Shalini and Nitin Beri were creative heads at major communications companies in Mumbai and Delhi. They left in 2013. They had an ancestral home in Kullu, but it wasn’t big enough. They found land in a village called Raison, by the Beas River, and built their home piece by piece over a decade. They named it after the village, and after the French phrase for the purpose of one’s existence — raison d’être. It is the only private riverfront home between Kullu and Manali open to guests. The cats are named Baarish and Bijlee.
Most childhood drawings of the ideal house look more or less the same: two mountains, a small hut, a stream or river flowing nearby. The image is so universal that it has become the visual language of the imagination’s default paradise — a shorthand for everything that ordinary life is not. Shalini Beri, who spent years working as a creative head in the communications industry, knows this drawing. She grew up with the same image in her head that everyone else grew up with. The difference is that she and her husband Nitin eventually went to find it.
Nitin Beri had roots in Kullu. The family had an ancestral home there — the kind of home that carries the accumulated character of generations of occupation and is, therefore, the kind of home that is impossible to abandon entirely, regardless of how many years one spends in cities that seem to make the alternative life unavailable. In 2013, after years of working in Mumbai and Delhi, Nitin articulated the fear that had been building: if we don’t leave now, we might never leave. They left.
The ancestral home in Kullu was not large enough for the project they envisioned. They began to look at land along the Beas River, in the temperate zone between Kullu and Manali — a stretch of valley that sits at the sweet spot of the Kullu Valley, past the main Kullu commercial area and before the tourist density of Manali, where the river runs fast and green and the mountains are close on both sides. In the village of Raison — a small cluster of settlements on the Beas, known for its camping grounds and as the starting point for white-water rafting — they found a piece of land that looked, in Shalini’s own words, straight out of a painting.
They built the house piece by piece, over a decade, pouring their hearts into it. They named it Raison D’etre: for the village that gave them the land, and for the French phrase that names what it meant to build it. The purpose of one’s existence. Their life’s project.
The Place
Raison D’etre sits on the banks of the Beas River, 12 kilometres north of Kullu and 29 kilometres south of Manali, in the village of Raison in Himachal Pradesh. It is the only private riverfront home between Kullu and Manali that is open to guests — a distinction that is both a geographical and an experiential fact. The river is not a view. It is the foreground. The private river beach — a small, accessible stretch of the Beas bank on the property — is where guests go to be close to the river in the way that cannot be replicated by looking at it from a distance.
The water runs white and fast here, green in the deeper pools, with the particular sound of a Himalayan river that is more present in the memory of those who have heard it than most things they encounter in their ordinary lives. The mountains press close on both sides of the valley. The village of Raison is quiet. The property, sitting at the river’s edge, occupies a position that Shalini and Nitin chose for exactly the reasons the childhood drawing suggests.
Beyond the river beach, there is an infinity pool fed by a natural spring — silhouetted against the wild rapids of the Beas, cold in the way that only spring water is cold, available for those who want something more contained than the river and less artificial than a heated resort pool. The spring water also heats the rooms, in a geothermal system that is both sustainable and the kind of practical ingenuity that the mountains reward.
The Design
Shalini and Nitin brought their creative backgrounds to the interior of Raison D’etre in ways that are immediately visible and deeply consistent. The rooms mix Burma teak and sheesham wardrobes and four-poster beds from the family’s ancestral haveli with contemporary accent pieces: woven-cane chairs mixed with Ligne Roset-inspired sofas, vintage English china alongside kansa metal thalis, a bukhari built by the local blacksmith alongside a geothermal heating system. Art collected from across India — original paintings, pieces gathered over years of creative professional life — covers the walls. Anything goes, as long as it works: this is the ethos of interiors assembled by people who trust their own aesthetic intelligence rather than deploying someone else’s design template.
The house is solar-powered for hot water. In-house bath products are used throughout. The beds are heated for the cool nights. Towel heaters are in the bathrooms. All rooms have wood-burning bukharis for the evenings when a real fire is the only appropriate response to a Himalayan night.
The Four Rooms
The four guest rooms are named after the seasons — Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter — a naming that is both descriptive and aspirational: this is a property built to be visited in all of them, each season offering a different encounter with the same Beas riverfront.
Each room can be booked individually or the whole property can be taken for a group of up to twelve guests — an arrangement that makes Raison D’etre ideal for the group of friends or the extended family gathering that wants a Himachali base with the character of a home rather than the anonymity of a hotel. The common sit-outs, with a dining area and pantry, are where the house gathers — where guests who don’t know each other at the beginning of a stay often find they know each other quite well by the end.
The Food
Raison D’etre uses locally sourced food throughout — a philosophy that is as much practical as principled in a valley where the agriculture of Kullu produces extraordinary apples, walnuts, honey, and seasonal vegetables. The kitchen works with what the valley provides, which changes across the seasons and gives the meals their particular character of place.
Baarish and Bijlee
The two cats — Baarish (rain) and Bijlee (lightning) — are the resident animals at Raison D’etre and are named for the weather events that define the Himalayan mood. Guests who are cat people describe them with the specific affection of people for whom an animal’s personality is a measure of a house’s quality. Those who are not cat people are generally converted.
What to See and Do
The Beas River at Raison is itself a complete activity programme for those who want it. White-water rafting from Raison is one of the finest available in the Kullu Valley — the river runs fast and the camping grounds that make Raison a famous base for this activity are part of the local landscape. Fishing in the Beas, trout being the target of choice, is available with appropriate permits. Paragliding, in the specific context of a valley that has been producing exceptional paragliding conditions since the sport arrived in India, is accessible from the property.
For trekking: the forests above Raison, and the trails that lead up from the river into the oak and deodar forests of the surrounding hillside, offer walking of considerable beauty without the crowds that the Manali circuit trails attract. The broader Kullu Valley circuit — the Great Himalayan National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site of extraordinary biodiversity), the Bijli Mahadev temple with its extraordinary ridgeline views, the Prashar Lake — opens up from Raison with the ease of a base that is centrally positioned in the valley.
The temperate zone between Kullu and Manali is itself a recommendation. Paragliding at Billing — the world-famous high-altitude site above Bir — is a half-day drive. Kullu’s Dussehra festival, the most celebrated in Himachal Pradesh, transforms the valley for a week in October with processions of local deities. And Manali’s full circuit — Solang Valley, Rohtang Pass, the Hadimba Temple — is within reach without Raison’s guests having to navigate Manali’s peak-season congestion.
Why It Stays With You
The title of Shalini and Nitin’s homepage — the purpose of someone’s existence — is both the name of the homestay and its operating philosophy. They left communications careers in Mumbai and Delhi in 2013 because they feared they would never leave if they didn’t leave then. They found land in a village called Raison by a river called the Beas and built, over a decade, the home that the childhood drawing always suggested was possible.
The river beach is real. The infinity pool silhouetted against the rapids is real. The bukhari built by the local blacksmith, the four-poster beds from the ancestral haveli, the art collected from across India, Baarish and Bijlee — these are the components of a life lived with great purpose in a place of extraordinary beauty.
Fish, raft, paraglide, trek, meditate. Or vegetate. The river is there either way.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Raison Village, Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh (12 km from Kullu · 29 km from Manali) Instagram: @raisondetremanali Facebook: Raison D’Etre Booking: Airbnb (search Raison D’etre by the River Beas — Spring Room, Summer Room, Autumn Room, Winter Room) · Direct via Instagram or Facebook
Hosts: Shalini Beri and Nitin Beri — former creative heads, Mumbai and Delhi communications industry Built: Piece by piece over a decade, completed and opened to guests ~2018–2019 Named for: Raison village + French raison d’être (the purpose of one’s existence) Resident animals: Baarish and Bijlee (cats — not pet-friendly for guest animals; check in advance)
The Property: Banks of the Beas River · The only private riverfront home between Kullu and Manali open to guests · Private river beach · Infinity spring-water pool (silhouetted against the rapids) · Solar-powered hot water · Geothermal room heating · Local blacksmith’s bukhari in each room
Rooms: 4 — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Each with four-poster beds (family haveli antiques), heated beds, towel heaters, wood-burning bukhari, en-suite bathrooms with luxe in-house bath products. Art from across India throughout. Design: Burma teak and sheesham furniture · Vintage and contemporary mix · Local blacksmith and high-tech design in dialogue · Art collected from across India · Original paintings
Capacity: Up to 12 guests (whole property) · Rooms also bookable individually Meals: Locally sourced · Kullu Valley produce · Seasonal menu Common areas: Shared sit-outs · Dining area · Pantry
Experiences: Private river beach (Beas) · Infinity spring-water pool · White-water rafting from Raison · Fishing (trout) · Paragliding · Forest trails and trekking · GHNP day excursions · Manali circuit
Getting There — Kullu-Manali Airport (Bhuntar): approximately 22 km from Raison — around 30–40 minutes by road. Flights from Delhi and Chandigarh. — From Manali: approximately 29 km — around 45 minutes by road on NH3 (Kullu-Manali highway). — From Kullu: approximately 12 km — around 20 minutes. — From Delhi: approximately 575 km — around 11–12 hours by road, or overnight Volvo bus to Manali (10–12 hours), then 29 km back south to Raison. — From Chandigarh: approximately 285 km — around 6 hours. — Raison is on NH3, the main Kullu-Manali highway — the homestay is signposted in the village. Coordinate exact final directions with Shalini or Nitin on booking.
Nearby — Raison rafting start point: adjacent · Kullu: 12 km · Bhuntar Airport: 22 km · Great Himalayan National Park (entry): 30 km · Manali: 29 km · Rohtang Pass: 80 km · Chandigarh: 285 km
Best Time to Visit: March to June for spring in the valley — the apple blossom, the river at its most beautiful after the snowmelt, and the property at its most temperate · September to November for post-monsoon clarity — the valley at its most dramatic, the snow on the peaks refreshed · December to February for the winter experience — snow possible, bukhari essential, the riverside in its coldest and most atmospheric season · Avoid peak summer (May–June) if crowds on the Manali highway are a concern — Raison is significantly quieter than Manali itself
