Experience the Luxury of Nature in Kurumba

Tall trees in dense forests, savage primates who steal food, earthy cottages designed tribal-style and tree-top dining make Nature Resorts Kurumba Village a rich luxurious destination.

Text: Devanshi Mody

Down, down, down, off-road you go on a natural path past trees and trees and trees that go up, up, up. Those trees are so tall they could kiss the heavens, were they not laden with humungous jackfruit and mangoes the size of coconuts.  You'd expect to breakfast on these. Ah no. We're in spice gardens once inhabited by the Kurumba tribe (hence the resort's name). The tribals are gone but the reserve forest's natural lodgers remain. And the forested resort doesn't pilfer their supplies. Now, the courtesy isn't returned by these natural lodgers– monkeys blithely invade your rooms and savage every edible there enshrined. Alas, also that welcome cake laid in the jazzed-up new Jacuzzi Suites.

A cameo crafted onto a hill, the resort projects onto 10 spiced acres. Accommodation seems naturally disposed where unmachined paths lead. Cottages and suites are purportedly "tribal-style' and "all crafted with natural materials' but don't expect thatch-roof, mud-walled, ingenuous, at-one-with-Nature habitation. The Jacuzzi Suite has a commanding white-curtained wooden four-poster bed and an unapologetically modern new Jacuzzi ensconced in the glass-facaded higher tier of ample bathrooms beautiful with dark wood towel-holders and banisters lining steps to the Jacuzzi. Floors that look wooden, however, aren't and the same unnatural material is chicaned into wood-like walls of revamped rooms. Toiletries homemade with rosewood, grapefruit, thyme and basil are lovely and would be lovelier still if not packaged in plastic.

The suite's wide terraces, thrust into the forest, are a sheer delight. Loll around watching monkeys misbehave. Ensure you haven't any food near you; these creatures are avid and belligerent. Given the intense wildlife drama playing out live, you wonder wherefore the in-suite TVs (immense ones too).
Trot down (having securely locked your doors– ah, those cheeky monkeys) to the all-wood, all-day dining restaurant Bevina that hovers over a jungle canopy above which blue-tinged mountains undulate like an azure scarf in a zephyr. Over breakfast a sweet orchestra of birds serenades. Come evening a rather more raucous band of nocturnal creatures strums on. Over a quiet evening you can hear the stream murmur below you.

A name like Nature Resorts conjures certain impressions. "Live Life Naturally" is the mantra. In the Nilgiris, amidst "Nature's' bounty, you anticipate fresh-fresh fruit glossy like a blond. Yet displayed fruit is invariably effete and breakfast juices dismayingly sugared. But ask and they knock up fabulous all-natural mixed-fruit juice. Food isn't necessarily hot; attention to detail wants. However, Alia Bhatt who stayed recently and Aamir Khan, spotted frequently, aren't complaining.

A little gardened tea shop near the infinity pool bestowing complimentary teatime snacks lures guests who otherwise don't leave their rooms for nature walks, treks, birdwatching and other "Nature-related' activities but  exert themselves with great zeal over fried snacks. Mr Jyothish Vasu, resort head, has vision. His children are brought up on palm jaggery, honey and no TV.  Espousing this philosophy he implemented wholesome steamed regional teatime delicacies. This triggered uproarious online remonstrances affecting reservations. So now you've the woesome bhajjis that recur with trenchant monotony to please predominantly North Indian palates. Were sugar replaced by exquisite organic palm-jaggery and honey the tribals supply -and mustn't a Nature Resort promote them?- there'll probably be a riot.

For the fleet-footed whom Nature thrills Mr Jyothish prescribes the picturesque Sujith's Nature Trail, a brisk 2-hr downhill trek through tea gardens lined with tormentingly irresistible fruit-filled trees to a historic train station. Brazen guests flouting guides have engendered disastrous consequences as have the portly who've dismissed Mr Jyothish's strenuous admonishments that arduous treks aren't conducive to their dimensions...

They are best directed to the Ayurshala to be  stretched on a wooden table and lashed in warm oil in glass-encased therapy suites levitating over a sea of green above which ethereal cloud-cloaked hills billow.

Tremendously original dining distinguishes Kurumba Village. This resort boasts an in-house cave and Mr Jyothish's Cave Dinners are arguably India's sole. In the abandoned leopard-cave-turned-love-nest ravishing romantic rituals unfurl amidst myriad lamps and rose-strewn table for two. Two's company, three isn't a crowd when you've vignettes of tribal and regional cuisine of accomplishment. You need no pompous Michelin-starred chef to pontificate on the joys of slow-cooking, the wont in these parts. Stupendously talented chefs of tribal origin demonstrate technique and control (slackening at complacent Michelin-starred restaurants) and present indigenous produce in creations including deep-fried tapioca salad with Chef's secret dressing and spice-blazed bamboo-shoot broth with variations like a keyboard of complex notes. Badaga beans tempered with hand-grounded tribal masalas become Mochakottai Kolmabu (learn to pronounce it for you'll be clamouring for more). Follow exotic jackfruit curry, various regional greens and dosas and local mushroom rice. The feast culminates sweetly with leaf-wrapped steamed, spiced jaggery-coconut-banana dessert and palm-sugared chukka kaapi. If a meal be perfect, this is it.

Treetop Dining engenders further amazement. A candle-lit ramp and steps, each candle-adorned, lead to the treehouse, captivatingly decked. The menu's every offering incorporates organic spices and herbs you saw on the resort spice plantation tour. Exciting concept. Ensure the executing chef is one with skills commensurable with Mr Jyothish's lofty epicurean ideas. The Sales Director of an ultra-luxe Maldivian resort staggers that this splendid destination dining is at INR 1200/couple on full-board when in the Maldives it would likelier be USD 1200/couple.

Mr Jyothish's gourmet creativity extends to Nature Resorts' home-stays where Kurumba guests may lunch: Tea Nest offers an All-Tea menu; Tea Nest Nightingale launched a Nuts & Seeds menu. Lunch outdoors amidst cascading tea gardens and a gush of flowers birds flirt with. The tea menu, with 7 tea-infused, tea-paired courses  unveils orange pekoe tea-kettle broth, tea-braised paneer brochette paired with organic rosemary tea, yam with pickled tea leaves, tea-braised spaghetti aglio olio with frost tea etc. These formidable creations are more venturesome than adroit. Perhaps chefs need to mind their Ps & Qs & Teas. But those transported more by novelty and creativity than clinical execution will be enchanted.

"Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food" inspired Tea Nest Nightingale's Seed & Nut lunch. Heating food destroys nutrients. Thus they embarked to present "uncooked, unprocessed, farm-fresh food,' a "culinary birder's journey.' Nut and dry fruit rolls inaugurating this healthy hedonism soon cede/seed to cheese with processed biscuits. Bird's Call Burritos (spinach-wrapped berries and sprouts) and such like don't quite titillate the capacious desi appetite. So, the salutary concept adulterated appending the menu with cooked multigrain rotis, cooked curries, cooked lentils...

Over BBQs on the Jacuzzi Suite terraces (relax, the monkeys depart at dusk) relish Honey Pineapple Roast and the velveteen coconut-incorporated kebab enlivened by piquant chutneys with homegrown herbs effected by a Bengali chef who concocts chaat-buster chaats too. Watch those delicate kebabs sizzle on the grill. Suddenly, they start leaping. No, it's not the flame. Thunderous music rocks the resort. Party animals demand it,  bothersome though to other guests and certainly the slumbering wildlife. At the restaurant a rock-star-aged-four batters his plate unrelentingly with every available piece of cutlery. Object and you provoke his parents to barbarous acts. Here's why super high-end, conservation-committed resorts discourage Indians...

You'd imagine hiked rates deter those who sully the rose bushes with tissue and wrappers. You learn the new Jacuzzi Suites fetch Rs. 25,000 and those with more money than manners.

Kurumba Village is arguably the Nilgiris' most marvellous resort. One hopes this Nature Resort, meant for poetry not the prosaic, will dissipate the bhajji band, ushering in discreet, discerning guests who respect nature and a nature resort.