Category: Uncategorized

This is what I heard from many of my close associates including a few of my family members when I decided to revamp my ancestral house into a homestay.

I was born and brought up in a small village called Thiruvilwamala in Kerala. I was the youngest in a family of 11 children. After the father’s demise, as per his WILL, the 4.5-acre land and house were inherited to us. I was adamant about getting the old mud house where we all used to live as a joint family. My brothers and sisters didn’t have any second opinion about it and I finally become the legal heir of the seventy-year-old mud house

Before revamping the house

My mother and a brother with family were living there for a few years after the father’s demise. All my siblings are migrated to different villages and towns. After completion of my college, I too moved out from the village and started working. Lived in cities like Chennai, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and Hyderabad.

Mother at Anamala Homestay

Around 2015, my elder brother has to relocate too due to his job demand. Mother became alone in the house and she was not ready to go with any of his children and was adamant about staying at her house. All of us could not do much, except to visit her often and also we could get a caretaker for her.

Sasi and working team

I was highly disturbed to see the condition of the house. Termites, roof leakages during the monsoon, and the lack of modern facilities made us difficult to stay whenever we go to Thiruvilwamala. Once upon a time, the house was full of joy and fun and it became like a “Bhooth Bungalow” now.

We are Pet friendly

The Thatched Hall for a get-together and relaxing, close to nature

It was around 2017, I met a client of Honeycomb Creative Support for a website design and development of a homestay in Wayanad. I had a long chat with him about the nuances of running a homestay. I stayed in a few other homestays during my travel to remote locations. Connecting all dots, I decided to convert my house into a homestay. Also, it will be good that if the house is alive, we can stay whenever we go there from Bangalore. My mother was the happiest person to know about this decision.

Mother in front of the outhouse, Babus Hall

We took the help of Hyder Ali, from Palakkad, a cousin of mine, who is into Design and construction of Villas and his advice and suggestions moved us. Assigned the local Carpenter and Vaastu expert Sasi and Team from my village to do the entire revamping work. We did a few alterations inside to make the rooms bigger. Sasi’s 30 years of experience and knowledge about Building Science helped us to make that into today’s shape. Unni Krishnan, my schoolmate, and his team helped us to do the civil works.

Hyder Ali of Vintage Builders and Engineers, Palakkad who helped with restoring plan

Another friend, Prakash Kanjully, a great electrician, managed the complete Electric related works. Haridas Tholannur and the team completed the Plumbing works. All roofing tiles we could use the old ones. Floor tiles we sourced from Athankudi, the memories from Chettinad heritage. My wife Reshma’s design aesthetics helped me to make the old house a beautiful one! It took almost a year to complete the work.

Babus Hall for meeting and get-together

Getting it certified by the Dept of Tourism was easy. Kerala Govt. approval is a must for Homestays. Few conditions must have been adhered to. We followed all the rules and regulations. We are one of the premium and Gold-certified homestays in the region. My friend E C Babu, helped us a lot to get the homestay certified.

My village is not a regular tourist place where people come and spend days together. It is an offbeat place, with an abundance of greenery, farms, temples, etc. which is not marketed properly. Being a marketer and establishing a successfully running Marketing agency, I took the courage of marketing my village first. We did the complete shoot of the village showing its pulse, a nice video and photography of the Anamala Homestay, listed the homestay in all Online Travel Portals, and helped us drive traffic to our website and to the homestay. I appointed a Manager, a Cook, and also a Gardner to look after the exterior works.

Edgar Watson, the American novelist, beautifully quoted, “To be an ideal guest, stay at home.”

A homestay is a place where you are treated like a guest; a hotel is a place where you are treated like a client.
So to be more precise, what is a homestay?

Homestay is a concept of local lodging where the guest is accommodated in the family’s residence in a separate local quarter nearby.

In India, there is a well-known saying in Sanskrit verse, “Atithi Devo Bhava” translated it means “The guest is equivalent to God.” Indians are known for their hospitality, love, and warmth they provide for their guests.

There are many reasons to choose a homestay over a hotel, but today I will be sharing six reasons which will change your perspective on homestay forever.

1. Price: Everyone loves going for a vacation but who likes it when they get too expensive to afford? Hotels can be cheap but less likely to be clean and hygienic. The local residence will give you the best tips on places you can visit for a modest price, and it does not include any additional charges. Choosing a homestay helps you in managing your expenses which can assist you to spend on other activities like trekking, sightseeing, or visiting new places.

2. Meet new people: A family trip or solo traveling can add more fun to your plan when you meet new people, make memories, share thoughts with them which will be cherished for life. Local residents love to mingle and talk about their culture to their guests. You might end up making a new and truthful friend. The chances of such scenarios happening in hotels are implausible.

3. Home-cooked food: Food is a favorable form of hospitality for Indians. They have a wide range of cuisines which keeps changing according to the different cultures and locations. Hotels do serve good food, but there is nothing as good as food prepared at home. The beauty of experiencing different cuisines, the smell of fresh spices, and learning traditional methods of cooking from the people who inherited it from their ancestors, is altogether an exquisite feeling which you definitely don’t want to miss.

4. Local Culture: India is known for, “Unity in Diversity.” Imagine staying at a new place, where you witness local’s daily chores, food habits, and lifestyle. Indians have known for having unique cultural changes from state to state; there is a notable fusion of all cultures. Isn’t that something new to learn? Immersing yourself with the local culture, their lifestyle, and interacting with them can be a great learning experience for you.

5. Personalized service: Who doesn’t like customized services? At a homestay, the main focus is on you. Your likes and preferences, your comfort is their higher priority. And they will put in all the effort it takes to make you feel at home. You will be invited to local groups to meet new people, and you can explore local places. You can make the best of every moment you spend there as a local residence will guide and inform all the details you’ll want to enjoy.

6. Support local economy: By staying at a homestay and buying handicrafts made by the locals can add financial value to local communities. The amount you pay for the homestay is the money you are contributing to their livelihood. The hospitality, memories, and experiences are what you will take back and cherish. Supporting and buying from the locals is a great way of giving back.

Everything comes with its own pros and cons, be it staying at a homestay or a hotel. Preferably, staying at a homestay is a beautiful feeling and getting a home-like experience away from home is worth experiencing. Today, homestays are providing better accommodations than hotels at an affordable price with the added benefits of exploring local sights, food, and culture.

One such beautiful homestay is Anamala Homestay, they are known for warm hospitality, home-cooked food, environmentally conscious, peaceful locals, and much more. Build a story worth sharing with peers and friends.
Written by: Sahana Y

When I think of Kerala, the first thing that comes to my mind is Kerala’s traditional attire set- mundu, saree, and dhoti which is now becoming a fashion trend. With many brands coming into the picture, a perfect handloom made at a beautiful place like Kuthampully is still a mastery and eminent. Many people are adapting to the changing trends, but some families have their hearts for the ancient handloom sarees. Such is the place Kuthampully located in Thiruvilwamala of Thrissur district.

Kuthampully is located about 50km northeast of Thrissur Town, it is mainly known for traditional cotton weaving. Many traditional families say that “Kuthampully is the place to do the shopping for traditional sarees and dhotis which are perfectly hand-loomed with traditional techniques and methods.”

The Kasavu Handloom is immensely famous which is run by 600 families, in which, majority of them belong to the Devanga Community; their true origin is traced from modern-day Karnataka. This community of traditional weavers was brought by the Kochi Royal Family dated 500 years back exclusively for the palace requirements, though they continued following that tradition as a part of their culture.

Kuthampully handloom sarees and settu mundu have received GI Certificate( Geographical Indicator). A GI certificate is given by the government to secure the traditional knowledge of the region or community as they are specialized in a certain product or craft and have a reputation for it.

Kuthampully Handloom Industry Co-operative Society was registered in 1972 with 102 members, they have made sure that the ancient methods that were followed back then are still being continued irrespectively of the changing world and current trends. The Kasavu double dhoti, set mundu and veshti make huge profits during the Onam festival.

Keeping the current scenario in mind, the floods, the pandemic, and the disapproval of the younger generation toward handloom employment has caused the families a severe crisis.

The government policies as GST has affected handloom weavers, as the price of the needle, cotton, and other raw materials have increased. The weavers who would make a chunk of profit during festivals were unable to do so due to Covid19. Most of the people who work there have a modest income; what you earn is completely based on the speed you work at and how much you can finish in a day.

From the past 15 years, almost 150 weavers have quit weaving and have taken up different professions to earn their daily bread. Everything is slowly changing, as the number of weavers is decreasing in Kerala, people from Tamil Nadu are being hired to continue the tradition.

The tourists, who cannot distinguish between the handmade and power-loomed handloom get manipulated easily. So when you visit Kuthampully, make sure you buy it from the right source and support the local economy. Kuthampally is a great place to visit and recreate the traditions which were followed by our ancestors.

The World of Humans in 2020 is fighting a war against this family of viruses that have encroached the Earth making survival questionable. We, humans, are taking all possible preventive measures to stay safe and to break the link of spread.

We at Anamala Homestays are concerned about the current situation of our planet. This has to lead us to join hands with the rest of the world and take up some preventive measures.

Best Precautionary Measures to be taken at Homestays

• Abide by the rules set by our local Government
• Disinfecting in and around the homestay
• Providing sanitizer to the tourists at our homestay
• A good supply of warm water and a home-cooked meal

A 3D Illustration of the Coronavirus

The right way to pick and practice the precautions is by understanding the gravity of the situation.

What are Coronaviruses?

Biological agents that can replicate within a living cell on infecting a living organism is called a virus.

Coronaviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses with an envelope around it on which club-shaped projections are present. They are large families of viruses that infect both humans and animals.

Where did the outbreak of Corona Viruses occur?

COVID-19 stands for Coronavirus Disease-2019, a successor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) that infected the people on Earth earlier. COVID-19 is a new strain first identified in Wuhan, China which is now resulting in a pandemic.

Origin of the n-Cov 2019

How does COVID-19 spread?

When a human is exposed to Coronavirus it takes a time frame of 2-14 days for the symptoms to the surface and the infected person experiences fever, dry cough, runny nose, fatigue and difficulty in breathing or shortness in breath.

If you are experiencing any symptoms get yourself screened immediately to break the chain of the disease from spreading.

Touching infected surfaces in public places

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

COVID-19 disease is communicable from one person to another through the transfer of very small droplets from the COVID-19 affected victim’s sneeze or a cough. One uncovered sneeze or cough carries millions of viruses that the victim would be leaving around the places they move about. These droplets settle on the surface of objects which when other healthy people come in contact with and then touch their eyes, nose or mouth get the disease.

List of Symptoms when affected by COVID-19

It is better to act now than later.

Homestays are the right place if travelers desire to experience the authentic way of getting in and around the city or town, living along with the locals. India is a diverse country filled with nature, history, and culture. It is an experience home away from the home hassle and panic free. Anamala Serenity is one such 70-year-old heritage homestay amidst a picturesque town Thiruvilwamala in Kerala.

Anamala Homestays in Thiruvilwamala

Preventive measures for homestays

• Firstly, we at Anamala Serenity Homestays in Thiruvilwamala near Thrissur follow the rules and regulations set by The Department of Health and Family Welfare & Kerala Tourism.
• We at our homestay greet our tourists the Indian way with a “Namaste”!

A hand gesture, “Namaste”! – The Indian way of greeting people

• We take food safety measures by serving boiled warm water to drink and well-cooked home food with organic vegetables in earthen pots.

Local delicacy cooked and served in earthenware

• Hygiene at our Homestay has always been a priority, while now it is the season to be extra careful. We abide by the rules of cleanliness to keep any kind of pests out.

Measures to disinfect common areas and provide fresh spreads and towels

• To keep your hands’ germ-free we have alcohol-based sanitizers are placed at every nook and corner of the homestay.

• There is medicinal soap and 24*7 warm water to shower when you get back to the homestay after a short trip nearby.

Medicinal soaps to wash your hands with clean and fresh water.

The team at Anamala Homestay are doing their bit to spread awareness about the preventive measures to coronaviruses in and around the town!