Every four to six months, 32-year-old freelance graphic designer Salvita Rosario closes her laptop in Delhi and takes off — not for adventure, but to move slower than the city allows. “When you’re freelancing, time can feel elastic,” she says. “The slow journey helps me stretch it with intention.”
Her first real experiment with this was in Jaipur in 2022. She stayed for two weeks with a college friend in Civil Lines—cycling to cafes like Curious Life and Tapri Tea House, sketching the peeling facades along MI Road, and wandering around Jahri Bazaar on a lazy afternoon. “Jaipur taught me that slowing down doesn’t mean being idle,” she says. “It means noticing the texture of the place.”
At Aramness Giri in Gujarat, where she spent four days at the end of November last year, she learned silence. The morning began with a gentle safari through the dew-drenched bush; in the afternoon they read by the pool. Evenings ended with a sattvic thali under the stars—simple millet, leafy greens, and buttermilk—eaten in silence by lantern light, phones left in the room. “The silence was uncomfortable at first,” she admits, “but it’s the kind of silence that reframes your thoughts.”
Her last stop was at The Postcard Mandalay Hall in Fort Kochi in March. The days flew by easily: sketching at Qissa Cafe, watching fishermen by Chinese nets before dusk, and catching Kathakali rehearsals in Greenix Village. “It’s the in-between moments that I travel for,” she smiles. “Slow travel doesn’t change your life overnight – it flows quietly like a tidal wave.”
Slow life
Salvita is not alone. Many millennials and Gen Z travelers now value presence over itineraries in preference to feel place, not to conquer it. “You shouldn’t come back from vacation tired,” she says.
It is this shift that platforms such as Mumbai-based travel company TealFeel are capitalizing on. TealFeel, founded in 2023 as an offshoot of TravelK (founded in 2018 by Karen Mulla, Karl Wazifdar and Mallika Sheth), curates journeys that value depth over distance, from community cottages to artist residencies and nature retreats. The brand encourages travelers to linger, engage with local communities and travel with a lighter footprint.
Recreation area near the dining room | Photo credit: special arrangement
Unlike conventional booking sites, TealFeel focuses on intentional discovery: leisurely itineraries, slow meals, heritage stays and creative exchanges. “The idea is to turn travel into recovery rather than consumption,” says co-founder Malika Sheth. “People might not use the term slow travel, but that’s what they want—less stops, more meaning, and the freedom to just breathe.”
A quiet corner in Barwara Fort
Malika explains that TealFeel now helps customers spread out and avoid the crowds. “We recently planned a six-day trip to Bali for a family celebrating a friend’s 50th birthday. We told them just do two places. Enjoy the property, take a bike tour, take a river cruise, explore nature, eat well. That’s all you need.”
In India, TealFeel itineraries often include visits to craft clusters and local markets—potteries in Rajasthan, printmaking workshops, or textile trails in Tamil Nadu. “The feedback is always surprising — people say, ‘I didn’t know it was done like that!’ We even have a group of women from south Mumbai who travel solely for the fabric walkways. They have been to Chettinad several times, meeting the weavers and exploring the looms. Experiences like these connect travelers to India in the most authentic way.”
The road to discovery
In August, TealFeel put together a slow travel itinerary for me to Six Senses Fort Barwara, near Sawai Madhopur in eastern Rajasthan. It wasn’t an action-packed trip, it was designed to make me stop.
Housed in a restored 14th century fort, Six Senses Fort Barwara is imbued with the quiet rhythms of the region. About 85 percent of its ingredients are sourced locally, within a 50-kilometer radius, from farms that grow sustainable desert produce, such as cairo (wild berries), sangri (bean pods) and Kachari (wild melon), to nearby gardens filled with root crops, edible flowers and herbs in winter. Dishes are prepared the old-fashioned way—over low heat in clay and copper vessels—and eaten slowly, sometimes outdoors, where the aroma of forest smoke mingles with turmeric and ghee.
But what I learned went beyond food. Six Senses operates in accordance with the global mandate for sustainable development implemented through it Laboratory of the Earth program and the Sustainability Fund, which reinvests in conservation and community projects at each facility. The restoration of Barwara Fort drew on traditional Rajasthani craftsmanship and implemented solar energy and rainwater harvesting systems to sustain the surrounding village of Barwara.
Lacquer bracelets
Lacquer bracelets
“Many of the staff are not originally from Rajasthan, but they are encouraged to learn about the land, its ecology and crafts. When they take guests on walks around the village, it feels like the connection lives on,” Malika informs me. One afternoon, the tour guide pointed out an age-old tannery that still produces hand-finished leather shoes; another day we watched artisans fashion lacquer bracelets, their hands moving with the practiced grace of generations. These visits weren’t about voyeurism—they were a quiet exchange of knowledge and respect.
Instead of going on a safari to Ranthambhor or filling the day with various activities, I was encouraged to slow down by wandering around the fort’s courtyards, lingering in its garden, and often coming back to the silence. Even the village tours were short, so curiosity never turned into intrusion.
The resort’s spirit of thoughtful luxury has not gone unnoticed. In 2025, Six Senses Fort Barwara was awarded two Michelin keys, a new distinction that recognizes hotels that demonstrate exceptional character, service and sustainability. This honor places it among the most elaborate facilities in India.
What impressed me the most was the scale and sincerity of the intentions. Six Senses doesn’t see sustainability as a marketing slogan—it’s tested, measured, and embedded. At Barwara Fort, that means seasonal food, respectful village relationships and a restoration style that honors the past while preserving the present.
I left Barwara with the feeling that being lazy isn’t about doing less, it’s about doing things carefully. About where your food grows, who cooks your food, and how every pause adds something to the place you are privileged to visit.
The writer went to Six Senses Fort Barwara at the invitation of TealFeel.
Published – 07 Nov 2025 17:15 IST
