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Chhayabrita, Santiniketan (2026)

23/09/2026

For the Devoted Bibliophagist, a New Lot of Titles to Add to Your Library of Delightful Books at Chhayabrita.

There's no knowing what you might end up reading at Chhayabrita. There are books in every room, and now they need two rows per shelf (look behind the first row for many more rare treasures) to fit in, so you might actually wind up with historical fiction for one day and a French murder mystery on the other via the route of eclectic stuff like the 'Sholay' book which examines in vibrant detail the shooting of the epic.
Anyway, that's just to say there's something for each one of you if you're a true bibliophagist. But even otherwise, you're likely to discover something or the other that'll draw you to at least flip the pages if not read the whole thing.

In this new lot of old and new books that have just arrived, there are some daunting contrasts you'll find that'll set the tone for what you might expect from the collection at Chhayabrita :
There's 'Ducks, Newburyport' which you're unlikely to finish unless you're staying for not less than ten days because it's a more-than-a-thousand-page novel in nearly one sentence ; and there's the slim volume on the Bauhaus, with pictures; as also Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's ghost stories (translated rather ineptly, if you ask us) ; and Amitav Ghosh's engrossing graphic novel in verse about the legend of Bon Bibi of the Sunderbans ; Penny Vincenzi's tome 'Sheer Anandon' that the Daily Mail said was "Deliciously readable" takes up a good amount of space though time's likely to fly reading it; and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's audacious and sensational 1862 novel 'Lady Audley's Secret' — in which, according to literary critic Elaine Showalter, "a bigamous heroine deserts her child, pushes husband number one down a well, thinks about poisoning husband number two and sets fire to a hotel in which her other male acquaintances are residing" — is guaranteed to leave you quite fortified, if you're a woman, and mortified if male ; and . . . well, we'll leave the rest for you to explore, though we must mention that Ratan Tata does make his usual elegant appearance, bringing with him a semblance of sanity amidst all the ongoing mayhem.
Happy reading, then, when you turn up at your own little home in Shantiniketan.

17/09/2026

Fresh Furnishings and a Shy New Carpet for the Living Room, at Chhayabrita.

An Axminster-style botanical carpet in mottled cream with a Greek keys border would seem the most out-of-place rug in the whole of Birbhum had it not been for the change in loose covers — that went from dull-red swirling paisleys in cotton satin to a pleasure-garden-green textured moleskin — for the sofas and armchairs. As it stands, and as you see, the combination's a winner in that the green brings the verdure in while the carpet serves up the flowers.
Yet, there's an admission we have to make here: the carpet's not hand-woven or -tufted. It's a machine-produced non-wool rug that – because we bought it from longtime stalwart carpet exporters – was intended for shipping abroad, and is manufactured to the highest possible quality standards, making it cool to the feel and exceptionally soft and comfortable to put your feet on for elongated periods of time. That said, it has no greater reason besides convenience for which it was sought to replace the earlier woolen rug and the stand-in (also woolen) carmine Herati carpet which, from a personal collection, was exquisite to have but excruciating to maintain. The visual pleasure, homely vibe, and cool-underfoot aspects of it must be attributed to pure serendipity.

One reason why all this works at Chhayabrita is that it’s your home, not a homestay. And so the whole living room’s a salmagundi of things put together over time in no planned way: the floor lamp’s a restored Art-Deco piece and its shade is sage green raw silk with a pronounced fringe; the cushions are old cotton-satin mixed with brand new cross-stitched ones; the carpet and the furnishings, you’ve heard; the books are a heady mix of genres and are now stored in two rows on each shelf; all wood is polished to its natural grain; the art’s original; and the TV has finally decided to rest in peace (it seldom saw service with residents anyway), and will soon be substituted by a flat-screen model.

Things will wear out and new ones be bought to replace them; the paint will fade only for the walls to be rejuvenated by a new coat, as now; and those we who have inhabited this space at Chhayabrita and spent many joyful and memorable moments here shall nolens volens have to vacate it for others, but the vibrant spirit of this little room of human congress of the kind that let’s us know ourselves and our place in this vast and slightly mad world will never ever wane.
Over time, the self-doubt of this shy new carpet shall give way to enthusiastic participation when it, like us, knows itself to be a part of the Chhayabrita family.
Belongingness : it’s the one thing that you’ll always feel at Chhayabrita, your own little home in Shantiniketan.

11/09/2026

Chhayabrita Renovations 2026 — New Airconditioners in Both Ground Floor Bedrooms

Airconditioners aren't really a Shantiniketan thing, and they don't do the environment any favour either because in cooling interiors they heat up the air outside and do their bit to add to local warming. Still, because Chhayabrita is mostly garden and only minorly built up, the air isn't affected to any discernible extent as it might be if these machines were run in densely constructed urban enclaves.
Having said that, the comfort of residents needs to be addressed as well, though the house, made in the '60s, is of such excellent build quality that virtually no heat, even in the dog days of summer, permeates the inner rooms. With the fans (also all from nearly six decades ago) on, the air circulation inside is cool and gentle, and at night a kantha would be de rigueur.

Air conditioning has become mandatory because the choice of room temperature is a power that travellers who aren't on a hippie travel budget take for granted wherever they choose to board. It's the reason why split-airconditioners were installed in the bedrooms on the ground floor of Chhayabrita, and newly in the living room. The Terrace Room has a heavy duty window model.
In the rather bland pictures enclosed you'll find two new Voltas machines fixed exactly where the earlier ones were. Unless you notice the obvious glint of glossy new plastic, the appearance is of nothing having changed. You'll experience the fastness of cooling, of course, as speed is the essence of today's gadgetry, and the beasts are nearly silent while functioning. The Baro Ghar (red bedspread) and the Thanda Ghar (blue bed cover) both get identical air conditioners as part of Chhayabrita's extensive renovation effort. Whether you have them on or not, they're there to stay.

07/09/2026

Flowers of Chhayabrita : In September, the Kadam Tree Blossoms in Full.

It's not today the Kadam Tree is blossoming; that's been happening for a while now . . . at least a month-and-a-half, if not more. But it's only at the start of September each year that it shows itself in full bloom, its crown of rich foliage a variegated green sky for the uncountable, bright and creamy pom-poms that seem to form, with great merriment, a galaxy all their own.
Just the other day, someone remarked how much the flowers look like sea urchins with their spiked hair buzzed to a perfect ball.
Anyway, flights of marine fancy and a whole plethora of mythological references aside, the Kadam Tree at Chhayabrita is really beautiful, and generous in its flowering and therefore the scenting of the garden.
It's a sight to behold in the monsoon sun, the tree's cover grandly spread across almost a third of the north-west side of the garden.
But you've got to come, and not so much see it (the trees are quite common) as experience it. There's no cowherd playing the flute here or village belles dancing to his music, but there is a certain romance in the air such that it cannot be escaped and even those stoniest of heart might risk their feelings tending towards the amative. If so, don't stand beneath the tree: the scent of its flowers will call love to you even if you aren't in search of it or think life can be lived well and with reasonable felicity without it.
At Chhayabrita, through the monsoons, and then whenever, the Kadam-gachh blossoms with the notion of spreading the universal message of love's essentiality in the life each of us gets to live.
The veracity of this you'll know only when you visit.

31/08/2026

Chhayabrita Renovations 2026 — The Pleasure of Natural Cane Webbing, Done Afresh, on Select Chairs.

Your encounter with natural cane at Chhayabrita happens as you approach the verandah from the pebbled path and the Planter's Chair comes into view. It's placed against the wall opposite the collapsible gate and catches your eye as you near the steps. The seat and back are one sweeping arc like a truncated ski-jump, all of it cane webbing.
To the left is an older easy chair with a rexine back and a curved elongated seat of the same cane webbing.
The day bed — also in the verandah, at the far end, alongside the Thanda Ghar — has a different caning, thicker and of an unusual pattern. Its curved back, however, is of the same classic octagonal weave.
A lot of the furniture at Chhayabrita uses cane webbing. The sofa set of the Terrace Room has woven cane backs, and the four dining chairs upstairs are teak wood with cane seats.

We don't use 'plastic' cane at Chhayabrita. Though it's increasingly problematic sourcing quality cane and even more taxing finding expert hands that'll weave the hanks into beautifully latticed seating, we persist with the real thing because it's necessary to keep the art active and healthy. And, really, there's no alternative to the airiness and the slight spring of authentic caning.

What you see in the picture is a trio of septuagenarian cane weavers going about their job rejuvenating the most comfortable chairs in your own little home in Shantiniketan. They're not locals. All of them — longtime associates — live in the suburbs of Calcutta and work together on various restoration projects across the city. Occasionally they travel. It took us almost a year to get them to come to Chhayabrita and, once here, they finished the caning within two full days. Speed, dexterity, and an unquestionable veracity of materials and purpose ensured the job was done in record time and with suitable finesse.
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating — you must visit Chhayabrita, relax in the easy chairs, have a drink perhaps, ponder the house and the garden with you in them, take a nap, and then figure the contribution of cane weaving to your rest and repose.

It's always the details that matter most. At a place like Chhayabrita, they're vital to your overall experience, even if you don't really see them. (The easy chairs all have loose foam-cushioned seats, by the way).
Still, they matter to your comfort and pleasure, just as that one pea under a score of thick mattresses was crucial to the Princess's sleep and helped determine her authenticity in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.
Truly, the world of Chhayabrita is just as magical.

27/08/2026

The Mizzle at Chhayabrita Invites You to Visit.

There’s only very little you can say about monsoon in Shantiniketan without trespassing upon the resolutely revered territory of pioneering poesy wherein expressions, rich and artistic, create an allegorical world of such beauty that nature itself is subsumed by the sheer breadth and depth of these writings.
Not so the monsoon at Chhayabrita’s Shantiniketan. The magic of that we can vouch for in our own voice, and show you pictures in support.
Today’s is a view across the pebbled path and onto the gate — your own little avenue of grizzled jhau — flanked by the emerald bagan : all of it ceaselessly enriched by mizzle of the kind, gentle yet persistent, that’s rare in the plains but seems a Birbhum staple.
If you can hear your own little home in Shantiniketan appeal to your heart and raise from within it an innate pluviophile, just go visit.
It’ll always be memorable.

15/08/2026

An Independence Day Fish Collection at Chhayabrita

There’s so much talk going on about buying local, buying Indian, etc., that a certain narrative of local cuisine seems lost in the miasma of lifestyle products like fashion-clothing, cosmetics, decorative articles, etc., that have taken centrestage in this discussion of what sovereignty constitutes in our day-to-day aesthetic lives.

Have you been to Shantiniketan lately? Whether you take Sriniketan Road or Station Road from Bolpur, you’ll be met with a barrage of signboards, LED ones included, advertising everything from soaps to jewellery. Then when the toto bumpily takes you to your destination, you’ll be accosted by a plethora of Fried Chicken, a huge Domino’s Pizza, and, of course, a spattering of so-called Chinese restaurants.
As if that were not enough, you’ll find self-styled ‘deluxe’ homestays advertising cafés the menu of which those au courant about haute cuisine will know to be hollow and pretentious, and those who are hollow and pretentious will regard as aspirational.

In the middle of all this, we appeal to you to visit either the Bolpur bazaar or the Sriniketan daily farmer’s market. It’s a chore, but one that’ll end in a rich bounty of victuals that are fresh and local and rare to find in big cities.
We visited the former (mostly the fish market) this morning and look what we ended up with.

• Fresh mussels (jhinuk)
• Riverine Bachha
• Lacustrine Mini Tyangra
• Stingray Roe (Shankar Machher Dim)
• Dishi Pabda (naturally bred)

At Chhayabrita, you’re eating not just local but also eclectic. Eschewing the grand and showy is always pleasant and rewarding here because the produce is local, the catch is local (unless you want Hilsa), and the cooking has a local flavour imparted to it in no small part by the Birbhum water and, of course, Bapi’s culinary skills.

Today’s Independence Day Special fish collection at Chhayabrita is nothing but a clear indication of the vernacular upstaging the global ubiquitous as far as food is concerned. This too is a stellar example of the expression of freedom through the food of our choice. We choose local. When you’re here, perhaps you will too.

13/08/2026

Chhayabrita Renovations 2026 --- Natural Polish on Wooden Fenestrations and All Wood-Work.

You wouldn't ever believe if you looked at all the natural wood fenestrations at Chhayabrita that for the better part of forty years they were all painted a bright green. And then, during a round of renovations, a Mediterranean turquoise was chosen for them, in contrast with the house's stark white paint at that time.

Also, all the downstairs bedroom windows were solid wood, meaning no sunlight was admitted into the rooms if the shutters were closed during the day.
All that changed fifteen years ago when a conscious decision was taken to insert clear glass in place of the wood panels on the windows, the square teak sections being re-used in the kitchen's new cabinets. Now, the garden enters the bedrooms rooms (and vice versa) through the glass panes, while for privacy there are bamboo matchstick blinds across all windows.

It was at this same time that we thought of having the paint scraped off from the doors and windows to reveal the wood's rich veinage. The whole exercise took an enormous amount of time, the cost was daunting, and there was the small matter of keeping Chhayabrita shut for a significant period of time. But this was a once in a lifetime kind of thing and for the rest of the life of the house, which is for ever, the true character of the wood-work would show. In fact, the restored wood-work changed the experience of the house so much that no-one remembered how the doors and windows looked garishly painted. Needless to say, all those resident at Chhayabrita from time to time love it.

Being completely natural, the polish hardly lasts four years. It's high maintenance, though, and has to be refreshed regularly.
Still, the effect is unique and unparalleled for character, and goes a long way in proving how when you peel off the superficial layers on anything classic and bestow simple care and concern upon it, it shows its true beauty and remains eternal.

09/08/2026

Fruits of Chhayabrita — The Kamranga Tree Delights with Its Bounty, on Time.

As you can see, the Kamranga tree is fruiting, and on time. This lone starfruit is almost fully ripened but it isn’t by any means the only one on the tree sweetening itself to be plucked.
Those who like their Kamranga with a sour kick needn’t feel disappointed because there are many on the tree still green that can be chosen to taste.
The garden of Chhayabrita isn’t fussing about the delayed renovations —— we are. Most of the trees have fruited and are fruiting on time, delighting not you but someone or the other with their bounty. It seems, though, that the Kamranga tree might be in luck with its timing. The work on the house is nearing completion, and the opening of Chhayabrita’s doors to welcome you back is nigh.
If you’re planning a visit and love your starfruit, come quick.

01/08/2026

Chhayabrita Renovations 2026 — How the Sabulous White Walls of Chhayabrita Answer to You in the Way You Want.

White's white. Nothing more need be said about it, or so we might think. Being a non-colour, though, its undertones might actually cause there to be infinite hues of the shade, all present in what paint companies intelligently label 'whispering' whites.
Chhayabrita makes no pretense of using premium paint on its walls. Why should it? This is Shantiniketan, a place as much at home with distemper as it is with deepmusing daily bicyclists. Now, that's the kind of simple life you'd never want to change.

Accordingly, for the past even score years, we've been painting the interiors of Chhayabrita a soft white colour, the hue akin to that of new snow. And the texture of the paint is distinctly grainy so that when you run your hands over the walls you'll feel as though they were left unfinished and the paint had been applied over raw plaster. It's not too far from the truth, this. Firstly, the walls are not smoothed over with plaster of paris. Secondly, the paint chosen is actually sabulous. Then, all application is by regular brush and not roller. And finally, the white is mixed with a dash of cream to soften the shade to a snow-like effect.

The enclosed pictures show several rooms being painted at Chhayabrita. Look carefully and you'll be able to notice the nuances of the imperfect walls and the emulsion being applied upon them. It's details such as these, and the care we take to ensure adherence to aesthetic standards that don't kowtow to decorators' views of what a beautiful home should be that makes Chhayabrita special. It's also why your own little home in Shantiniketan answers to you precisely in the way you want it to, every time you go to stay.

Chhayabrita

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