The Space.
Nestled inside a rather nondescript village called Chauddhachuli in Purba Medinipur, 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.
The house sits at the northern end of the bakhali. Trailokyo’s original quadrangular mud house has made way for brick structures, but the place holds on to its past: the trees, the ponds and the general contours of the land are unchanged.
The village is very close to the old port of Khejuri, now extinct — a trading hub and landing point for seafarers in the colonial era. The ruins of an old post office, presumably India’s first telegraph station, stand in mute testimony to glorious times gone by.
What has not changed, and what has.
The pond
The big pond, ringed by palms, seen from the ghat, the steps down to the water.
The trees
The path across the lawns leads to the tamarind tree on the northern bank of the pond.
The brick house
Where Trailokyo’s mud quadrangle stood: brick houses with tin roofs around a lawn.
The post office ruins
The ruins of the old post office at Khejuri, twenty minutes’ drive away.
The Siva Mandir.
A deep connection with Mahadev is intricately woven into the family’s lineage.
Brought home from Assi Ghat
Bandana, the matriarch of the household, prayed to Siva for a son during a trip to Varanasi, then forgot about it — until the son chose, for no reason anyone could give, to study engineering at BHU in Varanasi. Almost forty years later he brought the Lord back home from Assi Ghat, and the temple came up, completely unplanned.
Ponds, lawns and a flower garden.
A little over two acres. Tap a picture to see it larger.
Stay here this winter.
Guests on the residency stay at the Bastu for two nights.