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January 2012 - Makara Sankranti Makara Sankranti, one of the most auspicious occasions in the Hindu calendar. It is the day when the Sun transits from Sagittarius to Capricorn to begin its journey northwards, and while other festivals are moveable feasts following the lunar calendar, Makara Sankranti is the only festival whose date always falls on the same day every year, January 14th. In popular belief, the gods and goddesses have been asleep for the past two weeks; today they wake up and begin their cosmic play again. The sun symbolizes the soul in Hindu astrology and stands for knowledge, spiritual light and wisdom. Makara Sankranti thus marks the rebirth of light, life and possibility after the darkest part of winter. Happily for the Hermitage, this festival today coincides with our third anniversary, so it is perhaps time to reflect on our progress so far. As we all know, the last few years have been a very difficult time internationally, and the timing of The Hermitage’s opening has been a real test of our commitment to providing the very best for our guests as we introduce the enchanting region of Malabar to discerning visitors. In the autumn of 2008 we had our soft opening, which was followed almost immediately by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai at the end of November. Then, by Christmas, everybody had realized that the world recession was serious, and it was here to stay. Hardly an auspicious beginning! But we pushed on, and were fully open by the end of January 2009. Our efforts and dedication were rewarded when we began to gain very positive press coverage in various prestigious publications such as: Conde Nast Traveller, National Geographic, High Life BA magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and the Sunday Times. Tatler magazine voted us one of the ‘Top 101 Hotels of the World’, and The Sunday Telegraph voted us one of the ‘Top four Ayurvedic spas in Kerala’. Moreover, we were chosen by Relais and Chateau to be one of their three representative hotels in India - a considerable achievement for a hotel in its first year of operation. This progress has continued steadily into our second and third years. Good press coverage continues internationally as well as the accolades from happy guests, many of which, gratifyingly for us, are becoming part of our family as repeat clients. And we have continued to develop and upgrade the hotel: a new, more spacious Meenakshi fish restaurant with a larger and better appointed kitchen was built for this season; improvements and refinements are continually being made to both the public and private rooms and to the gardens. So here we are at our third birthday. From our side, what has delighted and sustained us has been how you, our guests, have appreciated the holistic and caring ambience we have tried to create here. At The Hermitage we believe that what is important is to live in a simple, civilized way, which includes paying attention to the little things; as someone once said ‘God is in the details’. And we believe in taking care of body, mind and spirit and in always being open enough to learn more, and appreciate more, of this extraordinary adventure that is human life. Whatever may be going on in the outside world, here at The Hermitage we shall continue as we have started, doing our best to act in harmony with the laws of nature and maintain a clear focus on providing a tranquil and nourishing haven for all who come here. We wish you all an auspicious Makara Sankranti and a very happy 3rd birthday to The Hermitage! ...................................................................................................................... December 2012 - Mark Shand Visits Neeleshwar Here at the Hermitage we are very happy to have had Mark Shand among our recent guests. Mark is a conservationist who wrote the delightful Travels on my Elephant - a travel adventure and story of his love affair with Tara his elephant - which the renowned travel writer Eric Newby lauded as ‘a pachydermic masterpiece’. Shand now runs Elephant Family, a conservationist charity which does noble work as the UK's biggest funder for the endangered Asian elephant, whose numbers have plummeted by 80% in the past 100 years. It works to set up ‘elephant corridors’ as safe areas for the wild herds. The charity’s latest international project is Elephant Parades in many major cities worldwide. Up to 250 large models of the pachyderm, made by well-known artists, are exhibited around the city before being auctioned. The one in London in 2010 raised GBP 4 million. As part of the event, a consignment of elephant dung large enough to fertilise the average suburban garden for a year was also auctioned durbar in Richmond, West London. This gathering of the great and the good was presided over by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall as well as Britain's Asian business elite was well represented: steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and the millionaire king of the ready-made curry, Sir Gulam Noon, were among those attending. The dung had been generously donated by three Indian elephants belonging to Lord Robin Russell, a trustee of the charity, and the chairman of Sotheby's conducted the sale. All in all it was a suitably grand affair for a noble cause and a noble creature. We look forward to welcoming them both back to The Hermitage soon! ...................................................................................................................... Indian wine, why not? Something strange is happening to the beautiful area around the pilgrimage town the town of Nasik that lies in the heart of Maharashtra about 120 miles north-east of Mumbai. One of the holiest spots in India, Nasik is famous as the site of the Ardh Kumbh Mela, a religious gathering of several million that it hosts every 12 years. The ancient Shiva temple of Tryambakeshwara is here, set on the banks of the holy Godavari river against the dramatic backdrop of the Western Ghats, hills eroded over the centuries into fantastic shapes. But what is exciting many people at the moment about this hallowed area is that it is fast becoming the Napa Valley of India. Not that long ago, the phrase ‘Indian wine’ was almost a contradiction in terms; decent home-grown wine was just not on the menu. Today, in tandem with the country's huge changes in lifestyle, the wine culture is expanding rapidly in India, and no one is happier than her foreign visitors. The new frontier of wine production is to be found in the boutique vineyards around Nasik. A major centre for growing grapes to eat for a century, the area only saw its first vineyards in the late 1990s. Today, a mere 15 years later, there are more than 45 vineyards in the region. Perhaps the most successful Nasik wines are those from the Sula vineyards. The main winery is an extremely well run outfit, with two stylish yet informal restaurants, an information centre with a shop, hourly guided tours, an amphitheatre, a laid-back café that includes tasting tables and a gallery showing the story of wine in the area. The model is clearly Napa Valley, and this is hardly surprising as the place is the creation of Rajeev Samant, an Indian economist who worked in California’s Silicon Valley before returning to India in the mid-nineties and setting to work to transform his ancestral 30-acre estate into a Californian-inspired destination winery. Over a dozen years the business has grown hugely and today Sula manages 1,500 acres and produces a range of very pleasing wines, from Chardonnay to Rosé and Shiraz. No wonder the moustachioed sun that is Sula’s distinctive logo is smiling so broadly. Wine drinking is still, of course, very new here. India was never an alcohol culture, traditionally preferring stimulants ranged from the mildly intoxicating sherbets imported from Persia by the Mughals as an alcohol- substitute, to opium or the decoctions of hashish known as bhang often used in a religious context. Then there were drinks reserved for royalty, such as the aphrodisiac liquors called ashas, which could contain fifty or more strange ingredients including crushed jewels. It was the Europeans who introduced India to alcohol, but as far as wine went, the climate imposed real challenges. Indians wine producers have had to learn the importance of controlling over-fruiting, producing just one harvest a year and the judicious pruning of vines in the monsoon. Another factor has been the simple the fact that wine doesn’t go with all Indian food, especially the hotter curries such as those found in Andhra Pradesh. Happily, this reservation does not apply to the finely nuanced dishes of Kerala, whose flavours are delicately aromatic without being overpowering, evincing a subtlety due to the freshly picked local spices and the gustatory balm of coconut in various forms. Here at The Hermitage we take full advantage of these exciting possibilities and our guests soon find that Indian dishes are perfectly complemented by the subtle tastes that Indian vineyards are beginning to produce so successfully. Diners at our Annapurna restaurant can combine a pleasantly spicy red with our speciality Hosdurg chicken curry, or if they feel like dining al fresco to the sound of the waves at Meenakshi, our beachside seafood restaurant, they could choose a chilled Sula Sauvignon Blanc as an excellent accompaniment to fish caught that very morning and beautifully prepared by Chef Tony. Back in the late 1970s the world dismissed New Zealand's wines; today they are amongst the finest in the world. A similar transformation is now being fashioned in India - make no mistake, Indian wine is here to stay. Come and sample some with us; we look forward to seeing you here! ...................................................................................................................... Birds & Wildlife at the Hermitage
Early morning by the beach is the best place to see them. Kites ride the thermals in wide, lazy circles or gather in numbers on the sand; smaller than them is the elegant Brahminy Kite with its white head and chest and russet wings. Grey-headed Eagles and Fishing Eagles are common, and there is a pair of snake-eating White-bellied Sea Eagles nesting just north of our lagoon, one of only 38 pairs known in Kerala. Black, long-necked Little Cormorants perch on trees, hanging out their wings to dry in the sun. Various Waders pick their way fastidiously through the water, while white Little Eagrets and the larger Great Eagrets can often be spotted, usually on the far side of the lagoon, their favourite fishing place. Pretty green and golden Bee Eaters with their long spike of a tail, and their cousins the Blue Tailed Bee Eater, play in the trees around the lagoon, while Sandpipers, Green and Red Shanks (named after the colour of their legs), White-breasted Kingfishers with long beak, blue back and orange wings, and the larger black-and–white Pied Kingfishers are all often seen. In the gardens, keep a look out for the small, purple-rumped Sunbirds, rather like humming birds with long nectar-drinking bills that can be sighted feeding at the top of coconut palms. An elegant Pond Heron, with white and brown streaked throat, grey-mushroom back and white under wings, is very often seen stepping fastidiously around the lawns in search of insect prey, while the brilliant Flameback Woodpeckers can be seen climbing the trees in the early evening, usually in pairs. About the size of a large starling they have a small bright red crest, speckled black and white head and breast and reddish-saffron wings. Their call is loud and startling. Keep your eyes open too for the dignified Coucal (often called the Pheasant Crow) blue-black with russet wings and a long tail, that usually steps elegantly along the ground or hops among the lower branches of bushes or small trees. Sometimes seen in twos or threes (locals believe a sighting brings good luck) their call is a very distinctive series of hoop-hoop-hoop-hoop-hoop-hoop-hoop cries, descending and then rising towards the end. Malabar is very rich in bird life, having over 340 species. One bird not yet reported here is the Prescient Parakeet. ‘Parrot Astrologers’ are roadside fortune-tellers who read your future with the help of a tame green parakeet. The bird picks up a card from a special deck of tarot-like cards, and gives it to the astrologer who interprets it according to the questions that you ask. This fairground skill, now confined to Tamil Nadu and Kerala, dates back to ancient India, and a version of it was practised until fairly recently by the Romanies in Europe. These people were originally low caste nomadic tribes from Rajasthan who, on their way to Europe, stayed a long time in Egypt, hence their common English name ‘gypsies’. However, perhaps mindful of their origins, they prefer to call themselves didicoits, a name derived from a Rajasthani dialect word meaning ‘traveller’. Binoculars and bird books are available to use at Meenakshi, and our life-guard Prasanth will also help you to spot some of these birds. A trip up the lagoon in our canoe will reveal many more species too shy to come out into the open. |
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