Just Around the Corner

But aside from the meditative song played by the wind chimes, the house is eerily empty most weekdays. The domestic help claims the owners visit up to eight days per month.

Welcome to Alibaug, a three-hour drive from the mainland, a quick jaunt by a chopper Ratan Tata reportedly lands every now and then or a 10-minute dash to the coastal Mandwa jetty if you8217;ve got a speedboat docked at the Gateway of India, as Gautam Singhania does. The name Alibaug refers to the biggest town around; there are hundreds of villages scattered along the coast stretching into the interiors.

On off days, you8217;ll find some of India8217;s biggest names reclining on this shred of land by the sea. Yash and Avanti Birla constructed their Versace-style pink coastal mansion behind a 10-foot wall and a similar extravagance applies to Gautam Singhania and wife Nawaz. For Shobhaa and Dilip De, it8217;s a leafy dell 20 or so minutes from the Mandwa jetty, while cricketer Ravi Shastri has a farmhouse in the nearby Sasawne village. Not to forget Vijay Mallya8217;s lavish abode a skip away from the jetty.

But if you8217;re thinking it8217;s a newfound upper-crust indulgence involving luxurious cottages, beach buggies and open-air jacuzzis, you would be off the mark.

There8217;s something more interesting afoot. 8216;8216;In Alibaug, thinkers, artists, musicians can move out of Mumbai and explore life at the next level. But unlike Goa, everyone8217;s got their own place here,8217;8217; says architect Pinakin Patel, who shifted his studio and residence three years ago. Ditto for colleague Bijoy Jain, designer of Mumbai hotspot Indigo, who followed a while later.

From Kashid beach, nearly 70 kilometres away from the Mandwa jetty around 40 km from Alibaug town to the deepest of interiors, newcomers like Jain and Patel are helping build a community of 8216;rustic-style8217; houses splashed in elegance with soulful outdoor gardens and classy decor. 8216;8216;Here you can build fantasy homes,8217;8217; says Patel.

From start to finish, constructing an Alibaug home takes time. Jain spends up to six months designing a house in collaboration with his team. On average, they complete two houses per year. Now in the process of expanding, he8217;s hoping to complete 15 houses in the next four years.

Modern conveniences aside, 8216;8216;they seek a chance to live outdoors,8217;8217; says a white-kurta-clad Jain as he strides dreamily around one of his inner courtyards overhung with leafy treetops, and a sandstone terrace walkway.

Beachside or mountain view, some estimate there are around 2,000 second homes, both simple and extravagant, built by people such as Rahul Mehrotra, Nari Gandhi and a host of other lesser-known architects.

Paradise comes home through panoramic glass windows, interior courtyards, shallow pools floating with fresh flower petals, wooden recliners laid out along the terrace, outdoor bathtubs, and of course, air conditioning in every room.

Jain and Patel are cagey about revealing the names of their clients, but you do get an idea of the people flocking to Alibaug when you meet clothing designer Sunita Saxena. Saxena built her place early, about eight years ago, but now commutes to Alibaug nearly every day. 8216;8216;We come here to unwind and de-stress from Mumbai. The moment I came here, I knew I would build a house,8217;8217; says the designer, elaborating on her place equipped with a pool, jacuzzi, tennis courts and a library. But the best part, she claims, is the breezy machan, with a home theatre and pull-down screen.

There8217;s also creative consultant Ravi Khote, who shifted permanently in 1995, and mostly travels to the city where he keeps a flat just for work. 8216;8216;I have lived in a few different countries but I haven8217;t seen a place that is as unspoilt yet so close to a major metropolis,8217;8217; says Khote. If the creative types seek refuge and inspiration, the social butterflies find in Alibaug a different high, one that earns them brownie points as they scale the ladder.

Image consultant and Page 3 regular Chhaya Momaya heads off to visit her in-laws8217; place about six to seven times a year with husband Nirmal and her 12-year-old son. Once a year, father-in-law Vinod Momaya throws a bash for 200 to 300 people, hiring a ferry and booking a Mumbai caterer. From breakfast to tea, it8217;s party time and then, it8217;s back again to the city for the night. 8216;8216;Mandwa really rejuvenates my in-laws and it has become a big social hub for them also. Not everyone and anyone has a house there. In that way, it is a place for like-minded people,8217;8217; says Momaya.

8216;8216;We keep busy in Alibaug entertaining house guests, playing billiards and tinkering around with our beach toys ATVs, beach buggies, and generally enjoying the solitude,8217;8217; says Nawaz Modi Singhania, Gautam Singhania8217;s wife.

And if you have weekend warriors coming ashore regularly, you also have people catering to their refined tastes in a display of typical Mumbai enterprise. Among the latter is Jain8217;s wife Priya, who8217;s set up the Chondi Cafe. Lining its shelves are ceramics from South East Asia and a wide selection of pastas and olive oils, available for sale. Open only on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, the cafe is a Mumbai-style delicatessen whose popularity is making the Jains consider starting a full-fledged weekend restaurant.

Then there8217;s Hima, Patel8217;s wife, whose Cafe Sattva is open on the three-acre spread that houses their studio-cum-residence, a mere 15 minutes from the Mandwa jetty.

8216;Development8217; is a term that strikes a discordant note in Alibaug, but those in the realty business say a lot of people are biting in. 8216;8216;Over the last three years there8217;s been a lot of development, there8217;s hardly any property left to build on. Now there is nothing left to buy on the seafront,8217;8217; says Mumbai-based architect Toezer K Contractor of Bondre Contractors. According to Alibaug residents, land prices range from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 2 crore per acre.

Patel is also collaborating with National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, founder Dashrath Patel to build a meeting space holding pieces from the latter8217;s personal collection. Open to dancers, painters, designers, musicians, writers, architects and whoever else is passing through, the space will be used for seminars, discussions and ongoing projects.

While younger couples such as the Jains have made a permanent move to Alibaug, they say it might be a while before others follow suit because of inadequate schools, poorly maintained hospitals and the hassle of a three-hour car journey to Mumbai when the ferry service shuts down during the monsoon.

But they also maintain that, for most people, a weekend fling with Alibaug takes very little time to develop into a lifelong affair.