Chuganees - Alibaug

Il Mio Paradiso

It´s a house created for the love of children where adults may enjoy too, says FARZANA BEHRAM CONTRACTOR, as she sits drinking lemonade under a mango tree

The ones who enjoy a holiday home the most are children. Like-wise the Chuganee kids. When my car swung through the gates of Il Mio Paradiso, the first sounds I heard were loud and happy shrieks. Three children were in the pool, jumping in and out, gleefully trying to catch each other to throw one another in. Sabita and Hero the grandparents were sitting nearby keeping a watchful eye.

After I was given a complete tour of the house by Bhakti, who is a fellow journalist, working with Business India and Mohit, her husband MD of Sabero Organic Gujarat Ltd, we went and sat under a mango tree drinking lemonade and chatting.

I learnt it took the Chuganees, who have been visiting friends in Alibaug over the years, quite a while to get their own place. “Yes,” says Mohit, “we finally bought land because prices were starting to shoot. But when we were looking out, we had given one simple brief to the agents, ‘We want old trees on the property, otherwise we are not interested.’ Fortunately we found the appropriate one.” Well, we were sitting under a most gorgeous mango tree, there were a couple of old banyan trees, figs, jamun and hey two cotton trees. Very pretty, with wisps of cotton floating around, some settling on the earth. “Yes, it’s in season, can look pretty, but has to be cleared, which is a laborious task if not plucked at the right time,” warns Bhakti. Pity it flowers in summer, I thought, it would be perfect if it all came floating down in December – imagine a White Christmas in Alibaug. All one would need to do is plant a Christmas tree.

Il Mio Paradiso was only recently completed. Mohit and his brother Sumit are the ones who supervised its construction. The wives adding the finishing touches. Both brothers have two kids each and then you have the grandparents. So the house has five bedrooms with two for guests and they are situated right next to the pool. So you can roll into it even as you wake up, or fall into it as you brush your teeth!

This is the first summer that they are enjoying in their own holiday home so it´s even more special. And now that they have their own boat they come here every weekend. “Yeah, earlier on, we did not come here that often. My parents would find taking the public sea transport a bit difficult. Lets face it, getting into a ferry does take some motivation, so we went ahead and got our own boat. Now coming here is a breeze. It’s a nice boat, 30 feet, two bedrooms, 12 seater,” beams Mohit.

Mohit, quite clearly is the Captain of the Chuganee ship. He is generally in charge of the good life. He loves to eat and to cook. Not just in Alibaug but also in Bombay. He does know a good deal about cooking and is passionate about it. A man after every womans’ heart. “I eat a lot and I understand tastes and so I can cook. It’s as simple as that,” says Mohit who can cook Indian, Italian, Chinese best. Also BBQ, for which he has a sleek grilling system installed in a special BBQ corner.

For the house warming lunch party Mohit and Sumit invited 200 of their friends to Alibaug. “We booked a PNP ferry and they all landed here from Bombay at the same time. We had such a blast. Great food served by Rahul Akerkar, and Bollywood music. Our international friends who were also here couldn’t have enough of it. They were shaking their hips in the pool, fully dressed! The lunch got over at 6 pm, that’s because the ferry had to leave in time."