As a journalist whose forte lay in writing about journey, tradition and artwork for 15 lengthy years, Sanjay Austa by no means fathomed that at some point, the tables would flip — he and his journey could be written about as an alternative. As he settles down with The Higher India for a tete-a-tete, it’s clear that the driving power behind each determination that the Himachal native has made is his deep love for nature and the locals.
The end result of this love is his enterprise ‘Meen Bagh Houses’ that he began in 2017 as a step in direction of making eco journey attainable. The sustainable property presents metropolis folks an opportunity to reside in a “typical Himachali house”. It’s surrounded by fruit orchards and farms that unfold out for miles, all immersed within the glow forged by the setting solar silhouetted towards the Himachal skies.
Submit-COVID, there was a stark enhance within the variety of homestays rising within the state owing to folks beginning to prioritise cosy settings, homecooked meals, and the expertise of residing just like the locals. As an official informed Tribune India, the present variety of homestays in Himachal registered with the tourism division has crossed the two,000 mark as of December 2019.
Within the face of such stiff competitors, Sanjay has discovered a candy spot between luxurious and authenticity. How has he completed this? “By studying from the locals themselves,” he says.
From Shimla to Delhi and again
As any pahadi native will inform you, the draw of a flowery metropolis life pales compared to the homeliness of the hills. This was the case with Sanjay too. A childhood spent in a boarding faculty in Shimla and summer season holidays spent in his household orchards — had been a few of his fondest recollections. He carried them with him even in a while in life as he travelled the world as a journalist and author.
Primarily based in Delhi for work, Sanjay dearly missed the hills and the calm that got here with them. Quick-paced metropolis life was not his cup of tea — a realisation that dawned on him after spending a couple of years within the nationwide capital.
“Delhi has a manner of spitting you out after some time,” he figured. At present looking back, Sanjay says, “I consider if folks have an choice of doing one thing within the place the place they hail from, they need to. There isn’t a level in transferring into town just like the plenty. You’ll solely be including to the air pollution, visitors and commotion.”
It’s exactly this thought that formed his journey of beginning Meena Bagh Houses on his ancestral plot of land in Himachal.
One other factor that gave impetus to Sanjay’s burning need to return to the hills was the craving to be in proximity to nature. So, in 2017, he returned to his house in Himachal and apparently, was met with a shocking flip of occasions there.
Sanjay lets us in on a backstory that has its roots 70 years in the past. “My grandfather had constructed a constructing in the identical space the place the now well-known apple belt of Himachal is situated. Whereas the orchards continued to bloom, the constructing had been in a dilapidated state for a couple of years now. My father needed to carry it down and in its stead construct a extra trendy home.”
It was at this juncture of deciding what to do with the property that Sanjay reached the scene and proposed an fascinating plan. “The construction constructed by my grandfather was within the conventional kumaoni model and I assumed it might be a draw for vacationers. My mother and father had been not sure of this potential that I noticed in the home as Ratnari just isn’t a touristy place, to start with, however extra of an off-beat location.”
He provides that after a lot debate, “I ended up persuading them to let me experiment.”
Getting set to work on a dream
The journey of organising Meena Bagh Houses was rooted within the learnings that Sanjay had gathered by his travels.
For example, on a visit to Finland the place he visited the Arctic Circle, Sanjay recounts feeling chilly and shivering. Regardless of the dipping temperatures outdoors, the properties had been surprisingly heat and cosy, with none heaters! Perplexed, Sanjay requested the locals how they managed this feat.
“Insulation,” they informed me, says Sanjay. “This allowed warmth to remain inside the house and preserve it heat.” He was fast to attract comparisons between this mannequin and those that existed again house in Shimla. “In Himachal, 99 % of the properties will not be insulated and depend on firewood and electrical energy for heating. If solely insulation had been used, we may cease the warmth from percolating and escaping outdoors.”
So when it got here to his ardour challenge, Sanjay determined he would observe smart and sustainable types that existed the world over.
When he started to work on their two Meena Bagh properties — one in Ratari and one other in Shimla, the primary facet that Sanjay centered on was the partitions that held the construction collectively. “I constructed across the desolate partitions utilizing kath kuni structure. It’s a conventional method that makes use of alternating layers of wooden and stone masonry, held in place with out utilizing mortar. Our ancestors knew of this idea.”
To this, he provides. “Partitions are a part of the architectural historical past of the place. You see the cultural parts round it.”
When Sanjay undertook the duty of reworking his ancestral house right into a sustainable homestay, he says the intent behind it was to combine the Himchali contact in each nook. “I needed every part to mirror a narrative.”
At present, Meena Bagh Houses pleasure itself on its even handed and sustainable use of recycled wooden that Sanjay has sourced from a myriad of locations. Proper from waste wooden that individuals preserve apart to make use of for barbeques to wooden collected from factories and mills. Again and again, the wooden has come to the rescue and the panelling, flooring and tables at Meena Bagh mirror its magnificence.
An anecdote he shares is of his wooden accumulating section when he was intrigued by the variety of outdated heritage British structure buildings — a standard sight in Shimla — that had been being razed to the bottom to create space for newer buildings.
One vital construction that was being demolished was a century-old women’ school in Shimla. “It was across the identical time that I used to be searching for wooden to construct two new cottages at Meena Bagh Houses.” The wooden discovered a brand new house whereas Sanjay discovered what he calls “textured magnificence”.
Just a few different modifications that Sanjay introduced into the homestay was the addition of loos, which had been effectively insulated in order that visitors who had travelled lengthy hours to succeed in the homestay may have a sizzling bathtub. Whereas a standard delusion in Himachal is that water is a luxurious, Sanjay’s view on that is totally different.
“Individuals consider water is a luxurious as a result of they don’t harvest it.” He provides that his harvestation unit has a capability of two lakh litres of water free of charge the ample rainfall they obtain within the state.
The rainfall additionally serves one other objective as Sanjay factors to his blooming kitchen backyard. Full of the same old tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, spice crops, peas, lettuce, and the extra unique raspberries, strawberries, apricots, and plums, the backyard is Sanjay’s very personal paradise on earth.
His mindfulness for nature displays right here too, as he explains how he went to lengths to make sure the backyard was sustainable in a real sense and never simply on paper.
“If you find yourself away from town and in off-beat places how does one supply a produce like broccoli? The reply could be from Shimla, which maybe will get it from Delhi, which maybe will get it from Hyderabad, which will get it from..?”
“How is the method sustainable?”
Intrigued by how folks lately are merely labelling practices as sustainable with out guaranteeing they really are, Sanjay determined to digress from the “natural farming” mannequin, which focuses on monoculture and resorts to permaculture as an alternative.
This enables him to have an abundance of a number of totally different produce, thus guaranteeing he’s sourcing most from his personal land as an alternative of relying in the marketplace which guarantees “sustainability”.
Alim Chandani, a visitor who visited Meena Bagh Houses in July 2021 says, “One of the best half in regards to the place is the little particulars in every part. It has the heat of feeling proper at house together with scrumptious do-it-yourself meals.” The rooms are priced at Rs 3,900 onwards.
Should you thought all the explanations above had been strong sufficient to make you need to come right here in your subsequent trip, you’re mistaken. We’ve saved the very best for final.
Sanjay who has been an astronomy aficionado all through his life invested in a telescope (which is alleged to be the biggest personal telescope that one can personal). He did this quickly after he found that the skies in Ratnari rank two on the Bortle Scale (a nine-level numeric scale that measures the evening sky’s brightness).
Company have a good time watching Jupiter, Saturn and even nebulae by the telescope on clear nights.
And whereas they’re at it, guiding them by the method and having fun with it as a lot as them is Sanjay, the journey journalist who’s now residing the desires he would as soon as pen down.
Edited by Pranita Bhat
