Travel: Homesteading in India

The first thing that greets me on stepping off the plane at Goa airport is a red carpet, stretching across the tarmac to the terminal. It's a good omen. Along with amazing cuisine, diverse culture and history, India is renowned for its hospitality and I'm here to experience that warm welcome at close quarters by taking part in a homestay holiday.

Backpackers have been following India's well-trodden tourist trail for decades, from the hills and ashrams of Himachal Pradesh in the north to the backwaters of Kerala in the south, and cities such as Delhi and Mumbai are home to numerous stylish hotels. But the homestay is a comparatively recent phenomenon, given a boost in the last couple of years by the entry into the market of the Mahindra Group, a sprawling business conglomerate that originally specialised in automobile manufacturing and farm equipment.

Mahindra Homestays offers accommodation in family homes right across India, from Ladakh in the Himalayas, home to the snow leopard and tribal Buddhist groups, to the central Indian state of Rajasthan, with its wealth of havelis, palaces and monuments. Activity programmes are personalised according to your tastes and while adrenaline activities including white water rafting and para-gliding are offered, I've opted to kick back and relax by visiting Goa and Kerala, which offer excellent food, beautiful landscape and ayurvedic massage as well as a unique insight into southern India's fascinating colonial history.

The first stop is Casa da Morada, in the historic Latin Quarter of Panjim, capital of Goa. My host, Aloo Gomes, works in tourism and was responsible for inaugurating some of the first charter flights from Europe to Goa in the late 1980s. Panjim, however, couldn't be further from the popular coastal resorts, whose beaches and vibrant nightlife attract some two million tourists annually.

Known as the Rome of the East, and a Portuguese colony until 1962, inland Goa wears its colonial history on its sleeve. As part of my homestay, Aloo arranges an excursion to Old Goa, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the beautiful Tuscan-style Se Cathedral, one of the largest churches in Asia, and the baroque Basilica of Bom Jesus, which contains the remains of pioneering Roman Catholic missionary St Francis Xavier.

In the Latin Quarter, the monuments and buildings, some of which date back as far as 1750, are extremely well maintained. As we stroll, Aloo points out the original oyster shell windows in the brightly painted blue, yellow and ochre houses, used instead of glass to reflect the heat and keep the rooms cool. It occurs to me that if I blot out the close, late-Monsoon heat this could easily be a street in Lisbon.

India is nothing if not a melting pot of cultures, though, and I'm lucky enough to have arrived at the end of the annual Hindu festival of Ganesha Chaturthi, in celebration of the elephant-headed son of Shiva, god of wisdom and prosperity. Worshippers mark the end of the festival by submerging clay statues of the god in seas and rivers and Aloo and his wife Susan take me to the banks of the Mandovi River, which is alive with firecrackers and flanked by a long procession of cars with statues of Ganesha, festooned with flowers and coconuts. At one point, a truck eases through the crowds with a 6ft statue inside. "That's nothing," says Aloo. "You should go to Mumbai. They have statues there that are at least 25ft."

Compared to Goa, Kerala on India's south- western tip has only recently taken off as a destination, boosted by direct flights from Europe and Arundhati Roy's haunting novel The God of Small Things, set in the Kottayam district. I'm delighted to be staying near Kottayam, at Evergreen Estate homestay, owned and run by George and Anju Abraham. Evergreen, in the Mundakayam midland slopes, is a 50-year-old art deco bungalow set in the middle of a dense rubber plantation with spacious, simply furnished rooms and a veranda running around the outside of the house where you can sit and enjoy the sweet, smoky smell of the rubber trees or listen to the trill of grasshoppers, crickets and birds in the evening.

George and Anju, who have been running homestays in and around southern Kerala for seven years, lay on a programme of activities, including trips to the local rubber processing factory and a visit to Thekkady Tiger Reserve, but are also happy to step back and allow guests to relax and soak up the atmosphere.

The area has a strong connection to British colonial rule and plantation development; it was Irishman J J Murphy who kicked off much of the rubber trade in the late 19th century. The lush, green landscape has since been cultivated for the production of pineapples, cashews, black pepper and cardamom. On the way to Thekkady we stop off at Pepper County for lunch, a homestay whose grounds are rich in plantain, curry leaf, papaya and coffee, ingredients found in the mouth-watering food Anju serves at Evergreen. A typical breakfast includes appams (a light bread made from rice flour) and mild vegetable curry, while lunch and dinner are a procession of wonderful dishes, including meatball curry, fried pork, fish molly, banana fry and fresh juices, all in eye-watering portion sizes. "We used to get offended when people didn't finish their meals," says George. "Now we realise that Europeans have smaller appetites than us."

My final homestay destination is reached by houseboat across Lake Vembanad, Asia's longest lake. As the boat glides serenely along the banana tree-lined backwaters, I watch fishermen in canoes trawling for shellfish, and tuck into fresh fish curry, a thick lentil daal, yams and rice, all served on a banana leaf.

I am welcomed off the boat at Vembanad House near Alleppey by Sandhiya and Balakrishnan and their small son Dhanush whose peaceful homestay is a beautiful, airy bungalow with an unrivalled view over the lake. Sandhiya occasionally organises Kathakali dance and drumming demonstrations for her guests as well as cooking lessons, ayurvedic massage and evening fishing trips on the lake.

The location here is everything, though. In fact it's so peaceful and gorgeous that travellers could easily spend several days simply recharging their batteries and enjoying the smoked or fried pearl fish curries.

On the final day I pluck up the courage to go swimming in the lake. The temperature is as warm as the air. Light spills across the surface of the water from the surrounding bungalows.

Music and bells can be heard from a nearby temple. As I float past the reeds and ferns I'm mourning the fact that I have to leave this idyllic place. And already planning a return trip. n

Mahindra Homestays (www.mahindrahomestays.com) contains comprehensive information about each homestay, the surrounding area activities and prices.

For Evergreen Estate, visit www.stayhomz.com. To visit Vembanad House contact Sandhiya Balakrishnan (www.vembanadhouse.com). Prices start from an average of 3,000 Indian rupees (approx 40) per night.

Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies to Delhi and Mumbai from Glasgow and domestic connections can be arranged with Jet Airways (www.jetairways.com), Kingfisher (www.flykingfisher.com) or AirIndia (www.airindia.com). Alternatively, Jet Airways flies to Delhi and Mumbai direct from London Heathrow.

This article was first published in the Scotland on Sunday on December 5, 2010