On this intoxicating moonlit night…I will wait alone in a quiet corner of my room.” I hear faraway strains of the bard’s song waft across the moonlight-washed terrace of Mitali, my home for two nights in Santiniketan, Tagore’s ‘Abode of Peace’.
But where is it coming from?
Though several houses have come up in the vicinity in recent times, the closest is still kilometres away. If you look around, you still see only the inky evening horizon stretching in all directions, silhouettes of trees swaying gently in the zephyr. If you look up, you still see only the vast open sky, stars twinkling like fireflies through a canopy of branches and leaves. And if you strain to listen, you only hear the sounds of stillness broken intermittently by the staccato shrieks of night creatures, crickets and owls.
Where was the song floating in from?
Mitali is a house of stories and secrets. But that’s not what you notice first. In the daylight, entering the gates, down a driveway lined with pink and purple potted plants, past emerald lawn, what you notice is the friendly family that is privileged to call it home — Krishno Dey and his partner Sukanya Roy, their invaluable helping hands Keya and her husband Amit. They welcome you warmly. A soothing lime drink with crushed lemon leaves is handed to you. You are not “led” to your room but helped to find it. Sunlight streams in through pretty curtains. The mirror that stares back at you has seen a thousand reflections. But for today it is my room, my reflection. No no, I will not go. I will remain…in my room. Tagore’s song keeps playing in my ears.
Built more than half a century ago by the present owners’ ancestors, who were also friends of Tagore, Mitali has recently thrown its doors open to guests, to tourists and other visitors to Santiniketan, come from across the world. According to Dey, who grew up in Britain and spent most of his life studying, working and travelling abroad before settling down in Santiniketan and starting the homestay, his intention was to literally “throw open the gates” of communication to the world, on diverse issues. Indeed, an integral part of Mitali’s charm is the hosts’ keen engagement with ideas about social justice that draw you into passionate discussions over cups of tea or coffee (or glasses of beer or wine). But Mitali’s stories of love and loss, hope and happiness, joys and journeys are well-guarded secrets — how a well-known Indian politician’s love for his wife unfolds under tragic circumstances, why a renowned activist renounced the world as we know it — that can only be revealed to those who hear the song of the bard. No, no, I will not go. I will remain rooted to my room. And an old photo album of memories is brought out of oblivion.
Of the rooms that are let out, ‘Nandini’ and ‘Gautam’ — named after Dey’s daughter and son, respectively — are double rooms, their stacked bookshelves ranging from the Bhagvad Gita to Maxim Gorky. Both look out into foliage of green and gold, while the honeymoon suite looks to fruit trees and flowers — banana and bougainvillea, jackfruit and jasmine. There is a wood-panelled tree house, which no doubt hears the call of the cuckoo and the songs of other birds of the season. As dusk falls, there is so much more to take in. Like a round of the larder, where jars of homegrown preserves — care for jackfruit jam? or papaya pickle? — jostle in packed shelves, where a sweet-tangy aroma permeates the air. The recipes are part of the secrets of Mitali too.
You can also take a trip to the in-house boutique or a stroll along the lanes of Visva-Bharati, Tagore’s university. By the time you return, the full moon would have risen and washed in silver the entire terrace, a corner of which is a tiny kitchen where the mistress of the house rustles up mouthwatering meals. The cuisine is global. If lunch has been Chinese, dinner is Continental. Or Bengali, Lebanese, Italian or Thai.
Many of the vegetables — broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal, parsley, rosemary — are organically farmed on the land that surrounds the house. There is a greenhouse for growing greens, a darkroom for growing mushrooms.
Mitali — which means ‘friendship’ — is your room away from home. In these rooms lurk the stories and secrets of a family of which you have now become a part. You have left a part of yourself behind here too — your stories and secrets — and so these rooms will pull you back time and again.
The information
Location Phuldanga, Santiniketan/5km from Bolpur railway station, 1.3km from Prantik; 160km from Kolkata airport
Accommodation There are five rooms, in addition to the family’s own residential spaces. The honeymoon suite (a double room and a single) and ‘Gautam’ are in the annexe; the main house has two double rooms, ‘Tara’ and ‘Nandini’, and the single-bedded non-AC ‘Sushil’
Tariff Rs 4,000 (honeymoon suite), Rs 3,500 (Gautam and Tara); breakfast included, taxes extra. Discounts available for the annexe rooms for stays of more than 3 nights
Contact 9433075853, mitalishantiniketan.com