Kayal Island Retreat

16/02/2025

Meet ace photographer . ​​​​​​​​
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A graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, USA, Renuka Retnaswamy enjoys shooting Editorial and Fine Art. She has been published in various magazines such as Lucy's, NO.3 Magazine NYC, Elegant and Smart Photography. She lives back and forth between India and L.A.​​​​​​​​
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She enjoys her spare time usually by laying in a patch of green grass reading novels or at the beach in a shady spot since she was born with a tan. A big fan of spontaneous adventures, she's always saying "yes" to road trips and instant getaways. ​​​​​​​​
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Renuka was at Kayal last year shooting our island and our island people. She’s back at Fort Kochi, creating magic, shooting our newest hotel ​​​​​​​​
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Renuka is as much an artist as she is a photographer. Here is her self portrait taken at Kayal in 2021. ​​​​​​​​
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In her own words: “Kayal helped me grow, rest and reset, here is an image I made on how I felt during my stay there.”​​​​​​​​
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Self portrait

17/06/2024

12/06/2024

Costume tells a story.

In classical art forms, elaborate costumes take us to the opulent, fantastical world of mythical characters. It allows us to get lost in their world of love and war and triumph.

Here, our dancer .ariyawansa takes on a larger-than-life role, just by putting on his costume. As soon as he adorns the crown, his posture straightens and he becomes the king he is about to play.

Any guesses what this performing art is?

Stay tuned to see the full film here. Or book a stay at our island retreat to watch live classical arts .

In collaboration with .mudras, , , .ariyawansa, ,

Photo by @ .v.i.n.a.s.h.k

28/01/2023

On the island

You’ll never experience a place truly, unless you get down to it and plunge headlong into everyday life. And that’s precisely what we offer at Kayal.

The soothing serenity of the island sets the tone for your day. Your mornings could start with calming, restorative meditation, followed by yoga and an Ayurveda massage.

After a leisurely bath, you could hop on a canoe and sail past paddy fields, coconut farms and local life. Or you could even venture out onto the great Lake Vembanad. Life at Kayal sings to a different beat, and you become part of it the moment you take our rowboat.

Photo courtesy guest

24/08/2022

When on the island, our clients can opt to join local fishermen and head to the lake to fish with them.

Fishing practices on the island vary.

Today Mathai, a local fisherman, is teaching us how to fish with long nets that are kilometres long. He binds three nets together and lays it in the lake, and lets the nets catch the tide. With the drifting tide, the fish get caught in the net. Depending on how fast the tide is, he can catch plenty of no fish at all.

For us being on the lake drifting with the tide is fun in itself.

Book a 2-night stay on the island and learn how to fish.

03/07/2022

Have you wondered how many chemicals are in your shampoo? It’s something I think about.

Every time I am looking for a more wholesome natural alternative to chemical convenience, I look to the wisdom of our ancestors. I asked my mother what she used to wash her hair, or what my grandmother did to wash her hair, as a young girl. I looked at the ancient hair routine followed by the women on the island.

Turns out the secret to their dark lustrous hair is washing their hair with a pulp of bright red hibiscus and its deep green leaves.

I have been following the same routine and am happy to report that it’s working. It makes my hair soft, lustrous and adds a sparkle to my eyes. It’s also a great morning routine for me. I walk through the island in the gentle morning sun, listen to the birdsong and pluck a handful of hibiscus.

Here is my exact hair routine:
Oil hair and leave on for 30 minutes.

Wash hair with chick-pea flour.
Massage hair with a paste of fresh hibiscus flowers and leaves.

Rinse thoroughly.
Get on with your day.

Go on and try it, and let us know how you feel.

For those of you in parts of the world where hibiscus doesn’t grow, what are your natural alternatives to shampoo? Tell us in the comments below. We’d love to hear.

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13/06/2022

This week we collaborate with to offer contest winners a stay at our island retreat.

Head over to their website to read the article Designed for Downtime: Behind the Scenes of an Island Retreat.

Here is an excerpt:

Before you check in, you first have to reach the island. This happens on wooden rowboats, handcrafted specifically for this purpose — compared to fishing rowboats, these have a wider base and cut through water slower so that it’s a more comfortable ride. Meanwhile, at the island, the staff is busy readying the four-cottage property — each with its own room — for new guests.
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25/05/2022

Slow down and get on our island-time.
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Take our boats out into the lake, canoe through the endless backwaters, and swim in the lake. If walks are your thing, walk right through our lush jungle, past paddy fields, and streams along a 4-kilometer stretch.
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There is no rush here.
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Click to book a restorative holiday.
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Photo Bunuel]
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Photo Bunuel]
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Condé Nast Traveller India] Condé Nast Traveller India]

15/04/2022

Happy Vishu from us to you.

It’s our New Year. The astrological New Year, and it literally means equal. It is when the sun is directly above the hemisphere and both halves of the earth receive its rays equally. The length of day and night are the same, and days will start to get longer now.

It’s the onset of spring, and in Kerala it is the first day of preparing your fields for the seeds you’ll sow and the harvest you’ll reap months later. Thus, it’s an auspicious day. It's a day of letting go of the past and it's a day of preparing for a bountiful future.

It’s a day filled with expectations. It is because of this expectation that our grandmothers and mothers filled bronze uralis (vessels) with raw rice, flowers, gold coins, lemon, cucumber, jackfruit, and cotton cloth the night before. Then the first thing in the morning, they would lovingly blindfold us and take us to see this brimming abundance. We were given money by our elders and were fed a sumptuous banana leaf sadya.

It was a great way to start the new year, brimming with expectations and possibility and our pockets clanging with loose coins.

So this new year, we wish you a clean slate. May you be fertile. May you experiment with your creativity, birth new ideas, make new connections, have new adventures and be wildly abundant.

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07/04/2022

Swiftly, I drifted into a beautiful frame, surrounded by blue waters, purple flowers, and sturdy coconut trees. It was my first time away from the city in a long long time due to the pandemic — a much-needed respite. The metered life spent shuttling between office and apartment had met its saturation point. The view from the balcony and endless social media scrolling was getting redundant. And so, to be under the open sky cruising the backwaters was liberating, endearing.
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I spent most of the trip lost in the sound of birds and oars jostling the water, and the faint rustle of hydrophyte leaves rubbing against the wooden boat as it passed.
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Back on the property, I sat down on the sun lounger, reading Murakami’s Kafka on the shore, facing the backwaters with some tea and pazhampori. Until nightfall, I was perched there in peace,

It is hard to articulate the sort of restful bliss you feel when everything aligns right like that - nature, art, adventure, and comfort.
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The above is an excerpt from Likhitha Prasanna’s article: When Kayal calls, which appeared in the New Indian Express in October 2021.
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26/01/2022

“All I wanted was a space to unwind in peace and welcome the new year in utmost calm. And Kayal was the perfect adobe for an old soul like me. Kayal reminded me of my Amma's ancestral home. It was like a trip back to my childhood days.”, says Sneha, our recent guest.
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Sneha Thomas is a freelance journalist and writer based in India. She writes on sustainability, travel, and lifestyle. She calls herself "a storyteller on a spiritual journey". If not traveling, you can see her clinging to her yoga mat, books, or a camera.
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