Abracadabra
A friend once asked me about the process writers go through to produce a piece of creative writing.
“Do you just sit down at your laptop and words flow, abracadabra?”
The question made me laugh and I could hear the echo of generations of storytellers and writers behind me. “Sometimes,” I replied,” one tortured paragraph is extracted after hours of agonizing, while at others, pages spill out like a waterfall in a rainforest.”
Writing is a lonely business, and often the room closes in on me, stifling my thoughts—or so I believe. When that happens, I go to my local Starbucks or open café, where a buzz of background noise reaffirms my connection to humanity and a cup of coffee reinforces it. Then I try to shut out the noise and write.
A space to write
The inherent loneliness of the writing profession, especially if you freelance or are working on a book, has led to the growth of the phenomenon of writing retreats. These are places writers travel to, where they connect with others of their species, enjoy a change of pace from the hectic clamor and demands of their daily lives, and, hopefully, unclog their writer’s block.
Usually, the retreats are in scenic locations, with enough time balanced between isolation in your own writing space and interaction with other writers, to stimulate productivity. As a bonus, meals are often included, freeing the potential Hemingways from the plebian chore of cooking.
And an added perk—retreats are often heavily subsidized because of the enduring belief that writers on the whole if they aren’t James Patterson or Margaret Atwood (of The Handmaid’s Tale fame), are an impoverished lot.
The Panchgani Writer’s Retreat
While the U.S. has a large collection of writing retreats, often associated with creative writing programs at major universities, India is just beginning to sprout these communities as writing and publishing have become economically viable industries. The Panchgani writer’s retreat is an early pioneer in this world of nurturing restless, creative minds. The name itself evokes romantic imaginings—it means nestled between five mountains. This charming hill station with its closeness to Pune, used to be a familiar destination for the British during the Raj, and many colonial-style bungalows still exist, scattered around the hills.
The retreat is author Shabnam Samuel’s inspiration. It officially started in 2015. In 2018 Shabnam published a memoir, a Fractured Life, about her abandonment at age three and about her adult journey to the United States with an almost estranged husband and a three-year-old son. Her book is a testament to the strength of hope and love in overcoming despair. Its publication began her journey into the complex, often bewildering, savannah of authorship, often filled with varieties of writers—including professional hunters and gatherers, amateur dabblers, and the occasional word grazers.
When Shabnam became a published author who had worked on her own trauma through the medium of writing, she began toying with the idea of a retreat, where writers at any stage of their careers, published or not, could come together to scribble and celebrate the joys of being alive.
A holistic experience
The Panchgani retreat is unique in promoting a physical and spiritual wellness routine, which is braided throughout its program.
“We begin with yoga by the poolside and move on to our writing workshops. But we also include meditation and Ayurveda as part of the retreat,” says Shabnam.
The central philosophy of the retreat is that wellness comes first in all our lives,” she adds. “In many ways, writing and self-expression is also about wellness. We can’t produce anything meaningful or creative unless we are well.”
Shabnam recalls how she began writing for therapy. In 2009 she went through a traumatic experience and found that writing about it seemed to exorcise her pain. That therapeutic exercise culminated in ‘A Fractured Life’ and, eventually, in the Panchgani writer’s retreat.
Getting there
Panchgani is a six-hour drive from Lonavala, Mumbai’s more famous hill station. Here, rich green forests undulate over rolling hills and melt into rushing waterfalls. Writers live on the grounds of a 102-year-old boarding school run by a charitable trust.
Four guest cottages on the grounds house a maximum of 7-9 writers. Panchgani’s first informal and unofficial inauguration was in 2014, with six writers who were Shabnam’s friends. An official kickoff in 2016, drew attendees through word of mouth, or posts on Twitter and Facebook. Since then, word has spread rapidly: the retreat is booked to capacity every year, and inquiries about Panchgani arrive from all over the world.
Since the Pandemic shut down the world, 2024 is the first retreat being offered. Over a weeklong stay, writers will attend workshops conducted by established, authors. This year they have introduced two new workshops on screenwriting and self-publishing.
Time will be set aside for personal, solitary work, and group exercises. Food and housing are included in the cost, and free time away from the workshops will offer opportunities to explore the surroundings or take sightseeing trips around the hill station.
“I hope to continue expanding and accommodating more writers,” says Shabnam. “There is a great deal of demand for retreats like Panchgani, which include a wellness component that supplements the literary focus and provides a holistic experience of the writing process.”