Friends,
Here is an irresistible combo: a wellness blog to inspire dreams AND an invitation to make them come true.
First, dream of delving into exquisite Chettinad culture with the legendary Meenakshi as your all-knowing, all-caring hostess and supremo of South India’s most sumptuous banquets. Then, live it!
UNPACKING YOUR KIND OF WELLNESS IN INDIA
Episode 38
Location: Visalam, Kanadukathan, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu
Explore the Visalam website here
Event: Chettinad Heritage and Cultures Festival, 27-30 September, 2024, with extensions to Madurai and Thajavur
Visalam is an elegant 19C mansion built by a merchant of the Chettiar trading community of Tamil Nadu for his daughter. Today, it is run by cgh earth, India’s exemplary hotel group which sensitively restores old buildings into new life, converting them with integrity into hotels run by local staff, serving local cuisine and following a strict ecological programme. I have stayed at Visalam. Now I'm returning, with the bonus of a four-day festival in the Chettinad villages, celebrating all that makes this culture so rich and distinctive. And you can come, too - just ask me for more information.
The festival maestro is Meenakshi Meyyappan (see Wellness Episode 11: The Bangala here). Having revived and championed her Chettinad heritage - and won global fame for her restaurant (and cook book) - Meenakshi launched her cultural festival three years ago. Chettiar hospitality is remarkable, as I experienced as the guest of a family wedding there - I was bowled over by its inclusiveness and generosity, extended with such grace. Every moment was fascinating, and so much was different from any other Indian tradition I’ve taken part in. So, I’m going to immerse myself in the festival’s third edition which runs 27-30 September.
The Chettinad culture will shine its dazzling rays over about 50 lucky people. The programme is full of treats. There will be visits to the great Chettiar mansions, local temples and animistic worship sites, as well as to weavers and decorative tile-makers – all led by locals sharing the culture they live day by day. Additionally, there will be displays of work by Chettiar and Thanjavur artists, and performances of classical Carnatic music and Tamil Nadu’s Bharatanatyam dance. To help us dig deeper, specialists will talk us through what distinguishes the Chettiar buildings, music, dance and food. And we shall hear about Chettiar merchants trading abroad, leaving a cohort of families who lived self-sufficiently in their hundreds of spacious mansions across more than 90 villages.
To top it all, Menakshi will host her renowned banquets at The Bangala – feasts of surprise dishes she has rediscovered and refined from her own family memories and archives.
Four heritage mansions will host the festival guests, and one newer hotel. For my friends I have nailed five rooms at Visalam. I do hope you will join me.
As well as optional festival extensions to Madurai and Thanjavur for 1-2 October, I’d love to help you extend your trip in this lush, post-monsoon period.
Must-do wellness experience: a cooking lesson in Visalam's kitchen.
Visalam buzzwords: ‘Shall we take a hotel bike and go exploring?'
At Visalam, feel the Chettinad culture all around you. A local recipe including eggshells and palm jaggary gives walls their smooth pearly lustre. Bed covers, cushions and staff uniforms are woven locally. Smooth cool floors are laid with hand-made tiles made at Aathangudy, 10km away.
Visit some Chettinad mansions and pause in the deep front porches where business was done in front of the grand doorways encased in deeply carved teak which the traders brought back from Burma (now Myanmar). Though these, find a string of increasingly private courtyards ending with the huge family dining room and kitchen area, which still sing into life when extended family return for traditional weddings.
At the Chettinad festival this September, listen to Bharatanatyam dancer Annirudha Knight and artiste, writer and researcher Jeetendra Hirschfeld discuss south India's classical dance, then watch Annirudha perform.
Drop by to visit Chettinad's Hindu temples are especially full of colour, outlandish patterns and statues of fearsome gods. Some are surrounded with monumental horses, active reminders that the anamistic god Ayyanar rides his white horse around villages to protect them from evil spirits.
Taste the Chettinad cuisine at every meal, climaxing with Meenakshi's banquets. To find out more, explore the local markets, take a lesson in Visalam's kitchen, and then borrow a bike to work up some appetite for the next meal!
See previous wellness episodes here
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