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Dear Friends and Travellers,
Time, changer of seasons, flows so swiftly. We at Red Coral are now in our 5th year of operations. The venture which started out as Rezconnekt, a reservation center for boutique resorts, has gracefully evolved into Redcoral, a niche multi services solution for standalone boutique resorts/lodges/homestays including reservations, sales & marketing and consulting services. We look forward to adding on more value added experiential services in the coming year for our hotel partners.
The past few years have been very eventful and full of learning for us at Red Coral and we thank you for being a part of our journey.
In this month’s “Coralogue” we introduce you to our new Coral – Shikwa Haveli, a painstakingly restored heritage haveli just 30 km from Red Fort in a lovely destination – Katha Village. We have an interesting story about Wildlife beyond the tigers written by Vineith, one of the naturalists at Forsyth Lodge, Satpura. We welcome you to explore forest walks, Himalayan views, heritage trails discovering monuments from the days of the Raj, cemeteries and churches around Abbotsford in Nainital. A piece on Must Art Lounge in New Delhi, calls for a unique art experience with an interactive session over a cup of tea.
Happy reading,
Shobha & Vinay
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Shikwa Haveli. Katha Village, Baghpat, Delhi
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When something stands for centuries, bearing mute testament to the metamorphosis of a place, a people, the very fiber of life and being of a populace, it then ceases to be a mere structure. The hands of man might have once given it shape and strength, but over time it assumes a permanence contrary to natural law, an invisible cloak of transcendence.
The Shikwa Haveli stands as such. And has done so for the last 700 years. It has towered through times of grandeur, crawled through periods of obscurity, gasped through near ruination and re-emerged as a beacon of hope for the local population, the pride of a distinguished family and a comforting continuity of a bygone way of life. It is home to the ex-UN diplomat husband-writer journalist wife-student son trio of Shariq, Alka and Sahil, who have doggedly and painstakingly restored, recreated and resuscitated this, their ancestral legacy.
A mere hour and a bit’s drive from the howling chaos of the capital city, on the banks of the ‘Blue Yamuna’, through a steep, winding and narrow road in the village of Katha right off the Delhi-Saharanpur highway, a large arched doorway will open for you to step back into time and into a warm welcome by the hosts. And thus begins your Gold Class, heritage luxury homestay.
It is as much the charm and old-world warmth of the hosts, the comfortable luxury and undertones of grandeur as it is the whispers of antiquity wisping through the walls and all they enclose that makes your time at Shikwa a memorable experience. The rooms and suites, the lovely gardens, the sprawling rooftop, the various interestingly named lounges and private areas, Shariq’s engrossing history lessons and Alka’s industrious endeavours with the entire village’s eco-system, all come together to define the commitment and heritage that Shikwa stands for. It is not just a heritage luxury homestay experience, it is an immersive journey of history marching through the present, onto a wholesome future.
Red Coral welcomes you to the Shikwa Haveli homestay experience.
The Location
Shikwa – Mehrabon Wali Haveli, is less than 30 Kilometers from the historic Red Fort of Delhi; located on the mound of village Katha on the banks of river Yamuna in the National Capital Region of Delhi on Delhi-Saharanpur-Gangotri (The source of river Ganga) Highway.
Shikwa Haveli is located perfectly such that it fits in all the classical itineraries like:
Delhi – Shikwa – Agra
Agra – Shikwa – Chandigarh
Delhi International Airport – Shikwa – Agra
Delhi – Shikwa – Haridwar/Rishikesh
Delhi International Airport – Shikwa – Corbett
Jaipur – shikwa
The Stay:
Six luxury heritage rooms; 5 air conditioned and 1 air-cooled rooms situated on two different floors overlooking the central courtyard.
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The Poem that unfolds..
by Janhavi
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The Abbotsford experience is a mystery that unfolds for each traveller in a way that a poem would unfold itself – at first obscure till familiarity sparks a connect to a charming English estate with chimney tops, tucked away into a wooded nook of Nainital – where birds descend to chirp and fly, where a leopard prowls in the dead of the night, a scenic town as author Anuradha Roy puts it, “where you can shoot balloons and sail on a lake in a hand-rowed boat”!
Abbotsford takes you on forest walks, peaks with Himalayan Views, heritage trails of old British buildings centenaries and churches with a peek into Jim Corbett’s home, a game of golf in the Governors estate where he lives in a miniature of the Windsor Castle, a local culinary experience down to the farmers market to be savoured at Abbotsford’s in house cafe -Cafe Chica that also serves the food that the house patrons have grown up eating – Irish stew to crumb chops and of course the apple crumble! It’s a charming old world experience at the Himalayan foothills where when the night falls, we await for the stars above to shine & fire below to crackle, warming our hearts for another wonderful day at Abbotsford.
— Janhavi Prasada
Janhavi, comes from a family of the erstwhile Zamindars of Oudh (Uttar Pradesh) in northern India. She nurtures her 145-year-old ancestral hme Abbotsford, inn the Kumaon hills. It was here tha her magical childhood was spent. A film maker, an author of er graphic novel on Mahatma Gandhi “Tales of Young Gandhi” published by Harper Collins, with a deep passion for photography, she has successfully entered the hospitality business by turning this family house into an exclusiveboutique countryside home stay. It is here that she draws most of the inspiration reflected in her life and work.
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Wildlife beyond the Tigers…
by Vineith
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Picture Credits: Surya Ramachandran
As you all would be aware Forsyth Lodge has always promoted Satpura National Park as a wholesome wilderness experience beyond the tigers and safaris. The sighting of an Indian Pangolin by David, our Naturalist from Singinawa in Kanha and the images of the Honey Badger captured by the camera traps set up by our Forsyth lodge team in Satpura got us excited to know more about these nocturnal mammals. Vineith, our storyteller from Forsyth Lodge yet again came to our rescue to shed some light on these two elusive creatures of the night.
Images from Camera trap at Satpura National Park
Satpura is a magical landscape, the steep valleys and the mountains tell stories of several million years. Stories of its rock formation, of the trees large and diverse, of the human history in its rock paintings, of the pre-Independence era India through Capt. James Forsyth’s notebooks, of its skilled tribes and the very life that thrives in her Rivers and Mountains.
Most visitors to Satpura arrive with an expectation to see its migrant birds, some in large numbers like the Bar-headed Geese and the River Terns or even the rarely seen nesting Indian Skimmers. Many visitors also bask in the hope to see the Leopards that Satpura is well known for.
The soil is rich with termite activity almost all year round and advantage that the cavernous rocks offer make it suitable for dry deciduous habitat mammals such as the Sloth Bear, the rare Indian Pangolin and the even rarer Ratel or the Honey Badger.
— Vineith Mahadev
This Mysorean has been trekking the Western Ghat ranges since 1999, and his passion for the Western Ghats and discovering the richness of its biodiversity and guiding treks has given him a nickname ‘malabaricus’ – “belonging to the Western Ghats”.
He wears many hats, a theater artist, a writer , a poet and what describes him best is that he is a story teller, weaving together stories of the wild and one can’t miss a thing when being guided by him in the jungles. Like one of our guests commented that he has eyes behind his head too and didn’t give them a moment of respite.
If you are interested in more of such articles,do visit here.
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Ms. Tulika Kedia, Managing Director of Singinawa Jungle Lodge is known not only for her love for wildlife but also for her passion for the Indigenous tribal and folk Art of India. The Must Art Gallery in Delhi has carved out a niche in something that had formerly been the preserve of museums and is Tulika Kedia’s way of giving the artists a platform to showcase these inspirational art forms .
India, known to be one of the most culturally diverse countries has a multitude of ethnic art forms interspaced along its land-mass. Most of these have been practiced by tribal artists in remote areas since ages, and even though they’ve emerged on the “art scene” in the recent years, seldom get the attention they deserve. In order to promote visibility for these forms, Tulika has set up the exquisite Must Art Gallery allowing exposure and appreciation through curated experiences. For the traveller with a keen interest in Indian culture, an interaction here is a must-do.
Located in Delhi, Must Art Lounge specializes in indigenous tribal & folk forms comprising paintings, masks & sculptures, from across India. Must Art gallery serves as a perfect venue for a curated showcase. Travellers can choose to explore the myriad forms from across the country in one convenient spot, assisted by art experts, and (if so required), artists themselves.
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