Faces of Rajasthan

Woman at the City Palace 

Village Woman with Water Jug

Ram Temple

The Fort 

Sunset from the Fort

Today was an amazingly wonderful day. When I awoke, I could tell my Delhi Belly had been cured. We have stayed at Shahpura Bagh before and wanted to return. I am glad that we did. After breakfast, we went to visit their farm. The family that owns Shahpura Bagh is typical of the ex-royals in India. Shah Jahan the builder of the Taj Mahal, gave Shahpura to the family in the 1600’s. It was a large region of Rajasthan. In the middle of the village of Shahpura (about 30,000 people) sits their palace. They lived there until after independence the government took their palace away. It is now a school. We visited the school which is endowed by Royal Family to teach young girls. They read to us in English from their text books.

They had a guest house complex that was built near the palace but in the middle of a rural area. The family moved there and opened the guest houses as a heritage property with 8 rooms. It is wonderful.

Even though the Indian Government officially does not recognize royalty, the people of Shapura talk of the current owners of Shahpura Bagh as the Royals. They previously owned the city of Shapura and many surrounding villages. The current owner of the property would have been a Maharaja if the government hadn’t abolished princely states. The locals refer to him as His Highness but he doesn’t refer to himself that way.

The farm we went to is outside of the city. We stopped at many of the villages, taking pictures of the residents. They all are happy to have their picture taken, none ask for money. They only want to have a look at the picture after it is taken on the iPhone. The driver/guide from Shahpura Bagh pointed out birds (who knew India had Pelicans and Flamingos), flowers and trees. All of the farmers and the families were very accommodating to us. We were really outside of the tourist bubble mixing with real locals.

When we returned to Shahpura Bhag, they had arranged a cooking demonstration for us. I didn’t realize when it was all done that they would serve the food to us for lunch. It was quite fun. Indians don’t seem to follow written recipes. It is sort of like their driving or preparation for a wedding. It just sort of works out. A hand full of this, a pinch of that. We had Egg Curry which I have never before eaten, Tomatoes and Eggplant, Peas and Paneer (Cheese), rice and naan. That was our lunch – how the hell we will be hungry for dinner I have no idea!

We lounged around the pool reading and then at 4:30 they drove us to a Ram Temple complex nearby and then to the Family fort. In 1947 the government took over the fort, but in the end, gave it back to the family. We climbed to the top of the fort, where wine and chips awaited us as we looked out over the entire Shahpura plateau. They had timed it, of course, perfectly so the sun was just setting over the flat land beneath the fort, reflecting upon the lakes. It was a marvelous vista.

After more drinks and dinner, we were ready for bed. Last year when we stayed here we ate as a vegetable course: a dried fried version of Okra with Corn Flakes of all things. It was great. I requested that they make the dish for us tonight, and they were happy to oblige. It was just as I remembered it. We ate dinner and Maharaja joined us. Once again the conversation turned depressingly to discuss Trump.  He also stated that all of his guests had uniformly disliked Trump.

Shahpura Bagh is a great place and highly we highly recommend it, if you are ever in Rajasthan do consider staying here.

It was a great day.