Staying in a museum

We had the unique experience of not merely visiting a museum, but staying in one, for two days and two nights. The entire resort is a museum with artefacts all around, apart from a dedicated private collector’s museum in its precincts. This is the INDeco Hotel, styled an 1896 Tanjore village hotel in Swamimalai, six kilometers away from Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu. A five-hour drive from Chennai airport or an under 2 hours’ drive from Tiruchirappalli international airport, the place is easy enough to reach. One goes through a narrow road in Swamimalai and then, hey presto, it opens up into a curving road into the resort, with thick greenery on either side.

That’s the first sign we noticed — Three villages that existed in this part of the world in 1896, have been carefully recreated.  Baburajapuram, as this place is called even today was an ancient village where court dancers past their prime, resided. Melatheru was a village comprising Brahmin and Muslim households, while Thimmarkudy was where arms and ammunition were manufactured for the Chola kings. Here too, we were told that the Hindus were adept at manufacturing protection equipment such as shields and armor, the Muslims specialised in the strike weapons such as spears and arrows. The recreated village houses, each different from the other are now hotel rooms, with many of them carrying legacies.

We stayed in the Chola suite that forms part of the Palace block. There are conventional hotel rooms too for international tourists on the higher floors in this block. Mind, you all these village style houses have all modern amenities inside. Our suites were oh, so spacious with a huge double poster-bed, old-fashioned wooden chairs, a wooden staircase leading to a partial upper floor and authentic Athangudi floor tiles. The children had a field day, running all over, up and down.

Evening snacks done with the mandatory filter coffee, it was time for the internal guided museum tour. Yes, the private collection of Mr. Steve Borgia housed in the Mint Palace building, that also has the hotel reception, is explained at length by Mr. Borgia himself. A great storyteller, we soon realised.

The Mint Palace facade is not South Indian but more Rajasthani.  The same was in Chennai, built by a Rajasthani and as it was on the way to the Mint, it came to be called the Mint Palace. Piece by piece, pillar by pillar, it was moved to this place and again reconstructed maintaining the original look as close as possible. The time, effort and money spent on this was quite mindboggling. When the reconstruction was to commence, the first thing they found on digging was abundant water, which one can see when the steel panel on the far-right picture is moved. It is water from the nearby Kaveri river, that flowed into this place, it is believed, as once the Kanchi Sankaracharya had stayed in one of the houses (now a room in the resort).

Pankhas, fans that ran on kerosene, clocks of various kinds, record players, gramophones, portable commodes used by the British elite, sculptures, paintings and many more, each explained with passion and love by Steve Borgia. His sing-song voice put my five-year-old granddaughter to sleep. there itself. As we were just wondering what value of this elaborate collection must be, Steve himself pointed to a painting on the wall. It is an original Ravi Varma painting and as a matter of protection, it is kept behind a locked, steel enclosure, resembling a cage, he said. Very casually he added that its worth must be around Rupees Two hundred and eighty million. A gasp escaped my lips.

Another amazing exhibit was the statue of Ardhanareeswara, half man, half woman. The statue weighs 3.50 metric tons, and one part of the statue is made of copper and the other part by bronze. Amazing workmanship indeed! The whole walk-through tour of the museum lasts around 45 minutes. Time for an early dinner, but the children insisted on feeding the goats and looking at the flock of geese inside the resort. Some cultural events take place every evening and on this day it was Bharatanatyam. There are a couple of large dining halls where one can sit and eat or there is open dining as well, where the buffet is laid out and with a violin performance all through. Finishing a hearty meal, we decided to crash early and explore the rest of the resort the following day.

Following morning, we woke up to the honking of geese and the sound of peacocks. Took an early morning stroll and the continuous chants of ‘Om Nam Shivaya’ near a Shia lingam gave a divine start to the day. Walked across to the swimming pool that is styled on the lines of a temple tank. There is a specific mention that the water is absolutely clean but appears green because of the color of the tiles. Steets with ancient kerosene-powered streetlamps interested us and as we moved towards the main gate, an amazing idol, half Ganapati, half Hanuman, really fascinated the kids.

Time for breakfast. A sumptuous breakfast awaited us. Traditional south Indian food — idli, dosas, upma, pongal, kesari, poori, paniyaram, kesari, koozhu and not to forget ‘Pazhaya soru’, meaning ‘old rice’, that village folk eat, with onions and chillies. Of course, juices and filter coffee in abundance. What strikes one at this place is that all the people employed are from nearby villages and are dressed traditionally, the men in dhotis and women in sarees. What amazed me was the ‘ ownership’ each one displayed. The person at the reception would come to help out in the dining space. Customer satisfaction remains a true guiding spirit. They always seem to be around, without appearing to be intrusive. Special mention must be made of Brinda, who manages to retain her radiant smile all through the day, as she handles guest requests with elan. We could see busloads of European and Chinese tourists trooping in, as also a few Indian bureaucrats with their families.

 

Took in more sights inside the resort, clicked some snaps and also pampered ourselves with Ayurvedic massages made available here.

The resort has a few vintage cars as well as exhibits and also offers bullock rides and family bathing under a pump-set to soak in the complete rural atmosphere . Great stress is laid on protecting animal, birds and even insects and we see signboards highlighting this. One story narrated is about ‘Chola Boy’, a cat who lost his forelegs in a road accident and stayed here till his last days, enthralling guests.

Readers may be wondering if this resort-museum is in the middle of nowhere or is there outside sightseeing to be done. Hold your breath! If spiritually inclined, there are more than 100 ancient temples in and around Kumbakonam. Even for those not too religious, there are three UNESCO World Heritage sites in close vicinity. Together called the Living Chola Temple, they are a ‘MUST SEE’ to really soak in the architectural skills of the Cholas —  Brigadeeswara temple in Thanjavur, Brihadisvara temple in Gangaikondacholapuram (GKC) and the Airavateswara temple in Darasuram (separate blog for these). 

Time to leave and move out for sightseeing. We requested for a photo with Steve Borgia, the one who conceived this great idea of giving back to the local society, promoting local history and providing a comfortable and memorable stay for his guests. Though a resident of Chennai, he frequents his resort and when here, he insists on mingling with guests at a personal level. A businessman with a difference.

 

At the time of check-out, they hand over small Thank you notes with a request to spread the word about this place to friends and relatives.  Will we come here again? Maybe not immediately, but my little granddaughter has decided that her next birthday has to be celebrated here.