Traditionally, homes of grand parents have represented a sense of freedom and associated joys and memories for people. AjjanaMane intends to provide a similar natural place to stay and remember yourself. AjjanaMane is located in the small Talavata village close to Thalaguppa (Near Sagara, Shimoga district). AjjanaMane is amidst a setting where the only sounds you hear are the sounds of nature – wind blowing through trees and the surrounding little hills and plantation, sound of water in a small stream, the rustle of leaves, chirping of birds, croaks of frogs and sounds made by little insects and various other forms of life that are exclusive to the western ghats of India. These gentle sounds in the language of nature have the power to drawing you to the silence in you; to discover that you are yet another creation capable of producing your own unique language. The home is built in the traditional Courtyard Home (Thotti Mane) style and provides a simple, spacious, well-appointed home ambience and a natural personal attention typical of the Malnad area.
AjjanaMane is ideally situated in the pristine bio-diverse Western Ghats, within 30 mins from Jog Falls, Linganamakki Dam, Honnemaradu, Sridhara Ashrama, Sigandur, Ikkeri, Bheemeshwara and Sagara and within a couple of hours from Thirthahalli, Shimoga and Sirsi.
Each personal space combines a room, a private garden sit-out and a terrace gazebo, allowing guests to feel relaxed and a sense of openness. Rooms are spacious and well appointed with handcrafted local hardwood furniture specially designed to blend traditional style and comfort. You can sit and have a conversation over your favorite inconsequential over a cup of tea in the garden outside your room. You take a stair from the garden to get to your gazebo on the terrace to laze and gaze.
The entrance foyer (Chitte), central courtyard (Thotti), the kitchen and the utility form the shared spaces in the home. The foyer is spacious and fosters vigorous conversations. It is a throwback to the ‘Katte’ style, inviting you to sit anywhere you want to. We believe this will be a favorite place for guests as it also overlooks the property. The tastefully built central courtyard makes you wish you could build such a place for yourself in Bangalore. Enjoy the Sun, Rain, Moon and Stars from inside the home through this courtyard that can also house water for you and your kids to play in. The kitchen is clean and large and allows for full fledged cooking. You are welcome to try your culinary skills in this modern kitchen. The utility area in the back is where you will find a washing machine and a clothes dryer that you can use to ensure you don’t need to carry a truckload of clothes to stay with us. You can have your clothes cleaned and dry in about 4 hours, in any weather. There is one catch though. You will need to plan any such activities as we have noticed that availability of power can be an issue, specifically during summer. Our cookware and cutlery is all washed using a dishwasher to ensure hygiene.
The backyard is our vegetable garden. We have a few vegetables growing already and are working towards trying to grow vegetables that we can use to cook for our guests. While you might not find all you food will come from our local produce, several of them probably will. If you are interested, you can ask to take seeds / plant cuttings of vegetables that we grow.
The frontyard of the property has the traditional arecanut and coconut trees and feels like your regular rural farm. You can test your badminton skills on a clay court. As you would expect, we have cattle and geese in the property. Our cattle provide milk for consumption. The geese spend their time in the neighboring lake and visit the home on rare occasion. They, however, stroll around in the property – generally in a line – making for a great visual and an awesome photo-op. Of course, no farm is complete without a friendly dog and we have our mild-mannered Mallu that ensures you are safe and happy in the property.
Your phone will mostly work in the central courtyard. The signals are reasonably good. We have installed a signal booster to help with this. However, you might not be able to receive good signal inside your room. Internet is generally flaky and it is best if you are using a smart phone for internet. Using a computer for internet can be slightly frustrating as we do not have broadband available in this area. However, if your mobile has data services, we have found that they tend to do better on receiving email and other data that you want to use.
This is the outdoors. The area is in the heart of the Western Ghats and is surrounded by hills and winding roads. So, whatever you want to do with nature in nature, this place is among the best there is. There are walking paths, rural roads for cycling and some local trek routes that we can help you with.
Talavata is 20 kms west of Sagar and 4 kms west of Thalaguppa, Shimoga district. You can reach Talavata by road and by train (or by a personal helicopter, there is a helipad closeby ;) ) .
By Road:
By Train:
Pickup/Drop:
This depends on the mode of transport you are using and the time of the day you are traveling. Indicative durations below:
Extremely safe. In the last 6-7 years that I have been spending time in Talavata, I have not even bothered locking my car, closing its windows, closing doors of Ajjanamane etc. You won’t have to bother about a thing. However, our advice for people is that they take care of their belongings with basic care.
Nearest hospital that can treat emergencies is in Sagar – 20 kms (less than 30 mins). There are regular clinics (1) in Thalaguppa – 5 kms (less than 10 mins). If you are suffering from stress induced illnesses, you might find to your surprise that you don’t remember them here.
Just any season is great to visit this place amongst nature. Monsoon is obviously the best as it rains cats and dogs and everything in between for about 3 months starting mid June. The rains are a sight to behold. I learnt that rain is nature and can be enjoyed without catching colds or fevers in this place.
During the monsoon, you will encounter leeches. There are simple pain-free methods to remove them if they latch on to you. There are preventive measures to avoid them latching on too.
There are some snakes in the vicinity. Mostly friendly. Mostly snakes of the lake next door. We haven’t seen many of them recently, but this is their home as much as it is ours.
A total of 14. If pat of a single unit and willing to share, we can squeeze in an additional 3-4.
Yes. The entire home has backup power through a UPS. Specific lights in each area, including rooms have switches that are connected to UPS ensuring that you have sufficient lighting in the case of power failures.
The weather is good round the year. The Courtyard design makes summers quite manageable, indeed pleasantly manageable. We do not have any TV at Ajjanamane.
Like mentioned earlier, this is the home of all kinds of beautiful little forms of life, including bugs. We have found that most of them are extremely friendly and are willing to have a conversation. We do have mosquito nets and employ simple techniques to ward off mosquitos at night time.
Yes. With a notice of 30 mins, we can help you switch on a geyser, or use our solar or Gujarat boiler to provide hot water for your bathing and cleaning needs.
Traditional Vegetarian Malnad food.
We have several modern board games: Pictionary, Scrabble, Chess, Carrom and several traditional board games: Pagade, Aluguli Mane, Chowka Bara etc.
We have a full-fledges badminton hardcourt, a cricket set for sports lovers.
The Courtyard, when filled with water, is a great play area for kids and adults. We will be happy to fill up the central well of the courtyard with water for you to play and enjoy.
21-09-2015
I see little ants, of different colors, shapes and sizes, working away busily with the food that I or someone at home dropped on the floor, or, left unattended on the kitchen counter. I see them, a thousandth of my size, meticulously working on the smallest piece of leftover chapathi, to eat a bit and take the rest away to store it for their future, for their kids. Let my compassion shine forth and allow them to enjoy their hard earned meal, as they will by themselves move out when they are done with the little piece. If I feel so strongly that they are intruding, let me have the love to gently move the piece of chapathi to a place that I dont consider mine, maybe my backyard. For, every time I have done this, I have noticed that every single little ant has left the place peacefully, without the smallest revolt. Let me not kill, using Morteins/Hits, when it is not needed for my survival. Let me live and let live and preserve every life I can so love can shine forth through it. Let me remember that spraying poison on ants kills them but kills several of my own cells, represented by those little beings, in the process too. Let me understand that violence begets only violence.
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19-09-2015
