COVER STORY I TRAVEL I PERSONAL EXPERIENCE SELVAPRAKASH LAKSHMANAN
a treatment room at the spa-elevation
it was only after she returned after doing her MBA at Columbia in 2012, following a quick summer internship at Shangri La, Hong Kong, that she joined Tamara, which had already been purchased by her family; she is Infosys founder S D Shibulal’s daughter, and her 0.64 per cent stake in the company, is estimated to be worth close to `900 crore. As head of strategy, she realised that her heart was in the trenches. “I enjoyed getting my hands dirty; it was the only way I could give wings to my vision”. And it is this distinct vernacular that underlines every aspect of this extraordinary place.
TOP SCORERS
Their multi-cuisine restaurant The Falls defies most descriptors. The cavernous space, open on the sides, looks like a Spanish hacienda with vaulted ceilings, and wooden beams running across that are almost alpine in inspiration. Built on stilts, the dense carpet of foliage below offers views of a hundred different shades of green painted in leaf shapes even a child couldn’t conjure. A small waterfall runs just below the deck so you can hear the water; never too loud to disturb, yet audible enough to distract from poor company or conversation. The food fits every taste profile with avial, Bengali fish kaliya, pasta Al fredo, Thai curries and the famous Coorgi pandi (pork) curry among a virtual feast. Most of the ingredients are local, including organic vegetables from their own gardens. 32 INDIA TODAY SPICE u NOVEMBER, 2016
ACTIVITIES TO SAVOUR BLOSSON TO BREW The heritage building ‘Verandah’ hosts the “Custom Coffee” section where guests can custom blend and roast their own coffee beans to create the perfect “cuppa” COFFEE TRAILS Guided tour of the plantation via coffee and spice plantations GETTTING AROUND Guided trekking tours and personalised yoga sessions
The wooden cottages are the most charming architectural frill on the property; the interiors resemble a Swiss chalet with warm, cozy, spaces, split into two levels. The rooms open out to private decks that bring in the natural gorgeousness of the valley, forest and mountain views. The en-suite, ultra modern bathrooms have rain showers and multi-jet shower panels and are all wood too. The two Eden Lotus Suite cottages even feature an outdoor private Jacuzzi. But it’s not the amenities themselves that shock and awe, it’s the fact that you can enjoy them, crested among the trees that are the real game changer. The Spa—The Elevation—ensconced in a restored 100-year-old plantation bungalow is a treasure. It offers both Ayurveda and western treatments with few therapists, who are well-trained in both. Sweet smiles, soft hands and soothing music make this tranquil studio roll to an even more mellow trill than the resort. The signature coffee therapy is not to be missed. It uses plantation-grown organic coffee beans. The gentle scrub works in ways that only show up as silken skin and coffee-scented dreams. Somewhere between the nostalgic charms of old plantation bungalows, Swiss chalets and Spanish haciendas, this is the place where you come to truly live or peacefully die. Tamara cleverly combines pleasure and virtue in one—how rare is that? The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind...