Sparsa Hotel Update

Probably the most important quality for a Tiruvannamalai Hotel, Resort or Ashram is its location and view of Arunachala Hill. In this respect the new Sparsa Hotel has a wonderful vantage point set off from the girivalam roadway.

'Sparsa' is a chain of eco-friendly resorts with the first Hotel already open here at Tiruvannamalai and with work currently in progress on additional resorts at Kanyakumari, Chidambaram and Kumily. The resorts are operated by the Auromatrix group which is an established Hotel and Resort Company.

Even though many choose to stay at Ashrams or more rustic facilities, its good that comfortable and facility-laden Hotels are becoming available here at Tiruvannamalai and thereby providing safe and luxurious amenities to both the first time visitor to India and to those wishing for greater comfort and increased security and privacy.

As the Hotel is operated by an established Hotel group the service and maintenance at Sparsa is markedly better than at other Tiruvannamalai Hotel.

Office Management



Security


Pool and Garden Maintenance

All the facilities at the Hotel are reserved exclusively for guests except for the restaurant which welcomes visitors. Below one of the waiters is demonstrating an old fashioned curd churner.


Waiter


Restaurant

Arunachala Grace will be maintaining a 'direct link' on this page (view the box banner on the left hand column) to Sparsa Hotel, in order to facilitate easy bookings and reservations. Also will soon be posting a slideshow montage of the Hotel and its facilities.

Sparsa Hotel Update

Stopped by Sparsa, Tiruvannamalai, the luxury hotel of the area, to see whether the Hotel is fully finished. Well, no it isn't but its getting there.

The theme of the hotel is eco-heritage and throughout the complex both granite and thatched has been used extensively.

In the next photograph are the accommodation cottages - 2 rooms upstairs and 2 downstairs of each cottage with all rooms facing Arunachala.

The Kashmiri gift shop is already open for business.

On the right are reception, ayurveda centre, and health club. The shops on the left; a flower shop and a tea/coffee bar. The big building at the end is the restaurant with conference room upstairs.

The standard room, the theme of which is repeated in all accommodation units.

The entrance to the bathroom - with a very nice sink, which I think would look very nice in my own home - hmmm!

The swimming pool, with Arunachala in the background obscured by a young tree. The upstairs will be used for out-of-door functions.

A better view of the swimming pool. The logo in the centre is a 'fingerprint' and is repeated throughout the Hotel. The word 'Sparsa', is Sanksrit for 'touch' of which the fingerprint represents.

The next photograph is of the health club, which is still being equipped and organised. But nearly there.

The restaurant, will be open 24 hours a day with seating capacity for 48. I ate there on Christmas Eve and very nice it was too.

A view of Arunachala from the Hotel compound.

The accommodation units are distinctively two storey, with red facade. Most of the other buildings encompassing shops, administration etc., are single storey structures.

The landscaping is going very well and I noticed that the grass was laid in long, wide strips like carpet - the painless gardening method. Wonder what everything is going to look like after 3-4 months of the scorching summer heat - probably green will turn to brown!

These nifty old fashioned motor scooters are available for rent to Hotel guests.

There are several areas that need to be completed, the ayurveda centre and health club are not yet open and more landscaping work waits. But so far, so good, and everything looks fine. If you want more information about this Hotel you can get in touch at: arunachalana dot fastmail dot com

Sparsa Progress

Decided to check out progress on construction of the new 3-star hotel (which I last gave February 20th) being built just off the Girivalam Road. The Hotel, Sparsa Tiruvannamalai, is an affiliate of the Days Inn Group and is expected, when completed, to be one of the premier Hotels in the area. That maybe so, but the building process is being done in traditional ways; i.e. bullock grunt power!

The end building will be the diningroom and conference centre.

I thought this a good photograph to illustrate the thatching process of which the framework is the first step.

The insides of all shops and rooms are rough hewn granite mined locally at AdiAnnamalai.

The below photograph is the line of shops in the heritage styled Hotel compound. The shops will include a Kashmiri Gift Shop, Internet facility, Library, Flower shop, Pottery Shop, Ayurveda Centre with treatments and a Cafe.

The below is of some of the accommodation cottages. Each cottage has two rooms on each floor, all with views facing Arunachala.

I made sure to get the contact information of the local man contracted to do all the thatched roofs in the Hotel compound. Lovely job and each roof should last up to 7 years before needing a rethatch.

Progress on the swimming pool is going well. The shape is perfect for doing those daily 'laps'.

Will keep you posted as to the Hotel's progress.

Sparsa Hotel

I first mentioned construction of the new hotel, Sparsa Tiruvannamalai, a couple of weeks previously. Recently I went back to check on progress and see whether the Hotel was on target to open up within the coming months. There is a huge amount of work to do, but substantial progress has been made. Its particularly helpful that there are several Companies involved in separate projects. Most of the construction work is being done by a Company from Kerala, the thatched roofs by individuals from Tiruvannamalai, and the swimming pool is contracted out to a private Company. As always in India, workers on sites do not wear protective clothing. Here is a lovely young girl labourer wearing her pretty pink blouse.

The day I visited the site, the sky was overcast, which I expect was a welcome relief to many of the labourers who would be otherwise toiling under a harsh and hot sun. Here is a view of the swimming pool and in the background the multi-cuisine restaurant with attached Conference Hall.

Below is the master thatcher; a local man who has brought his own crew to thatch all the roofs of the new 3-star Eco-centric Heritage Resort at Tiruvannamalai being built by Auromatrix, Operators of Days Inn, India. All thatching material, including the long grass, is local, and comes from around Arunachala. In the background you can see a roof shell over one cottage, thereafter a layer of bamboo leaves are tied on top of the shell and the whole thing is finally covered with a tight thatch, which I was told was expected to last for around 7 years. The thatched roof is not only aesthetic, it is also functional as it will help regulate the temperature in each unit, thereby conserving on air conditioning.

Here is a finished thatched roof and very nice it looks too.

Below gives an idea of the look of the cottage units. This roof has its primary bamboo leaves and is awaiting thatching. The granite all comes from Adi Annamalai (which is northside of Arunachala). I was curious as to exactly where at Adi Annamalai the granite comes from and in this respect spoke with the friendly master mason who comes from that area and who is in charge of all stone work. I look forward to soon visiting his quarry and checking out operations there.

I couldn't resist taking a photograph of the sink in one of the bathrooms, mainly because I would very much like a similar sink with its nice,rustic look, in my own home.

As the day outside was so overcast and electricity in rooms not yet operational, the below picture didn't come out too clearly but it gives some idea of the atmosphere and rustic ambiance of the of the rooms. I thought the sample room charming and the greens and browns set off by the indigenous granite blocks, very restful. Of course the rooms will be completely up-to-date with air conditioning and room fridges.

I will check back at Sparsa Tiruvannamalai construction site in a few more weeks to check up on progress.