Friends,
For Episode 40 we were in Jodhpur, gobbling street food, hanging out at the stepwell, resting pre-road trip. Now, we jump off into the Rajasthan countryside for our wellness road trip. I could have stayed at each stop for days and days…but sadly research does not work like that. However, you can! For in these small hotels managed by dedicated owners I found charm, calm and meaningful traditions surrounded by boating lakes, ancient canyons, vegetable gardens, villages, farms and great bird life.
Enjoy!
UNPACKING WELLNESS IN INDIA
Episode 42
Road Trip Jodhpur-Panna Part I
Our stops:
Chanoud Garh, Chanoud, Rajasthan 306602
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Bujera Fort, Village Bujera, near Udaipur, Rajasthan 313031
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Shahpura Bagh, Shahpura, Rajasthan 311404
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(Coming soon: Part II stopping at Ramathra Fort, Chambal Safari and Serai at Toria)
First, about a road trip in India
It’s quite simply glorious! There is nothing quite like setting off on an adventure in India, sat in the back of your car, you and your driver equally excited about the day ahead. Out of town, on the open road, looking out at life, what will you see next? – A tuktuk piled with a dozen children off to school, a goatherd with his obedient flock, motorcyclists weaving crazily between cars? Or exquisitely dressed women hastening to work, bicyclists with their mobile shops of plastic buckets, buses careering at top speed, a delivery boy carrying a high-rise of 20 trays of fresh eggs? Anything is possible. Not quite the Grand Trunk Road of Kipling’s ‘Kim’, but certainly full of the whole variety of life.
Then – and only when he finds somewhere he’s happy about – your driver takes his ceremonial mid-morning stop at a dabba (café) for breakfast, his and yours. Savour tiny terracotta cups of steaming creamy chai (tea) and a hearty meal of, perhaps, irresistible fresh roti breads with dal, local vegetables and home-made pickle. Onwards, perhaps pausing to climb up to a fort, explore a temple beside a village market, or join in a festival procession with mobile music machines belting out the latest Hindi film hits. Another chai stop, on again, and so to your destination. Like Toad of Toad Hall, travelling has never been such fun!
Now, about our hotels.
Each is a big experience but all I'm giving you is a glimpse - it’s best not to know too much before you arrive.
Our first stop is Chanoud Garh (150km). The siblings Jairaj, Swati and Mahiraj were busy embarking on their careers when they inherited this film-set-pretty but very-run-down garh (fort) with palatial courtyards, corridors, jharoka carved windows, swings, vestiges of wall-painting, all testifying to its former wealth. They decided to put their jobs on hold and give it a go for a year. Two decades later, they are still there, having created a masterpiece of restoration and stabilization to compare with Nagaur, India’s fort-palace conservation benchmark. Pooling their talents to painstakingly remove accretions, uncovere wall-paintings, employ authentic craftsmanship, they have created relaxing spaces and guest rooms whose bathrooms you want to live in. They also transformed a barn into a dining room with walls decorated by local women, added a big swimming pool, and revived their dairy providing milk, yoghurt, butter. In short, you have all the delights of a very spacious, sophisticated Indian country home. For activities, the adjoining village is full of interest, and one of the siblings is always on site to take you through the countryside for lakeside sunset cocktails, farm visits and more – we saw a couple of dancing sarus cranes one afternoon.
Bujera Fort (150km), an entirely different experience, is the extraordinary, luxurious triumph of interior designer Richard Hanlon from the Cotswolds in England and his ‘best mate’ Trish McFarlane. Built from scratch and inspired by India’s ancient Vastu Shastra architectural principles, it is magnificently furnished with sumptuous Indian textiles and Richard’s antiques collection made with an unerring eye. For the construction, all but six windows and four doors were salvaged from destroyed historic buildings, while 76,000 terracotta pots made in Jaipur are integrated into the roof to provide insulation against the summer heat. Located moments from Udaipur city, it is nevertheless a haven of peace whose lavish and lush courtyard garden has secret bowers furnished with seats that have the vibe of Vauxhall Gardens in the 18th century – who might you find flirting with whom behind the bougainvillea? Cocktails are hosted by Richard each night, house party style. Food is taken extremely seriously, overseen by Richard and Trish; guests can watch the four cooks in action. Activities, aside from alluring Udaipur, might include escorted local walks to inspect the vegetable garden and local village.
Bagh means garden, and Shahpura Bagh (220km) is just that but on a rather grand scale, 45 acres. My morning ride around the lake in a pea green boat took several hours of being rowed through a world of woolly-necked storks, nesting purple herons, knob-billed ducks, purple swamphen and much more, while fruit bats dangled from trees exhausted by their nighttime forays; we paused mid-lake for chai and the chef’s banana-ginger cake. The main house used to be the modest Shahpura ruler’s summer residence – of Rajasthan’s 19 pre-independence princely states, Shahpura had an annual revenue of 300,000 rupees compared to Jaipur’s 6.5 million. Today, it’s the backdrop for dining on home-grown vegetables and dairy products from their 20 Gir cows. The guest rooms in the Villa, the former British Residency, are vast, as are their bathrooms; their garden verandahs are total peace. Aside from on-site activities (boating, yoga, cooking, cycling), fascinating outings nearby might include Dhikola Fort, intriguing Ram Dwara Mandir (founded 1817 for people of all faithers 'who love God') and a visit to artist Paveer Kumar Joshi – you will surely leave with a treasure.
Must-do wellness experience on the road: breakfast at a good dabba
Road trip hotel buzzwords: ‘Wow! How on earth did they achieve this?’
At Chanoud Garh (above and at the top of my blog), it is fun to explore the maze of couryards, going up and down steps to find antique swing seats, pots, sculptures; and do ask to see the two centuries of palace accounts. Out in the surroundings, the owners take trouble to ensure you meet all kinds of locals - here, a goatherd tells all about the folk god he worships. A truly holistic and relaxing experience.
Bujera Fort, built from scratch, is Richard Hanlon's labour of passion, patience and precision. He and his team of 45 staff can discuss their ambitious vegetable patch (guava and pomegranate as well as broccoli and beetroot), the winter vegetable recipes of one of the cooks' mothers, and the entrance's Ganesh sculpture (copied from one in Ahmedabad). Guests stay and stay - up to a month apparently - basking in elegant Anglo-Indian comfort.
Richard admits to be detail focused: on visiting his in-house store he subconsciously re-arranges the hangers to be evenly spaced. However, guests benefit because he does all this behind the scenes; guests just relax in an undemanding vibe knowing that absolutely everything is taken care of. Transfer the worry! True relaxation.
At Shahpura Bagh the environment of trees, lake, walking paths and the gentle pace of life ensure a sense of wellbeing without even trying. Staying in the Villa, it's only a question of deciding to have a bubble bath or perhaps an outdoor shower instead, when is the softest afternoon light for tea on your verandah, and whether to book for a morning boat ride (definitely do that!). Out and about seems unnecessary, yet there is much to see. Meanwhile, rest.
When I visited Paveen Kumar Joshi, a minister from the state government was buying paintings to give to special official guests. A good sign. Generations of Paveen's family have made phads - key episodes in a hero tale painted on cloth for itinerant story-telling, village to village. Today, spotting the rise in the popularity of tribal, he does that too.
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