MY VIEW IS BETTER THAN YOURS

A quiet, sensory retreat unfolds across tea gardens, framed by mist, light and layered details at The Postcard in the Durrung Tea Estate in Assam

- TEXT BY SHRITI DAS PHOTOGRAPHY BY ISHITA SITWALA

Think: endless tea gardens, a train occasionally slicing through the landscape, birds making the verandah their playground every morning. I’m not a morning person either — and yet this trip has flipped the script. I've somehow enjoyed waking up early. I've found joy in the pauses, the waiting, the watching. I’m at The Postcard in the Durrung Tea Estate in Assam. In case the photos haven’t made that obvious already.

It's 8.30 PM on a pleasant Wednesday in March and I've just realised this is a slightly unhinged hour to be replying to work emails. Especially on a trip where I consciously decided I wouldn’t work. So naturally, I switch tabs. And what do I escape to? Writing this story. Which, let's be honest, is just another kind of work. But it feels like the fun kind — the kind where I can pretend I'm off-duty while still typing furiously with a deadline whispering in my ear. Let's go backwards because that’s how memory works. It’s almost dinnertime on my last night at The Postcard in the Durrung Tea Estate. Over the past couple of days Ishita Sitwala and I have been shooting the property. While it was a part of work (and the reason why we are here) it was also grounding, and at times exhilarating.

Yesterday was our most productive day. We shot most of the property, ate all our meals on time and like model citizens went to bed early. The lovely Postcard staff had planned a tea trail and tasting for today. After lunch we sat in our second favourite spot — the verandah dining area of a restored 1950s bungalow, a two-storey colonial relic once owned by a tea planter and now transformed into the hotel's dining and reception space.