Did I love more the relaxed, luxurious breakfast at Pillars, the enchanting all-day diner located in the huge, spacious verandah of Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, or dreamily gazing at the spectacularly colourful English bougainvillea garden from the balcony of my suite? Can’t really decide, but then the magic of both have the same source — the mammoth 18,000 sq ft elegantly manicured green lawns and the riot of vibrant colours of the bougainvillea, which benefit from the perfect climate of this desert town. If you get lucky at breakfast, apart from the early morning cool and crisp air (I was there in early March) filled with the chirping of birds, you will get a bonus… peacocks running or dancing on the lawn.
Mention Jodhpur, and the majestic and enchanting Mehrangarh Fort with its imposing thick walls comes to mind. Rao Jodha started building it in the 15th century and its palaces housed the rulers of Jodhpur. Till Umaid Singh, the grandfather of the present Maharaja Gaj Singh, gifted the city this majestic palace — among the largest private residences in the world with 347 rooms — in 1943. With Independence round the corner, this was India’s last palace to be built with such elegance, aesthetics, and grandeur, in a sprawling area of 26 acres. Now, of course, statements of opulence are made through ugly edifices such as Antilla in Mumbai.
A famine project
Interestingly, this beautiful palace was begun as a welfare project. In 1929, Umaid Singh started the construction to give employment to about 4,000 of his subjects struck by famine, just as the beautiful Imambara of Lucknow came into existence. Those were days when social and economic distress led to creation of beauty, and not doles through dig-and-fill policies as done today.
The idea of the magnificent sandstone building was planted in the Maharaja’s mind several years earlier, when he wanted to give Jodhpur a modern symbol of the 20th century, which could also be the royal family’s home. But the palace in his head had to be large, grand and breathtaking enough to merit shifting the royals from the beautiful palaces of Mehrangarh Fort.
Also, the Rajasthani shaurya and pride in not succumbing to the Mughals and their stamp on Indian art, décor, and architecture had to register, and the new palace had to exude the aura and splendour of traditional Hindu architecture. In 1924, when the Maharaja met Edwardian architect and town planner Henry Lanchester, and discussed his vision, the latter said he wouldn’t imbibe Mughal aesthetics and features into the new palace, arguing that Rajasthan anyway had only a limited exposure to Mughal dominance.
Umaid Singh knew he had found his architect, who then went back to the Hindu mountain temples to draw inspiration for a palace that would be a fitting tribute to Mewar’s stiff resistance to Islam’s cultural dominance in India. The result is a blend of eastern and western architectural influences. The most striking and dramatic visual point of this palace is the majestic 105-ft-high cupola in Renaissance style, and the surrounding four towers in traditional Rajput style. The circular central reception area with tall sandstone columns is eye-catching. Whether it is the fascinating frescos, elegant furniture, exotic murals, or display of paintings and sculptures, all the artwork are in Art Deco style.
The entire palace, made of local Chittar sandstone, is built using local craftsmanship of interlocking with no mortar binding. The result is that the exterior needs zero maintenance or paint.
If Kipling has described Mehrangarh as the work of “angels, fairies and giants”, Umaid Bhawan, in the words of an anonymous poet is like “a majestic handsome warrior, his arms spread wide for a loving embrace”. Add to that embrace the Taj brand of hospitality and the special pampering it rolls out for its guests at its palace properties, and you are on an unforgettable journey that will soothe and seduce your senses and sensibilities — aesthetic, culinary, romantic, historical…
Unobtrusive but resourceful
Today, most luxury hotels provide the services of a butler to their high-end guests. But at Umaid Bhawan, I soon find out that Swaroop Singh, the butler assigned to me, takes his role very seriously. Only half of the Umaid Bhawan Palace has been taken over by the Taj, and in the other half Maharaja Gaj Singh’s family continues to live. My butler, through his unobtrusive but excellent service, reinforces the original role of a butler, and is a direct descendant of a palace retainer.
Whether it is to plan a dinner at the enthralling Sunset Pavillion, the highest dining point in Jodhpur, and the next one at the Baradari, a charming and secluded marble pavilion situated across the lawn (where the likes of Bill Gates, other tycoons and celebs have dined), drawing up a bath, or organising a Jaguar for my shopping expedition to look for inexpensive but exquisite Rajasthani jhumkis , he is the quintessential Jeeves.
And equally uppity too. My enquiries about Shyam Benegal’s Zubeidaa , where the heroine is married to a king from Jodhpur and both die in a mysterious air crash, meets with a polite but firm: “We don’t discuss this in the Palace… or outside.”
Uber luxury
This Taj Palace has 64 rooms, including 42 suites; the most opulent are the Maharaja and Maharani suites that come with a price tag of Rs 7 lakh and have hosted, apart from Gates’s two stays, celebrities like Naomi Campbell, Mick Jagger, the Saudi and Qatar royal families, Madonna and Michael Douglas. The lower-end suites cost upward of Rs 1 lakh; the base-level palace rooms begin at Rs 44,000 but off-season discounts are available.
The Maharaja and Maharani suites have private spas, steam and jacuzzi areas, kitchens and dining tables that can seat upto 12. While the Maharaja suite, Umaid Singh’s original room, is 4,500 sq ft, his stunningly beautiful Maharani, Badan Kanwar, whose bare ankle while getting into a limousine raised quite a stir in London’s tabloids long ago, is larger at 4,800 sq ft. The Maharaja obviously had his priorities right! In the former, the hunting theme is obvious, as Umaid Singh loved to gun down tigers and other wild animals. But more than these trophies, what caught my eye was a beautiful old gramophone, with a radio, still in working order. The Maharani suite is done in softer colours, and pink, Kanwar’s favourite colour, rules here. The most striking feature of this suite is the bath tub carved out of a single piece of pink marble!
This former princely state of Marwar has been labelled the cradle of Polo. Umaid Singh was also a Vice Air Marshal of the Royal Air Force, so pictures of aircraft of yore are displayed all over the Palace. Small wonder Jodhpur was one of the first Indian cities to get a flying club.
The Jiva Grande Spa, located beside the indoor swimming pool, which is surrounded by all the 12 zodiac signs done elegantly in mosaic, is the ultimate spot for indulgence and pampering. I try out Vishrama, a deep tissue massage where a hot compress of therapeutic Indian herbs is used to relax your tired and sore muscles. The skilled hands of my therapist apply alternating palm and thumb strokes to coax away the knots, which have formed the irritating habit of slipping right back into my body after a few days. A refreshing swim in the indoor pool, a soak in the warm waters of the Jacuzzi, and a spa treatment — and you rediscover the meaning of the words “sheer bliss”.
Heady mix at the marble baradari
When you pay upward of Rs 1 lakh a night to stay in a luxury hotel, you are looking for experiences to take home. The most special one at Umaid Bhawan for me will be dinner at the Baradari, the secluded marble pavilion tucked away at a further corner of the sprawling lawn, where once the royals dined or enjoyed their cup of tea or coffee as music played on, and dancers moved around languorously. Swaroop Singh accompanies me to the special spot, where two elaborate floral arrangements have already been blown away by the sandstorm that had engulfed Jodhpur earlier in the day. “Luckily ma’am, the storm is over, or else we would have had to cancel the dinner,” he says.
Before proceeding to dinner, I’m asked to choose from two lovely bandhni chunnis . I choose a vibrant red and yellow. Incidentally, for men, the butler wraps a traditional turban - Rathori safa , a nine-metre bandhni cloth. We then walk across the lawn to the romantically lit platform, the sides of which are decorated with rose, jasmine and marigold petals. The emanating fragrance, the several lit-up diyas , and the evening air make for a heady, intoxicating mix. A delicious mushroom cappucino soup with truffle essence is followed by the main course - Chilean sea bass served with flat rice noodles, peppers, onions and garlic, garnished with oyster and soya sauce. The best part of the simple meal is chocolate mud pie with vanilla ice cream — the chocolate base is soft and delectable.
A simple dinner at the Baradari costs $350 a person, and could go up to $1,250 depending on the menu, wine, entertainment, and so on. Singh tells me that for $1,250, you get carried to your dining area in a palki , escorted by camels and two horse lancers. There is an elaborate floral decoration, and for entertainment you have a traditional Rajasthani Kalbeliya (snapper) dance and music too.
Bill Gates must have done the $1,250 one, I ask innocently. “Oh no, it was a surprise dinner for him by the Palace (hotel),” replies Singh. But of course. Madonna and the Prince of Qatar opted for the $1,250 meal; “the Prince learned from me how to tie the Rathori safa , and was a quick learner,” he adds.