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Experience the Deeper India

“People from my country, they come and visit the same old stuff. The Golden Triangle – Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, a couple of popular resorts in Kerala – and that’s all! They miss out on the real India” – said Daniel of Aventura/Chalo-Spain over breakfast when he was in Bangalore. He’d just done a motorbike ride to our locations at Gokarna, Balur Estate and in Chettimani (Coorg), and is trying to get folks to visit the deeper India.

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Made me think about how much of a disservice the travel industry inadvertently ends up doing to both the traveller as well as the beautiful places, cultures and people that represent the true India in all it’s variety, across geographies, seasons, the profusion of colours, terrain, customs, food, festivals – everything. And this India is outside of the major tourist locations, outside of the cities and off the bigger highways. It’s in the little towns and villages – with their unique stories. It’s when you stay in the homestays. It’s when you walk, take it slowly and interact with folks around. Coorg’s Pandhi Curry, the catch of the day along the coast, the quiet solitude of a large coffee estate, the profusion of flora and fauna deep inside a Himalayan forest – these are all small bits of that huge jigsaw puzzle that India is – and they’re best seen from outside the comfortable familiarity of a “resort”.

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This is the India that Daniel is trying to showcase to his clients, and that we at Linger would like our guests to experience. It’s not about the “points”, or checklists, but the experiences of a civilization that has been through more iterations, changes and adaptation than we can usually imagine. It boggles the mind and mesmerizes even those of us who have been born here and live here all our lives. I can only imagine how much of an amazing – indeed incredible – experience it will be from someone coming in from Europe etc. It can be experienced however you like – on a bike along with one of Daniel’s tour, on a slow bicycle ride, on bus and train journeys that let you interact with so many real people in real life situations, on a road trip that stays off the bigger towns and roads – the only thing to remember is to explore with an open mind, ready to embrace the myriad surprises that greet you at every turn. Sure, not all will be pleasant, but that’s what travel’s about!

So do yourself a favour – and don’t stop with that Golden Triangle 🙂

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Our Sustainable Architecture Partners : Biome Environmental Solutions

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We have a strong love for the local – food, experience, way of life and architecture. Also in good positive impact, not the kind that hurts. As part of this we have always tried to do more with less even in our buildings and approach to building and ‘doing up’ our places. We like buildings which are weather friendly, low energy and blend in to the extent possible, even as we experiment with materials and construction techniques, with a strong bias for the local.

One characteristic of working locally is that function often rules, and form is an afterthought, if at all. So we decided to get some pro help!

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Biome Environmental Solutions is a group of architects (and water sustainability consultants) that believes in sustainable architecture, low embodied energy in what they create – and they love challenges. We approached them for help and happily, they agreed! Chitra’s work is very well regarded for its principles, and aesthetically very very pleasing.

Sharath from the Biome team has already helped us with some ideas – the bathrooms at the Cardamom Suites at Balur Estate owe a lot to him, and now the ones at Coorg are getting the benefit of his inputs one at a time. You’ve always loved the context of the Linger locations – and we’re hoping to add to the charm with help from Biome.

Looking forward to some really nice, improved places!

Check out their FB group for lots more on sustainability and architecture.

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What we stand for or the Ethos of Linger Guesthouses

After 2+ years, we have finally figured out a tag for what our places are! We’re NOT hotels, of course. Nor did we ever get comfortable with the idea of being a string of “resorts”. None of our properties is a homestay since you do not intrude upon any homeowner’s privacy, not they yours.

What we settled down on is an unsurprising, age old and how-did-we-not-think-of it “Guesthouses”.

Sorry if its a little bit of a damp squib in this age of creative marketing and superlative tags – but thats what Linger places are.

They’re meant to be like the guesthouse a sarkari department your Uncle headed ran in this pretty corner of an irrigation project, or one the bank your dad worked in owned in a charming little town somewhere. They’re spacious, amidst sprawling greens, comforting, comfortable and relaxed, not architect-designed marvels of creative architecture that leave you breathless and in awe. Its about your vacation, really, not how dazzling our places are.

“Guesthouses” describes that perfectly, we think.

What do we stand for?

We’re comfortable with who and what we are. In Coorg, we more than eagerly cook Pandhi Curry and are insect friendly, love the rains and grow coffee.
At Balur Estate we’re proud of the coffee heritage, and the hard work that goes into running the place. We’re all learning about the history, enjoying the stark yet stunning landscape and surpisingly great vegetarian food at the campsite in Devarayanadurga. We’re not about reception desks, uniforms and encourage the staff to not only take pride in who they are, but share the stories and richness of their surroundings. We build locally, use local know-how and help, and rediscover local cuisine, flavours, traditions and practices. We get involved in conservation where it helps. We try hard to be true to the places we find.

   

We believe you should be comfortable too. We want you to laugh out loud, slurp your tea if you enjoy it that way, eat with your fingers, walk around in that old comfortable tee and shorts – its your vacation! We want you to let your hair down and be yourself.

And we believe travel is about the midway point where you come together and seek out and shake hands with this other/new/different thing. Both comfortable with who they are, and both without pretence.  Yet both ready to accept, give, explore and accept with an open mind and ready senses.

That makes going somewhere so much worth it.

Especially to that little guesthouse which you didn’t expect.

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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