I learn about apple farming, ligudva fiddle ferns and the man-eaters of Kumaon under the shade of an old plum tree.
I am still in my pyjamas, my fingers sticky with warm toast slathered with butter and local honey, when I am told that tigers smell like popcorn and that if I am ever lost in the forest, I need to take off my shoes and hug a mossy tree to hydrate.
On a trek, through the Mukteshwar reserve forests
| Photo Credit:
Yash Vishwakarma
Unsure whether the Sitla Estate naturalist Raju Mehta is joking, I peer at him questioningly, while a Grey-hooded Warbler provides a cheery soundtrack. He is deadpan.
As I soon find out, when we plunge into the Mukteshwar reserve forests, Raju does not joke. As nimble as a deer, he leads us along a path made by wild animals, freezing when a sounder of wild boars trot past. We splash through cold streams, sniff wild ajwain and pluck medicinal Chota Dhatura, a cockleweed said to have healing properties. Then, we track a leopard, following claw marks on a tree trunk, and paw prints in the soft soil.
Back at Sitla Estate, I catch my breath over a heady espresso, sinking into a plush sofa with Jim Corbett‘s The Temple Tiger . Jazz swells in the background. This is Vikram Maira’s world.
Athletic and bronzed from years of trekking, Vikram runs Sitla Estate with the delight of an adventurer who has finally found home. “When I moved here from Mumbai in May 1998, there was no electricity and no running water,” he smiles, adding that since there was no road to the house, they had to park in Mukteshwar and hike the rest of the way. They lit kerosene lamps every evening, and collected water in a bucket from a spring.
Cosy coners and reading nooks with plush sofas at the property
| Photo Credit:
DINESH KHANNA
An enthusiastic self-taught cook, he started making meals on an old cast-iron wood-fired stove. “The apple orchards were overrun, and more like a jungle. Supply lines were undependable. We slowly started growing our own vegetables, and replanting the apple trees. It was frustrating sometimes, but also challenging and fun.”
This 40-acre-estate was his family’s holiday home when he was growing up: “Mom would pack a hamper of roasts and eggs. My baby sister and I loved it – it was just two rooms then, and we lived camp-style till our supplies ran out.”
Returning as an adult to live in the 165-year-old house, there was a lot of work to do. Especially since he started welcoming guests just months later.
Vikram Maira
| Photo Credit:
Yash Vishwakarma
Over the years, Vikram and his small team of local workers renovated the main building, added rooms and replanted the orchards. Vikram also worked with the panchayat and local government so that the estate gradually received electricity, water and road access.
Now he speaks Kumaoni, and is deeply involved with the gram sabha. “A lot of it is settling disputes about land, fights between siblings and organising community festivals,” he says. Though he downplays his role, he has helped fund the education of children from the village, helped neighbours and supports local NGOs. He shrugs as he states, “I am part of the community. We all need help from each other.“
An evening at the property
| Photo Credit:
Yash Vishwakarma
Meanwhile, the steady stream of guests just kept coming. “There are people who have been staying with us for over 25 years now,” he says, pausing to play rock, paper, scissors with a guest’s two little sons, who excitedly report on the birds they saw during their morning walk in the forest.
Still edgy with city energy, I walk to Sitla ‘high street’ on the first afternoon, hoping for some retail therapy, proudly returning with a pleasingly dramatic aquamarine wooden cape from the Kilmora store, along with plum jam and an intriguing jar of pahadi furikake. Normally oblivious to birds, I download the Merlin app, and identify 6 species over my first cup of coffee on the balcony of my room. And, I scramble across the estate with the gardener, the laid-back Prakash Pande, who has been with Sitla Estate for 18 years, listing down everything they grow: from local herbs like pahadi palak to parsley, lettuce and broccoli.
Then, I finally pause. With only 12 rooms and views of the Himalayas, Sitla Estate is like balm.
A view of the mountains at Sitla Estate
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
During the day, I walk along paths fringed by wild roses, drink lemonade with other guests in the sunshine or read. In the evening, I join Vikram and his charming wife, Chandrika, a Delhi girl who he met and married at Sitla Estate five years ago, along with an eclectic, delightfully opinionated group of their friends for a drink. At dinner, as we eat roast chicken served with a bright tangle of carrots, capsicum and broccoli, a guest recites poetry.
Reading corners, with a view
| Photo Credit:
Yash Vishwakarma
After years of anxiously counting macros, I rediscover the joy of vegetables. “Our produce travels from the garden to your plate in three hours, says Vikram, as we tuck into a hearty lunch of crunchy beans and mutton curry, served with rice, papads and home made pickle.
Though he’s delighted about finally being able to source New Zealand lamb chops, Norwegian salmon and perfectly lacy bacon now that there’s a dependable cold chain from Delhi, I’m more excited about eating bowls of okra, brinjal raita and buttery little potatoes.
From the kitchens of the Himalayan retreat
| Photo Credit:
DINESH KHANNA
The cooking is homespun but thoughtful, with minimal intervention so that the flavours of the produce can shine. “The boys in the kitchen learnt to cook with me. One came to cut grass. One came to chop wood,” says Vikram, adding that they adapt their recipes every day depending on what is available in their gardens, pantry and herbs foranged from the forest. “We make sabji with the local ligudva fiddle fern, which is super delicious. And the stinging nettle that grows in winter makes a great soup.“
Sitla has no TVs, no room service and definitely no instant noodles. Luxury here is freshly cooked meals served in the garden, spacious rooms filled with bowls of fresh flowers, views of the mountains from bed and cheery personalised service thanks to Vikram’s major-domo, Hit Kumar who greets me with steaming chai and a smile every morning, before piling the table with seasonal fruit. Beside the apple orchards, they also grow apricots, peaches, plums, strawberries and mulberries, turning them into jams, pies and warm, buttery cobblers in summer.
One of the 12 rooms at Sitla Estate
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“Because we have just 12 rooms, it’s much more intimate. People stay for four to five days here and we sit, chat and find out what they enjoy, so we can tailor their experience,” says Vikram, adding, “My hotelier friends tell me I should expand. And sure, with 60 rooms I’ll make more money. But i will also hate my job!”
He adds that once he left Mumbai, there was no looking back. “It wasn’t that I was lacking anything in the city. I was in advertising, then making serials for TV. Wearing the right labels. Invited for the right dinner parties. Holidaying at the right places… I was doing it all and loving it all.”
He adds thoughtfully, “Sitla has changed me. It has changed my priorities, and how I interact with other people. Now, luxury is sitting in front of a fire with a good book. A long vigorous trek with a heavy backpack. Or hearing the first Himalayan Griffon of the season sing, and realising that fall is moving into winter…. At Sitla, you start living a life that is more you.
Sitla Estate is in Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand, about a three-hour drive from Pantnagar Airport or a two-hour drive from Kathgodam railway station.
