kairali.

After an exhilarating walk across the dam at the Malampuzha Garden and a look
around the Palakkad Fort, built by Hyder Ali, father of Tipu Sultan, it was
time for some shopping. I wasn?t terribly interested in clothing and curios.
All I wanted was sambar powder and banana chips, and I found the real things.
The sambar powder is now jazzing up my daal at home, and what can I say about
the banana chips? I actually stood at the shop and watched the plantains go
through the slicing machine, drop into the hot oil, and emerge crisp, ready for
the salt and my one-kilo packet. So there wasn?t seafood. But there were banana
chips. It was Kerala.

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