Two acres, nine generations, one village.
Guests stay at the Maiti Bastu in Chauddhachuli — a remote village property of a little over two acres in Purba Medinipur. The setting is treated as part of the programme, not as accommodation attached to it. You will have unstructured time here, and it is meant to be unstructured.
Nine generations of the Maiti family.
The Turiyo is the ancestral home of the descendants of Trailokyo Maiti. With roots going back over nine generations, the larger family now lives across adjoining parcels of land — a cluster the locals still refer to, fondly, as the maiti bakhali.
Trailokyo’s original quadrangular mud house has made way for brick structures, but the trees, the ponds and the general contours of the land are unchanged. The old port of Khejuri, now extinct, is close by.
Read the history of the placeWhat is here, and what is not.
A remote village property suits the right guest and surprises the wrong one. We would rather tell you plainly before you come.
The rooms
- Rooms
- Three private rooms, each with a queen bed and an attached bathroom with running hot water.
- Dormitory
- One dormitory with three beds and a separate bathroom.
- Power
- Continuous power, backed by an inverter, and a generator for long power cuts.
- Mobile and Wi-Fi
- Signal from all the main mobile networks (Vodafone Vi, Airtel and Jio, with towers nearby), and Wi-Fi from Alliance Broadband.
Winter at the Bastu.
Mostly clear skies, lower humidity than in the monsoon or summer, and gentle north and north-westerly breezes. Nights can dip a little lower during a cold spell. Bring light layers for the day and something warm for the evenings and early mornings.
- Daytime maximum
- 23–27°C
- 73–81°F
- Night-time minimum
- 12–16°C
- 54–61°F
- Skies
- Clear
- Mostly, through the season
- Humidity
- Low
- Gentle northerly breezes
Home cooking from the Bastu kitchen.
All meals are included. The group orders them from a fixed menu before arriving, so there is no cooking to do.
- Thalis: one dal and two vegetable dishes, with a choice of egg, chicken or fish.
- Fritters served on the side.
- Something special can be arranged with prior notice, from what the local market has.
- No pork, mutton or beef.
Muri cholaPuffed rice from the village mill, with black gramVillage mill
FrittersVegetables fried in batter, with whatever the farm has that dayThe farm
Pani puriFrom the village stall, and the woman who runs itVillage stall
SamosasAnd other snacks from the village haatThe haat
FishFrom the Rasulpur river system nearbyRasulpur
The Village.
3,903 people, 793 households, one of nine villages in the Haludbari gram panchayat.
The Village →The way of life.
Short pieces about the people, places and rituals of Chauddhachuli. This is what the village is like when nothing in particular is happening — which is most of the time, and is the point.
RitualsVaishnav RitualThe evening prayer as the sun goes down, asking Lord Gopal to come home from playing with the universe and go to sleep.
PeopleThe Grand Old LadyGitarani Maity, the oldest woman in the village, who remembered the zamindars in their heyday.- PeoplePanipuri AuntieA woman running a panipuri stall in a trade that is almost entirely male, and running it well.
PeoplePirbabaA local legend who is said to have ridden a horse and had healing powers.
What to do with your unstructured time.
Walk to the haat
Watch muri being made
Sit by the pond
See the post office ruins
Nothing here is a scheduled excursion; ask the curators and they will point you in the right direction.
Come for two nights this winter.
Learn Gohona Bori, and stay where it is made.