Book Your Stay in the Lap of the Serene Himalayas.

It was the evening of April 13th. I was lying down at home trying to figure what I would regret about India after going back to Europe. There wasn’t much in my head. I’ve been to Hampi, been to Pune, a bit here and there including properly embracing the true colors of Hyderabad. Now when it’s not about the museums and cities, what else would there be?

A simple answer to that is- some hardcore nature, particularly mountains, some hash here and there, and people.

Some browsing later, I discovered this place @soulville.community . There was heavy positive intuition. I’ve decided to spend the next two weeks. I did my bookings and had a small chat with the gang (hosts).

With a little hope and some unusual me-time, I started my journey. It was raining heavily, the lovely Biju Bhaiiya picked me up from Patlihul. I reached Soulville at sharp 10 am with three bags of groceries, a trolley full of clothes, and no sweater (underestimating the temperature of Halan).

The tiny Indica 5658 stopped at the nose of the road wedge, and Biju Bhaiiya helped me with the clueless bags, and three nandini milk bottles each of 1 liter. A tall young man with a ginger beard welcomed me from the main door. I assumed him to be an Irish backpacker volunteering at the hostel (who later turned out to be our own desi Sindhi). Then came Ash, with his distinguished walking style offering a size 8 chappal for the indoors that was struggling to accommodate my 11 size feet, and we headed to the common space on the 3rd floor. As soon as I stepped onto the carpet of the common space, what I had seen was clouds at the elevation of Soulville, the fresh air caressing my temples, Rufus on my face with his clueless nose, and Golu checking me out.

We’ve introduced each other, and I’ve called myself Abhimanyu (more on this some other day).

Here a casual day starts at 11 am with Kunal’s extra large coffee, and the most vibrant Poha. I’d see Ash introspecting his music, and Mahek crushing, rolling, and spinning her own sudarshan chakra while handling her remote work in between.

A couple hours later, the woman of the house, auntyji arrives, cooks the best Kadi for lunch, converses with the boys like a pahadi college girl celebrating her traditional persona intact. The evenings are nothing ordinary. Stars take over the sky, and sky hugs everything under. Ashish turns on his laptop, goes undercover, spreading out his hands once in a while for the fresh joint, meanwhile Kunal gets busy dog’splaining Golu, of course with no consent. His humor, especially various avatars in the scarf and beanies are unmatched-‘high fashion’ as he says. Time passes at rocket speed, and I never minded that. Passion, balance, wisdom, foresight, dreams, and above all- my favorite ugly red jacket. This is the family I’ve earned and these are the people I’d always go back to. I’ve started my journey at Soulville as a guest, and what they’ve become to me is what only a handful of people had become in the last 6 years. Ironically the half of my time ended on Abhimanyu’s birthday on April 29th (with the end of the very Abhimanyu), while the other half started the same night, as Charan. The love I received as either was the same, except for the OCB’s that turned pink in the latter half.

– Charan