Abhishek and Aishwarya at the Sanjeeva Spa in Vedic Village after a natural therapy session

“Thank you so much for such a relaxing treatment for us. Our best wishes to you and your staff” — Aishwarya Bachchan. Between the message and the signature, the sign of a big heart in blue ink.

“Thank you for a wonderful treatment. Can’t wait to come back for my next one. Thanks again. Love” — Abhishek Bachchan.

With her straight-from-the-heart message and his signature of love, Sanjeeva Spa — and indeed the whole of Vedic Village — is basking in the AshAbhi afterglow.

Aishwarya made the spa resort off Rajarhat her home for three weeks while Abhishek joined her later to shoot for Mani Ratnam’s Raavan. They left on Saturday.

“Aishwarya was very surprised with our property. She remarked that she never knew there was a place like this in Calcutta and asked us why we were ‘hiding’ it,” said M.J. Robertson, the executive director of Vedic Resorts and Hotels.

Playing host to AshAbhi is not a bad way of coming out of “hiding”. Vedic Village was sold to Ratnam’s Raavan sena as “an ideal location” for stars, far from the madding crowd. “Living in a city hotel gets tough for popular artistes. Vedic Village helps them rejuvenate, away from prying eyes. They’re able to relax,” said Robertson.

That’s what Bollywood’s power couple did at Vedic Village, between hectic shoots by (and on) the Hooghly in Agarpara. Their pamper date at the spa happened after a nightlong shoot at the Chitpur railway terminal. “Relaxed and rejuvenated”, Ash and Abhishek wrote their messages on a Vedic Village notepad.

Abhishek and Aishwarya stayed in one of the Deluxe Villas on a lake. “They would usually pack their breakfast, and at times their lunch, from the resort. Aishwarya would leave at 5.45am for Agarpara.... Dinner would be served in their rooms. Nobody was allowed to go into their room or talk to them without prior permission,” said Sanjay Ray, the front office manager with an enviable task — escorting Ash to her room from the car every evening.

Abhishek would head for the gym for his morning workout while guests kept waiting to catch a glimpse of Aishwarya. “She’s so beautiful,” gushed a young couple who moved into their Vedic Village bungalow every weekend last month to keep an eye on Ash!

There is now a buzz about Vedic Village. “This opens the door to not just national but also international personalities who would want to stay here,” said Robertson.