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Linger-ing – for our Seniors : A heartfelt offer.

Last week I took my parents to see both our places – and though it was a whirlwind trip, they fell in love with the calm, relaxed environs and the feel of the place. They’ve lived up North all their lives till they moved to Bangalore recently,  but relished the Akki roti, Neer Dosa, the Jeera Kaapi and whatever else our kitchens served them. They’ve promised to be back!

Dad listening intently to Mr.Chandrashekhar explaining Vanilla pollination at Balur Estate

Got us thinking. We think in terms of young families and folks out cycling, trekking and whatever it is we do to take our minds off the daily grind. But the Seniors – who’ve slogged through times that were less certain and more challenging than what we’ve been through – would love to Linger as well.  These are beautiful places, and they have time!

So we want Seniors to Linger a bit.

All Senior Citizens get 50% off for a Mon-Fri stay right through the year (not counting long weekends, the Christmas Vacations and the like). We’ll be happy to have them over and spend some time doing nothing. We’ll even help with travel plans and arrangements. Do spread the word, and ask your dad/mom/aunt/uncle to give us a call at +91-95900-50001 or send us mail at stay@lingerleisure.in

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The Monsoon and Coming Soon!

At Linger, we’ve been partial towards local construction styles and materials. The tough one is to blend that with the needs and expectations of those who come in from the city. The monsoon kicked in late, but made up for the delay in sporadic, intense bursts of rain. We had the Cauvery come almost up to the fields below Mud Cottage a couple of times already – and the ferocity of the showers moved the tiles around a little leading to a drip or two (I’m still amazed how well those Mangalore Tiles can handle serious rains – I have seen many a concrete room seep much more for much gentler rain in Bangalore!) A similar issue at the Cottage at Balur seemed to auto-correct itself 🙂

But the prettiness of the monsoon is sooo worth it. The mist, the sound of the rain falling, the cicadas and the lusher greening of an impossibly green place are a magical experience.

As we get past the rainiest months of the monsoon, we’re looking at expanding capacity at both places. The Cardamom Suites – earlier a storage area for the crop and later converted to staff quarters that now lie unused – at Balur – are being professionally redone to make them comfortable, pretty even as we preserve their feel. We’re also hatching plans for a Cabin-on-the-lake and a complete campsite by the smaller lake – with its own bikes, kitchen,  benches, and maybe even its own collection of books.

At Coorg there’s a laterite cottage up the hill amidst the coffee, and we’re even dreaming up a Tree House in the wooded part of the property. Based on suggestions from guests, there’s more rugs, many more lamps for soft lights at night, (already added) more easy chairs, and of course more books as always!

And finally – there will soon be an all new option where you can go do nothing. Its just over a 100kms from Bangalore, in hills that define the region’s landscape – dotted with hills, boulders, lakes and with a breeze almost a permanent feature! There’s old temples atop hills to visit, trails to run and ride on, a Blackbuck sanctuary to explore, and old fort – and farming and food processing to learn about! Of course, there’ll always be books and chai to keep your mind off all this activity 🙂 There’s even a swimming pool!

Look forward to a lot more folks Lingering this winter.

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Keeping Quiet (Pablo Neruda)

This lovely poem resonates with whatever we’re trying to do.

Keeping Quiet

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

This one time upon the earth,
let’s not speak any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be a delicious moment,
without hurry, without locomotives,
all of us would be together
in a sudden uneasiness.

The fishermen in the cold sea
would do no harm to the whales
and the peasant gathering salt
would look at his torn hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars of gas, wars of fire,
victories without survivors,
would put on clean clothing
and would walk alongside their brothers
in the shade, without doing a thing.

What I want shouldn’t be confused
with final inactivity:
life alone is what matters,
I want nothing to do with death.

If we weren’t unanimous
about keeping our lives so much in motion,

if we could do nothing for once,
perhaps a great silence would
interrupt this sadness,
this never understanding ourselves
and threatening ourselves with death,
perhaps the earth is teaching us
when everything seems to be dead
and then everything is alive.

Now I will count to twelve
and you keep quiet and I’ll go.
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Farm More Important Things

Right from the time we started work at Chettimani, we wanted to grow food around there – its a very satisfying feeling to be a producer and not merely a consumer. Apart from the coffee, there’s little we have done by way of effort so far. This year, the hope is to change that, and grow some banana, and add more pepper vines, and maybe even some paddy.

Nature’s blessed the place with natural produce – and there’s jackfruit, butterfruit, kaipuli, guavas and a bunch of other stuff with no inputs from our end. It feels awesome to be part of such a fertile, green, productive place.

If any of you would like to come over and get involved in any farm related work, let us know. Its a joy we’d love to share.

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With love, for and from the World Champions!

The Indian Cricket Team, as of course you know by now, has given us much to cheer and much to be proud of. They’ve also been rewarded handsomely – and many have suggested they could do something nice and generous with some of this.

Linger extends an opportunity to the Indian Cricket Team to both enjoy their rewards, and have the cake as well! We welcome them to take a nice do-nothing break at our properties, and we’ll donate 100% of the proceeds to deserving charities!

Dhoni and co,  for once, come over and do nothing, whenever you decide to take a break from your tiring schedules 🙂