“MAY I SEND A PICNIC basket with your airport pick-up?” Brindha Ramprasad, Svatma’s front-office manager, messages me. There’s a sense of warmth and welcome in the message, immediately conducive to well-being. Chauffeur Mani, our old friend from previous visits, greets us at the airport, handing us resplendent baskets teeming with local snacks so fresh they are still warm. Mani’s driving is as swift as his mind is still. Here lies a philosophical message for the experience that is Svatma.
On arrival, Brindha anoints us with tilaks, offers exotic herbal libations like panakkam, nannari, and vasanta neer. Then, she escorts us to the Heritage Swappanam Suite. Beautiful floral arrangements and brass figurines bearing jasmine in cupped hands exude a hypnotic scent; stately Chettinadu pillars standing behind the antique four-poster bed evoke trees: it’s as if the outdoors are ushered in. This suite comes with its own terrace embowered in the gushing foliage of a neem tree, conjuring the Tree of Life. Birds encrust the tree. They serenade all day, deep into the night. Swaying on an old rocking chair on the terrace, observing two birds in the tree, I recall the parabolic birds of the Mundaka and Svetasvatara Upanishads symbolizing the jivatma and Paramatma. One may see metaphors in the lavish bathrooms, too, where the central stand-alone marble-topped basin boasts a two-faced mirror, framed in a tree-shaped stand, seemingly reflecting that mental and physical wellbeing are two faces of the same coin. I’m snatched from the reverie by the jangling phone: the Siddha doctor has arrived for our consultation.
Denne historien er fra September 2021-utgaven av Travel+Leisure India.
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Denne historien er fra September 2021-utgaven av Travel+Leisure India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Lunching In Leh
Turtuk, the last town of India in Ladakh, is having a culinary and hospitality renaissance, discovers Harsh Surti
The Medieval Charm of Elsinore
Elsinore, in eastern Denmark, is a charming city full of surprises, such as its interesting link to Shakespeare, discovers Ami Bhat
Natural Selection
In other parts of the world, natural wine production can be raw, wild, and a little messy. But a road trip through southeastern Austria reveals that, in a land where order and understatement reign, even the low-intervention bottles are elegant and refined.
Where the Wild Things Are
Uncovering Rwanda's natural treasures-and the gift of multigenerational travel
FROM THE VOICE WITHIN
A hit new season of a cult show, a brand new production venture, and a baby girl-it seems Ali Fazal is on top of the world right now. Amid a new parenting journey, the actor talks to SAMREEN TUNGEKAR about his travel persona, his instincts, and what feeds the artiste within him
MONSOON IN THE WILD
For nature lovers craving the lush serenity of monsoon forests, off-season safaris in national park buffer zones offer rare rewards and vital support to local economies, discovers Chandreyi Bandyopadhyay.
Ray of Sunshine
Getting diagnosed with life-threatening ailments can spell doom, but for actor Lisa Ray, it became a testament to her resilience. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2009, the former model maintained a positive outlook, blossomed into a vocal advocate for cancer awareness and support, and turned author with a book chronicling her story. In a chat with Bayar Jain, she gets candid about her journey of hope and healing
Championing Change with Conversations That Matter
Aditi Mayer is a responsible storyteller who likes to look at fashion through a lens of social and environmental justice. She tells Samreen Tungekar about how she manages her own mental health and wellness despite work that promotes positive change and requires mental bandwidth
Travelling Through Conscious Well-Being
In the ever-evolving landscape of wellness, where data meets intuition and science aligns with ancient practices, Deepak Chopra stands as a unique bridge between these worlds. Chopra talks to Dipali Patwa about how travel, when intertwined with wellness, becomes a powerful catalyst for personal transformation.
Transcending The 'Trend'
For Rimzim Dadu, the creation of a collection is about lending the pieces a timeless quality. Samreen Tungekar talks to the designer about her creative process, and how her travels intersperse with her approach to design