The horror of coming back to Delhi and the utter joy of being away! Crisp sunshine in Jodhpur, incredible blue skies, a very special art deco palace celebrating its diamond jubilee. Fortunately this extraordinary building is in private hands like the great Mehrangarh Fort that faces the palace across the city, and both are impeccably maintained.
On the 24th of December, to commemorate and celebrate the late Maharaja Umaid Singh, a sit-down dinner for 100 guests captured the past, present and future. It is rare to find such events done with grace and style, devoid of cheap, overdone and unrestrained tamasha. An experience that was very special.
It is sad that there is hardly any infrastructure for real and meaningful travel into Rajasthan. Two measly flights a day, half a carriage that is 1st A/C, and clearly not enough beds in the towns and cities. It is impossible to get a flight even if you plan a trip two months in advance. It is plain stupid. The excuse for the few flights is that the landing fees are much too high and therefore flights are uneconomical. Ridiculous that state and central governments cannot fix this.
It is equally ridiculous that there are not more people from India and abroad visiting this amazing region where the hard terrain has given birth to unparalleled beauty in architecture; where from the womb have emerged exceptional skills and remarkable music; and where colour speaks an uncommon language. Any other country would have celebrated such a region with pride. We just have no respect for our heritage and legacy that is ongoing and vibrant. There is endless chatter, many conferences and no substantial results on the ground.
Slimy competitive norms of the past, of the days of monopoly, continue to rule the corridors of government. The small (in size) personalised operators are not encouraged and endorsed. Hassles and harassment dominate. The bureaucrat has not understood that these are the days of travellers, people who want quiet and gentle, personalised experiences. The well-heeled do not want their city lives recreated in impersonal kitsch chain hotels. They are looking for the different, for that they cannot imagine. Hopefully, with a new government in place in the state, Rajasthan will finally be given the respect it has been crying out for. The exchequer too will begin to fill.
Apart from not being able to get in and out of Rajasthan with ease and comfort, the inept and lazy municipalities allow for filth and dirt to pile up making it a nightmare for anyone who is walking down a street. We must be the most unhygienic country in the world, a very important reason for the comparative lower number of travellers than anywhere else in the world. What Africa has managed to do should be a lesson for all those who call the shots in India, in the area of ?tourism?. The young entrepreneurs in the business should be on decision-making bodies and not the usual suspects over 50 years…carrying the discarded ethos of a retired generation.
Monopolies must be discouraged and more small operations should be supported. Interest-free loans, a five-year tax holiday, easy and clean bureaucratic clearances like NOCs and bar licences should happen within 24 hours. New precedents must be set and you will find endless heritage sarais coming up for the visitor. All the private enterprises I have visited in Rajasthan, in Pondicherry, Karaikudi in Chettinad, in Goa and elsewhere, run by individuals and their families, are far superior than the sterile 5 star numbers that surround us. Design, style and character, small, quiet, personal ? that makes for an unwind. That is what makes for a memorable trip.
The old dak bungalows should be refurbished to what they were pre-independence, from furniture to cutlery, crockery and cuisine. They will be booked out all year long! It is silly to use these ?rest houses? for visiting bureaucrats at rates that cannot even maintain the structures. Re-use. Most important to preserve and conserve and make money. The ?rest house? tour of Rajasthan could become more exotic than the palace on wheels if done with taste and style. The palace on wheels is no palace ? it is kitsch. Let the rest houses be done up to make them A class worldwide!