04/01/2022
This used to be our holiday home during my school days. I remember spending some lovely rainy evenings sitting here, reading, listening to music playing from Dad's ambassador car parked outside.
Later on once we renovated the main bungalow, this little holiday home turned into a guest house for our personal guests.
Fast forward to the year 2006, I was working in Bangalore and Dad was of the opinion that I quit the job I barely liked and learnt some estate work. Since that didn't sound appelaing enough to leave my social life in Bangalore, I asked him if I could start a homestay. Those days the concept of homestay was just picking up with just a few homestays countable on one hand.
And Dad being my genie, immediately agreed. Within a couple of months the registration and all other formalities were completed. Both of us went and shopped for the bedsheets, curtains, towels, cutlery, etc. and we were ready to welcome our first guest on 29th September 2006. It was during the dasara holidays (the peak season in Coorg). I still remember how nervous I was receiving the first family, a father, mother and 2 daughters.
While leaving, these were the words of the father, "you've got to learn a lot". Yes, I knew I had a long way to go and this was just a beginning. But what I wasn't sure of at that time was if my hippy soul would stay committed to it.
And exactly like that, the very next year I moved to Chennai after marriage, giving Dad the additional responsibility of looking after this place like the estate work wasn't enough to keep him on his toes 😁.
But you've got to go when you've got to go right 🤣- only to come back and expand the business 😃. My time away helped me build my self image, polish my cooking skills, become a better people's person and here I am 15 years later, running my most fulfilling business. Yes, it is hectic at times, with hardly any time to sit or sleep. But when you love what you do, you only want to offer more of yourself to it!
And guess what, the universe perfectly conspired to get me a partner, a hospitality genius 🤷♀️, a wonderful people's person ever willing to go the extra mile to see a smile on our guests' faces.
Thanking each and everyone of our guests who are more than family to us now. Cherishing all the beautiful moments we've weaved together. Here's to many more 🥂💗
