TURIYA...a spa-villa cum homestay in Goa !

Sandesh is someone that i befriended recently during a visit to Mumbai. We ended up hitting the inner streets of Mumbai's crawford area looking for copper utensils and the perfect table linen for Sandesh's spa. Seeing the passion and enthusiasm with which 'Sandy' went hunting for his wares left me in admiration and set the background to know more about TURIYA !

TURIYA is the result of Sandesh's passion to create a space in his hometown of Goa. When i saw the pics of 'Turiya' and Sandesh's personal touch in every corner of his spa it reminded me of the time when i created my own home. At the risk of sounding cliched, what makes Turiya special is that it is very evidently a labour of love. Every nook-n-corner of this space has been pain-stakingly created by its owner using the simplest of ideas and on a shoe-string budget. I had to write about Turiya ...so here i am!

'Turiya' means a state of pure consciousness. Sandesh's love for vibrant colours and antiques is evident from the front entrance and porch itself.

Sandesh has spent over a year restoring and doing up his little piece of heaven as you may call it. A trained architect who started his career with Hafeez Contractor, Sandesh has worked on several projects. However 'turiya' has a certain hand-made homely feel to it. The initial idea to have it as a holiday home was soon abandoned for a ayruvedic spa resort that's now managed by Sandesh's sister, a trained ayruveda doctor.

One of the beautiful corners in the Villa is of course the actual spa area that's been lovingly created  using  150 yrs old Pillars and arches of one temple inkarnataka. The result is 3 therapy rooms with white fabric partitions that overlook a small water body. 

 

the water body right outside the spa rooms, beautifully lit up... 

Sandesh has managed to extend the mysticism right upto the names of the rooms as well. Each room has a distinct name and identity that is beautifully represented through logos too.... 

The villa has 4 rooms packed away cosily, each with its own unique design!

 

Beauty lies in the detailing. Even the bathrooms exude freshness and of course tons of sunshine!

What's nice to see is that the owner has managed to retain the original charm of this traditional Goan home as seen in its common areas.

Every corner sees the touch of someone with a keen aesthetic eye and an admiration for things that are antique !
 

The use of pillars in myriad shapes, sizes and colours throughout the resort is impressive!

Since there was a tight budget while creating this space, almost everything in the house right from furniture to serving trays, lamp shades, door handles, toilet paper holder,hooks, signage,mirror frames,  etc has been created pain-stakingly bit its owner ! The colourful patio best exemplifies this - note the hand-painted coffee table and the cosy antique door-turned-seater with hand-stitched cushion-seaters.

Simple ideas that needn't be expensive. Sandesh's smart ideas are seen at work in little nooks and corners of the spa. 

The elephant wall hooks!

Beautiful hand-painted wall-graphics!

A cool wall-idea!!

So the next time you are looking for some quite time and wish to hit the beaches of Goa, you know where to head !

Contact - 

TURIYA, House no –16, Chaudi,
Canacona, Goa – 403702
India.

Tel: +91-832-2644172 / 2643077

Cell: +91-9765988904

Email: info@turiyahotels.com

You can also contact :
Sandesh Prabhu - +91-98215-0400

FROM 'VANNAKKAM THANJAVUR' TO 'HI TANJORE' !

A recent road trip to Thanjavur with a friend saw me visiting its famous 'brihadesswara temple' and the Thanjore palace among others. As we were walking out of the main entrance of the thanjore palace, I saw a signage atop a building that said 'Hi Tanjore'. The name caught my attention and so did the building that it pointed towards ! 

 

Moving closer to the building, what greeted us was a traditional thanjavur home that seemed to have been recently refurbished.

 

The blue-glazed cement floor and the colourful poster on the wall immediately pulled me in. The building,as i discovered, was a heritage boutique hotel that was run by Sunil Verghese (who also runs the Dunes eco resort on Pondicherry) and designed by  Dimitri Klein (also its co-owner). The hotel had recently begun its operations. The next hour saw me explore different parts of this colourful blue heritage hotel thanks to its sweet staff. Here's a sneak peek...

The reception area ...

 

The back-lit spiral staircase that lead to the rooms upstairs and the cafe atop is impressive!

Across the hotel one could see glimpses of the traditional thanjore paintings re-interpreted smartly as mixed prints or as-is on the various seat-upholstery.

A 3-seater in the corridor outside the rooms

The hotel has 15 rooms packed inside, each with a unique design. A glimpse of one of the rooms...

The cafe upstairs was all in blue, however the glazed grey cement flooring nicely offset the powerful blues. The films of negative prints (seemed like sculptures from the thanjore temple) mounted on the cafe windows seemed like a genius of an idea!  

A few neat touches...

The open-air terrace...

 

The tariffs might seem steep as the hotel is obviously aimed at luxury/foreign travelers. However the same should not prevent you from having a nice cuppa coffee and some food at the cafe upstairs. 


HOTEL 'HI-TANJORE' - 464, East Main Road, opposite the Tanjore Palace main gate. Tel.: +91 9364455440. www.tanjorehihotel.com

PURPLE TURTLES...a few bright ideas

It’s true! I am in love with anything related to home decor. And good lights and lighting... even more so. After all, the right lighting can add that extra zing to your home. And with a name like ‘purple turtles’ (purple incidentally is my fav colour these days) it’s tough to ignore this store when you walk by it. So the shop-sniffer that I am out, I sniffed out 'Purple-turtles' more than a year ago when I was doing up my place. I was kinda getting bored of the same old bulky/glass lighting stuff that one finds in most stores , not to forget the heavy-duty chandeliers. Naturally, ‘purple turtles’ came as a relief (though the prices at first didn’t ).

The store started by its sweet and unassuming owner, Radeesh Shetty houses interesting lighting options from desi designers across the country and its own produce too. They come in varying budgets right from Rs 1000 upwards. Here are some interesting options from what I saw – 

The highlight of the store was definitely these interesting lighting options from Jenny Pinto, one of the few handmade paper makers in India, based in Bangalore. Jenny designs her own range of lighting and home accessories using her own paper. She makes a unique range of beautiful, translucent and  textured paper from agricultural and craft waste fibres like banana, sisal, mulberry, various rivers grasses, pineapple and more.

One finds a fair variety of options at this store, right from the contemporary steel pieces by Mukul Goyal to screen-printed cloth lamp shades .

Made of raw silk/cloth

For kitsch-lovers, there are the canvas-painted spunky ones and ‘beaded’ ones too.

 canvas-prints. I have this one myself!!

In my experience, I have often found lamp shades with great designs; however the fittings and the lamp-bases in many a case turn out to be very flimsy. And that’s where I found 'purple turtles' delivering some fine quality products. Radeesh claims that the holders and electrical fittings are specially imported and hence the cost. What I liked most about the store are the fine-looking wooden lamp bases which though a bit expensive are totally worth it since they bring so much character and finesse to the lamp shades. 

So next time you are in Indiranagar, drop into ‘Purple Turtles’. Unlike some of its 'posh' counterparts which one would think twice before entering, this store is very welcoming and so are the people inside. And of course, do not forget to mention your source... You heard about them here. 

Address: #128, 1st main, domlur 2nd Stage, near Barbeque Nation, off 100 ft road Bangalore - 560025. Radeesh Shetty – 9741888668 / 08041528039

thepurpleturtles.in@gmail.com