We have been sailing together, slowly, through life. From port to port. Dropping anchor often. Creating memories, and making friends. And now, quite literally, Suma and I are planning a sea change. Setting course not for any sea, but for the backwaters. Of Kerala. Entering uncharted waters, we are changing careers: from education to hospitality.
Like all changes, this one is difficult. Especially because we still love teaching, and especially because we consider IIM Udaipur and the city of Udaipur to have been the best places to work/ stay among the many we have experienced. The temptation to stay on for longer is strong; very strong.
However, this change has been coming for some time now. We have been talking about setting up a homestay for some time. Since 2004, to be precise. When we used to gaze up from IIM Kozhikode campus- at the verdant Wayanad Hills. This, then, is the plan. To set up a homestay. On the banks of the beautiful Ashtamudi Lake. In Kollam (or Quilon). Kerala. Because we love hosting people as much as we like teaching.
We envision it as an inn-clusive homestay. Far from exclusive. Very far. Rooted in, and connected to, the local community. We will have as neighbours a few fisherfolks. And a policeman. A new life. From the ivory towers of academics to the backwaters. We will be quite LinkedOut. But we will continue to be in the LinkedIn world too. You see our village has got a poetic, lyrical name. Pavumba. But it has also got the MBA in it! We just can’t get away. Pavumba. Roll it around in your mouth as you would fine wine. And come home. Whatever mood you are in. Down, and blue; elated and celebratory; or just plain neutral; chilled. Pavumba is in Kollam District. We considered locations around the country. But luck and providence brought us to Kollam. A place where I spent my last three years of schooling. In a Boarding School. A beautiful, tiny boarding school. A place where we have friends who have been friends for decades. They will be your friends too. We want our immediate family (siblings and their kids, uncles, aunts, cousins) to spend a lot of time with us. They will be your friends. Our neighbours will be your friends too. We wish our guests to be connected with each other too. Guests who are not a flow, streaming in and out. But guests who become part of a stock. A community. So they will be your friends too.
One of our to-be neighbours owns and operates a Chinese fishing net. The name for the homestay thus suggests itself: SUMA @ The Nets. [As many of you are aware by sheer coincidence the initials of our names -Suma, Uday, Mridula and Ananya- add up to SUMA again. We intend to run a tiny local chai shop, a community library (of large finance and economics books!), and a health clinic where a doctor visits once or twice a week.
Not much is really done. We do not even know what the process for setting up a homestay is. Yet we have even gone and thought up a name. Having grown up with pets (dogs, cats, pigeons, ducks….) I am acutely aware that one should not count chickens before they are hatched. Nor name pups before they survive. But then using the metaphysical definitions of ‘existence’ in the Upanishads anything that exists in the waking, dreaming, deep sleep or ekatma, exists. Thus, SUMA@ The Nets exists. That is all that we talk about nowadays. All the time. To everyone. It exists. It is created.
And what is created must die. We are in a very fragile part of the world. Vulnerable to climate change, social change. This too shall die. We see ourselves as very temporary trustees of this beautiful piece of earth. The picture shows you the site. Luckily we have IIM Kozhikode alumnus Rohit Viswanath Prabhu and his wife Manju Vadhyar and their firm Yasoram doing everything for us while we sit in far-away Udaipur. Pray for our workers. At any given point in time, there are 6-8 of them on the site. Mostly migrant workers. From far-away lands.
Lead us on our social media pages. We have already set up an Instagram page. suma-at-the-nets. Lead us on Insta. Give us suggestions about every aspect, including the name. Nothing is cast in stone. The place is yours. As much as it is ours. Just as there is an MBA in Pavumba, ours resides within yours.
And ok, if the chickens hatch and the pups survive, we might make it a portfolio of inn-clusive (get used to the spelling, MSWord!) homestays. SUMA@The Bandar, being our home in Raibandar, Goa (Bunder or Bandar means a wharf, and Rai is the king; Wharf of the Kings) and SUMA@ The Indus might be with a friend in Leh, on the banks of the River Indus. Everything will have a watery connection. You see, both of us are Aquarians!
