Living in Delhi, I often forget how wonderful life beside a vital river can be. Such a river straddles the landscape like a giant presence, shaping the world around it. A trip to Raichak to visit the Raichak on Ganges’ new spa resort, Anaya Kutir, brought me the closest I’ve come to the Gangetic delta for the first time in many years. The resort is set right next to the easternmost of the four great rivers that make up this delta, the Hooghly, and the sight of the wide river muscling its way powerfully into the open sea, made me conscious of being in a big natural presence, the same physical awe I feel when I gaze up at a Himalayan peak.
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Anaya Kutir is the latest jewel in the crown of the Raichak on Ganges’ portfolio of riverside properties. Unlike the older, and very popular, Ganga Kutir, which is situated about a kilometre down the road on the Raichak campus, Anaya Kutir is a cluster of 19 identical Mediterranean-style cottages bunched around a large lagoon pool. Rana, the manager of the resort , leads me to my duplex villa. The lower floor is the living room with a tiny kitchenette. The space opens out into the patio by the pool, with the waters practically lapping at my feet a few steps from the threshold of the living room. Coupled with the harsh sun beating down, this was tropical with a capital T. The living room is covered in soothing blues and whites—white lamps with blue lampshades, white furniture with blue cushions. The vivid blue of the kitchenette beyond an arched doorway is instantly transporting, and even the large, ornamental fish hanging on one of the walls doesn’t feel tacky.
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The upper floor is the master bedroom, with a seamless transition to a balcony overlooking the pool. A small staircase leads to the terrace, complete with an open-air bubble bath. I could’ve done with a swim to shake off my sleepiness after the early-morning drive to Raichak from Kolkata, but as the pool was being cleaned due to a storm the previous night, I settled for an early lunch and a spot of spa treatment. Dining in the room, I went for a simple rice and bekti mustard curry from the resort’s restaurant, Bistro, delicious and very filling. And since AnayaKutir is all about great food and spa treatments, I headed to the Anaya Spa. The spa has been operational for 12 years now, and is currently managed by L’Occitane. To make the most of the exhaustive spa menu, I went for a Ganges Mud Wrap, one of the spa’s signature therapies, followed by a Lomi Lomi full body massage, another signature. Three hours of my time given over to decadent pampering, I headed off to the sauna for a bit of softening up before the treatments began.
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Although I’ve been to some top-of-the-line spas in India and elsewhere, I’d never experienced anything as genuinely soothing as the mud wrap and massage. Weeks and months of stress fell away from me with every smooth motion of the trained hands of the masseuse. The Lomi Lomi oil massage was curious and effective. The masseuse used her elbows to better locate and ease stiff muscles and then her hands to soothe the skin. Often a spot of deep tissue massage results in more pain than it’s worth, but in this case, I could control the pressure being applied by just telling the masseuse to ease up, or to exert more pressure.
By the time I staggered to my villa with a head full of oil, I felt I was floating. Although I was taking it easy, Anaya Kutir can also arrange for boat rides on the river, or trips to the nearby Diamond Harbour for the grand sight of the Hooghly merging into the Bay of Bengal, or even to the more distant Bakkhali with its quiet beaches fringing the Sunderbans delta. After a bath in the villa’s sun-shower, I made do with a pleasant evening’s walk along the river, enjoying the strong cool breeze and watching the steamers, dredging boats, fishing canoes and passenger ferries plying the wide expanse of the water. Although Anaya Kutir is set up to be a family resort, come evening, when the muted lights are lit, the property becomes properly romantic. Sharing a drink with me by the pool outside Bistro, Rana says that the resort has been receiving a fair share of honeymooning couples. Raichak on Ganges’ older property, the river-facing Ganga Kutir, has its devoted fans, who come here often. Many of them have been checking out Anaya Kutir as a different, more intimate option.
The next day, I decided to do some sightseeing after all, and the resort provided me with a car and an excellent chauffer to help me find an almost mythical 1,000-year-old temple at the fringes of the Sunderbans, some 50km away. But before that I had one more spa appointment.
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I’d opted for a head, neck and back massage, followed by a foot massage. If the former was bliss, the latter was positively paradisiacal. I don’t know of any proven relation between a foot massage and appetite, but I was roaringly hungry by the time I drifted out of the spa, fresh as a daisy. So I went to check out Sonar Tori, a standalone restaurant on the campus that everyone has been raving about.
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Situated by a pretty creek lined with fishing boats from the neighbouring village, the restaurant is designed to look like a old Bengali zamindari mansion. It manages to give off the bonedi (descriptive Bengali word for the culture of the landed gentry of yore) vibe very well, with period furniture, Kalighat-style paintings and innumerable objets d’art. The restaurant hall itself is a homage to Tagore, with huge frescoes of his sketches, paintings and poems dominating the room. Thankfully, all this sturm und drang doesn’t descend into tackiness. Instead, there’s excellent food—set Bengali thalis that give a full culinary tour of the Bengali palate, from shukto to chholar dal to luchi, kosha mangsho, shorshe ilish, alu posto, chingri malai kari, etc. Each dish was better than the last, and the staff are clearly happy to host hungry guests. I could tell this by the way they kept smuggling extra papads, or a piece of fish onto my already full plate. I didn’t disappoint them.
As I drove away, semi-somnolent, to locate my temple, I realised that the little over 24 hours that I’d spent at Anaya Kutir had been, despite the food and the spa and the walks, the most relaxed time I’d spent in months. That, ultimately, is the USP of this excellent spa resort—come here in whatever state, you will always leave feeling as light as a butterfly.
The information
Where: Anaya Kutir, Raichak on Ganges. Raichak is 51km from Kolkata, and it takes about an hour and a half’s drive to reach here.
Accommodation: 19 duplex villas overlooking a lagoon pool, with attached toilets, kitchenette, powder room and a bubble bath on the terrace. The Anaya Spa, run by L’Occitane, is located on the property.
Tariff: Rs 15,499 doubles including breakfast, plus taxes
Contact: +91-33-40404040; www.raichakonganges.com