Dawn, Sunday. My eyes opened to a shimmering canvas of tessellated light finished with sweeping brushstrokes. I rolled over to face the window and there were the artists: the young Sun had just bobbed up above the coconut palms on the far side of the lake stretched out below me, its surface improbably pockmarked with rain. The light, scattered by the ripples, had filtered through the fringed palm at my window and come to rest on the wall beside my bed. As I lay there, transfixed, the artists turned it up a notch. A kingfisher showed off his fishing skills in a flash of turquoise; a chequered water snake took off on a lazy slither from the near to the far shore. And pressed up against my window the palm fronds wept fat drops.
I had arrived on a Saturday afternoon for a weekend at Vedic Village, a spa resort on the outskirts of Kolkata. The ride had been long, through traffic, on a sultry monsoon day. But just past the adobe arched entrance to the resort, the universe turned cool, verdant and unhurried. Here, a frangipani tree heaved with fragrant blossoms; there a heron rummaged in the marsh. A staff member, in a crisp cotton shirt with kantha stitching on the cuffs, led me down a stone walkway flanked by exuberant vegetation to my home for the weekend — a deluxe villa overlooking the lake.
Vedic Villageoffers plenty of activities, but I spend most of the weekend either at the spa or eating at the two restaurants. Bhoomi, housed in a pure adobe structure reminiscent of a rural Bengali home, specialises in Bengali cuisine. For lunch Saturday, I stepped in from the harsh afternoon heat into its cool, cosy interiors. The banana blossom cutlets were exquisitely seasoned, and the kosha mangsho — dry mutton — was intensely flavourful and juicy. Dinner was lamb chops at Vedic’s multi-cuisine restaurant Yagna, which is chic to Bhoomi’s cosy. Fat bamboo trusses, rustic but smooth, hold up a high roof capped with thatch. The walls bear tastefully lit white terracotta murals depicting scenes from rural Bengal. Aroused by the lamb chops, I immediately ordered the roast duck for the following night, even though they needed just six hours’ advance notice.
Vedic Village seems to specialise in the art of thoughtful touches: a hook at the door to hang a bag bearing the morning papers; a sturdy umbrella big enough for two; electric golf carts should your feet hurt when covering their 150 acres. My favourite was the villa’s outdoor shower, with a heavy all-weather brass head. Placed in a coconut grove and paved with smooth river pebbles, it felt like my private nature bubble.
Sunday morning, after the bedside show, I went for a stroll on the grounds. The rain had just stopped; the new sun glinted off the freshly washed scene. Pausing for a moment I heard nothing, nothing at all except the quieting drip-drip of water sliding down thatch slopes on to fleshy frangipani leaves. But I couldn’t stay. It was time for my ayurvedic massage at the spa. I had never done this before. Lying on a platform slick with sesame oil wearing nothing but a micro loincloth was, well, new. During abhyangam, two slight women with surprisingly strong hands working in eerie synchrony, silently and rigorously kneaded various bits of me. There was something absurd about this. I feigned a look of beatific bliss so as to not dissolve into a giggling fit. During patrapinda when they dabbed me with warm herbal poultices, I began to get into it. By the time they started shirodhara, my bliss was real. A stream of warm herbal oil fell from a terracotta vessel above my forehead, and the therapists painted elaborate patterns on my scalp with the stream. The effect was utterly sensuous, yet calming. It ended much too soon.
That night, my window served me a full moon on a bed of palm fronds, a few flecks spilling on to the lake bordered with villas aglow. I accepted this gift of congealed serenity with a heart already full.
The information
Where: Outskirts of Kolkata (30km from the city centre; 15km from the airport).
Accommodation: 252 villas, rooms and suites
Tariff: Rs 5,000-8,000 (rooms), Rs 6,000-10,000 (suites), Rs 10,000-12,000 (villas),
Contact: 033-39877650, 9830025900, www.thevedicvillage.com