Meet the Locals: Gautam from Kasauli
Leaving the bustle of London for the Himalayan hillside, Gautam Dhawan and his partner created the ultimate mountainside retreat.
Photographs by Tara Rice
The Local
Gautam Dhawan had been living, studying, and working in London for 16 years when, as he tells it, the hand of fate intervened and changed his life. In 2009, he was running a graphic design and photography franchise in Borough Market, where he processed photo stationery and created personalized memorabilia, like photo-printed mugs, canvas bags, and posters. It was a satisfying life in a bustling neighborhood. Situated on the banks of the Thames, Borough Market was vibrant, filled with downtown Londonites and tourists visiting its namesake attraction, which is known as one of the oldest artisanal food and drink markets in the city.
Gautam was 32 and had been running the business for a decade when he received a letter that would change everything. The city was expanding the underground subway (“the Tube”) and would be taking over his building for the expansion project. “It was a compulsory purchase order to vacate. I didn’t have a choice,” he said. “It was fate.”
Rather than reopen his business elsewhere in London, Gautam decided to move back to his native India, where his family was building a vacation house in the Himalayan hill town of Kasauli. It’s a historic town in the state of Himachal Pradesh, once used as a British military garrison and now home to 5,000 people. It was a huge change from a global metropolis, but Gautam wanted to do interior design, and the house presented a new opportunity. So he volunteered to take over the design and decoration of the summer home. When the house was built, he moved in with his partner, Vishavjeet “Vishy” Singh, and began renting out rooms. That was seven years ago.
“I grew up spending a lot of time in the hill country,” he said. “My grandparents lived in the hills, one pair here, the others Kashmir. So the mountains for me have this feeling of happy times and good memories. It’s always a pleasure being here.”
In Kasauli, Gautam has watched his design work thrive. “I find that it’s more easy to create in a calm environment. You go mad in the city, with all the coordinating of offices and staff and the fast pace. I find it’s not the best place to be creative. I’m a big walker, thinker, and reader, so this is the best place for me.”
His Home
Shortly after the house was built, Vishy traveled to Switzerland and enrolled in an 18-month hospitality course. “It was totally intense,” Gautam said; when Vishy returned, he brought the time-honored principles of Swiss hospitality with him.
“What he learned has helped us in so many ways, things like how to cook and greet the guests. In our restaurant, mise-en-place (“everything in its place”) is done ahead of time so when the guests order, everything is easy and quick to make. And his training helped us vary our menu with Chinese food, Thai food, and desserts like freshly baked cakes and tiramisu.”
Gautam and Vishy live on the top floor, while guests can book the two levels below. Each floor has two bedrooms, a private living room, dining room, and balcony. The entire home, with its high ceilings and wide windows, was designed in the style of Gautam’s ideal mountain retreat.
“We kept our place rustic, flooded it with natural light, and did a lot to make the outside come into the house, and vice versa. There is a lot of glass, wooden floors throughout, and furnishings with soft florals. We put hardly any art on the walls because we want everybody to be looking at the view. We’re perched on a hill, so we can see a valley and straight across the hills to the snowcapped mountains.”
His Neighborhood
Gautam describes his neighborhood as having the feeling of a “little English village.” It’s a 15-minute walk from the town’s main thoroughfare, called “the mall,” with numerous bakeries and cafes nearby as well as a beer and whisky distillery that dates back to 1855, making it one of the oldest in India (and possibly the highest, at 6,561 feet above sea level).
Gautam’s home is also close to the historic Kasauli Club, built in 1880 as the Kasauli Reading and Assembly Rooms for the British army. Today the club, open to everyone, has an ice cream parlor, a reading room, billiards tables, a sauna, steam baths, and a number of courts where visitors can come and play tennis, badminton, and squash — especially handy activities in winter when Kasauli can be blanketed in snow.
In months with warmer weather, Gautam and his guests can go hiking in the surrounding hills. “When you walk out the door, it’s wooded and you can either take one of the walking trails further into nature of go into town,” he said. One of Gautam’s favorites hikes is the Gilbert Nature trail. “There are beautiful views from the top of the trail, and at sunset you can see almost all of Kasauli below you,” he said. It’s a place where Gautam goes to focus his mind, something he finds easier in Kasauli than it was in London.
“I love doing my work in this quiet place, because I know I can go to Delhi to do city things whenever I want to,” he said. This town has its own unique charm.”
Gautam’s Kasauli Picks:
1) Narendra Sweet House: “This is quite an institution for snack food lovers; the must-try dish is the bun samosa. It’s the house speciality and yummy! It also offers other snacks and hot tea which visitors can enjoy.”
2) Hangout Rooftop Bar: “This place close to our home has a very cool rooftop bar with panoramic views of the mountains. They also have a DJ in the evening so you can enjoy a drink with a dance, plus a tasty snack menu to have a little munch with your friends. It’s also kid- and family-friendly.”
3) Christ Church Kasauli: “This is a beautiful British-made stone church from the mid-1800s. It’s surrounded by pine trees with a little garden where one can sit and enjoy the surroundings. It has been so well maintained that it’s still in active use.”
4) Gilbert Nature Trail: “This is a beautiful green nature walk on the edge of the mountain, with stunning views of the foothills and pines from one of the highest points in Kasauli. It leads to a breathtaking view at the end with a little shelter where you can rest — an ideal spot to see the sun set with your loved one.”
5) Dagshai Jail Museum: “Entering this place is like taking a step back in time. It’s steeped in Indian history and gives the visitor a chance to experience life in a prison in pre-Independence India. Even Gandhi (the father of the nation) has been here. It strangely has some Irish history, too!”
About the author: Breena Kerr is a Maui-based freelance writer and journalist whose work appears in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Washington Post, CNN, and the BBC.
About the photographer: Tara Rice is a Brooklyn-based photographer focusing on projects related to education, gender equality, community service, and environmental conservation.
