How long does it take to soak in a place? Some years? Months maybe or a couple of hours. Even though we might want our holiday to last forever sadly we seldom have the luxury of time. No casual strolls across its hidden lanes, no tale-swapping with the people who lived there , no sight seeing and no old legends unearthed. Not too long back I realized I only need a moment to capture the essence of a city that I visited.
My business travel took me to Kovallam. A small little world tucked in south india , in the exotic backwaters of Gods own country , Kerela.

Well connected with comfortable but not very frequent flights from Delhi. The nearest airport is 20 kms away at Trivandrum. But its totally worth your while to travel for over 5 hours , when you take a ride to the exotic Leela Resort at Kovallam with the rows of palm groves running by the side and the well turned out suburbs that have mushroomed around them.
You could take a cab or arrange for pick up on request. But even if you decide to walk down, nothing quite prepares you for the sights in store when you land at the plush property.
Sea facing cottages, elaborately staircase styled resort , its very own private beach and a choice of four excellently planned restaurants with their own unique flavour – right from the second you are welcomed at the grand entrance , the sights and sounds envelope you with the detailing and grandeur that is over whelming.
But in true signature style of most rustic resorts , not everything is manmade. If there is a plush pool side bay , there are tall ceilings partially open to let the breeze come in. If there are well planned rooms with open jacuzis there are private little spots created for you to spend a moment in tranquility.
If there are an array of cabs connecting the main resort at a height to the private beach and cottages at ground level, there are pebbled streets and brightly painted windows and exotic brass door knobs to add that rustic charm to the place.
Lounge at the pool , take an all famous kerela massage, eat under the stars or enjoy water sports at the private beach – its amazing how one can spend doing whatever one wishes to choose to fill up time here.

But like I said luxury of time is sometimes what we don’t have. Between more than ten hours of travel, elaborate strategic class room style presentations ,team bonding activities in the sun and partying without a care in the world before yet another grueling year begins – packed up in just 30 hours of my stay there. All it took was a moment of silently soaking in the sun going down the playful waters , with my feet in the sand and the wind in my hair , all by myself – that I experienced the serenity that people come looking for .

At the cost of sounding theatrical I could help but think , What’s this world if full of care. Not a moment to stand and stare?

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