To say that I don’t like luxury would be tantamount to lying.

I do.

But once, if not twice every year, I go to a place that has no room service, no television and no newspapers.

Up until a few years ago, it had hot water for an hour in the morning. And no cellular signal. I would send my driver with my BlackBerry to Nainital to download all my messages.

To this day, you have no choice as far as your meals are concerned. You eat what you are served. And the menu for both lunch and dinner is never disclosed.

Barkha Dutt introduced us to Sitla Estate in 2004.

We lost our hearts to it the very first time.

Our sons have been up there every year since the ages of six. Early this year, they went with a bunch of their teenage friends and shattered the peace of Sitla forever.

Sitla. Chances are you have never heard of it. People like us who frequent it with alarming regularity prefer it that way.

It is about a two-hour drive from Nainital. You can drive down from Delhi. Or you can take the Shatabdi from Delhi early in the morning and get to Kathgodam by about noon. From there it is a two-hour drive, which should just about get you to Sitla in time for lunch.

Sitla is a charming village in the Kumaon region of the Himalayas, 7,000ft above sea level. There are dense jungles, orchards and pine trees. It has swoon-worthy views of Nanda Devi, Panchchuli, Trishul.

What does one do at Sitla? Nothing. You can go for long walks. Trek around the place. Cozy up with a book. Sitla discourages planned days.

Vikram Maira who runs the place is perhaps the greatest magnet of Sitla. When you tire of life, you land up at Vikram’s.
Equally brilliant is the food at Sitla. Vikram has to be amongst the finest chefs of the country and a great culinary secret. The breakfasts are hearty. The Gin & Tonics are lethal. And dinner is a dream. Exotic meats. Home-baked bread. All dripping with goodness and tremendous taste.

Before dinner (which is served at precisely 8.30pm) there is a community bar where you sit along with other guests and hootch it out. Sitla encourages inter-personal skills so you can’t sit in a corner and nurse your Negroni.

The soul of Sitla is the conversations that it spawns. For me, that is redemption for the soul. Sitla makes you an intellectual dwarf. 

I mean, how do you contribute to a conversation on the composition of the Sudanese army?

How do you participate in a chat about genomics with a scientist holding forth?

Sitla is that. It is pollen for minds.

And Vikram is known to turn away the dull and boorish.

I have seen him refund money after five minutes of a conversation about marble flooring and in-room dining.

So what defines Sitla?

Character. Deep comfort in your own skin. Civility. And above all, not a care for the vicious world that we live in.

In July of 2017, I will turn fifty.

Where will I be on that day?

Sitla.

The only place to celebrate the finished and unfinished business of life.

If you’re keen on losing your heart to Sitla Estate, log on to www.sitlaestate.com
 

Copywriter, author, art collector, wine collector, son, brother, husband, father.... Swapan lives in Gurgaon. His heart, however, is in Calcutta