The year – 2002. My first posting as a doc. The place – Rajnagar, famous for the largest man made lake in Asia – the Rajsamand. Its an altogether different thing that five years of drought had turned the ‘lake’ into a vast expanse of cracked and dried out mud, and was increasingly being referred to as the Rajsamand Stadium by the local people who were rather irritated by questions as to when was the last time they saw it full. Still, we loved to sit out the evenings on its dusty banks, reflecting on the uncertainties of the future. Rajnagar was about 45 kms from Udaipur, my home those days, and it took about an hour and a half by bus to travel to Rajnagar from Udaipur. However, the professional demands of my job required me to stay at Rajnagar 24X6, and I spent only the Sundays at home.
It’s an old saying that a doc can survive and win his bread(only the bread mind you, not the butter) anywhere if he has a pen and some paper in his pocket. This, I found out, was a useless piece of waffle for a surgeon who has to depend heavily on sundry other articles, least being a sterile surgical blade. Moreover, you just cannot go out and slash open someone’s tummy, even with sagely intentions and a therapeutic purpose. An anesthetist has to first knock the patient off cleverly, then revive him after the surgeon completes his job, hides away the goof-ups inside the tummy as neatly as possible and puts some elaborate surface stitches to make his work look real good.
Now, the anesthetist docs were a rare breed in Rajnagar. They had to be ‘imported’ from Udaipur, dined, kept in good humor and spirits, and paid twice the amount plus two way taxi fare for their incredible kindness in allowing us surgeons to operate. One particular anesthetist, somewhat senior to us in terms of age, experience and duniyadari was however, a man of exquisitely refined tastes, and needless to say, we folks(this ‘we’ included two of my colleagues – a physician and a child specialist) enjoyed his company after hospital hours, sometimes over gin and black coffee(him gin, us black coffee). We sometimes drove over to the Rajsamand Lake, or whatever was left of it, and enjoyed the cool, though somewhat stinking, evening breeze.
On one such occasion, when we were through with our hospital work earlier than usual, our anesthetist friend asked us to hop in his Cielo. “Come on, I’ll show you Devigarh” was his brief interjection before he took to the highway and stepped on the accelerator. Devigarh? I recalled having seen a detour sign on the highway(connecting Rajnagar to Udaipur) proclaiming the existence of such a place, but my inquisitiveness had been dampened by a huge iron gate and a seemingly tedious dirt track disappearing beyond a small hillock. Neither Devi nor Garh was visible from the road, and I had formed an opinion of Devigarh being a forlorn little fort owned by some unknown descendent of Mewar’s erstwhile maharajas.
In a little over twenty minutes, the iron gates were before us. For the first time, I noticed a small picket behind a pillar on one side of the gate. The Cielo’s honking brought forth a sentry sporting an impressive moustache and an equally impressive turban. He deftly opened the gates and while allowing us to pass, bowed real low, immediately initiating a mad bowing competition amongst the other three occupants of the car. We hit the dirt track, though the Cielo’s wonderful suspension made short work of rough drive. The curvy track climbed past a maize field, a herd of royally stubborn goats and a small hillock before entering a clearing….and then there was Devigarh Fort…a magnificent edifice of stone, gleaming in the golden afternoon sunlight of late October, with it’s monolithic ramparts echoing the glorious past of Mewar’s unequalled chivalry and splendor.
“This is a 5 star hotel”. “Really?” “What are we doing here?” We meekly followed our anesthetist friend into Devigarh fort, overawed by the majestic beauty of the structure. We passed the reception and the lobby, tastefully decorated in authentic Mewar style, and climbed a flight of stone stairs to enter the restaurant complex. The dining room was all white with spotless carved marble tables, silver plated chairs, fine bone china with silver cutlery and tumblers, exquisite meena *carvings on the roof and walls, and a panoramic view of the Aravali hills and the villages below from the *jharokhas.
A full meal there was beyond our means, so we settled for the beverages. Iced mint tea was the only drink I could identify; all others had unheard of exotic names. The other guys settled for multicoloured mocktails. For Rs. 100 something+ taxes, the iced tea had to be more than mundane. There was no one else in the dining room at that hour. The bearers were all men in black(something that I positively didn’t like), in striking contrast with the pearly white interiors. They were probably more accustomed to serve white skins, and appeared to be mildly annoyed at this bunch of four casually dressed and untidy customers who asked lot more questions than what their combined bill merited. Anyway, we could extract the following information – Devigarh palace / fort, also known as the Delwara Fort was the abode of one Rajput chieftain Sajja Singh who came down all the way from Gujarat to assist Maharana Pratap in his battle against Akbar. It was however not built by him. Another chieftain Raghudev Singh II started building this fort in 1760, and could complete it only partially before he was killed.
Today, Devigarh is a 5 star luxury heritage hotel which has been awarded the the highest rating for "Ambience and Design 2006" amongst all hotels in Asia in Conde Nast Traveller's Gold List. This annual Gold List, announced by Conde Nast Traveller, UK, one of the leading travel magazines in the world, lists the best hotels that set the standards for the hospitality industry worldwide. Devigarh has received an exceptional score of 97.29 for ambience & design. It is also a hot international exotic marriage destination, brought into limelight by a certain Ms Hurley and her suitor, a certain Mr. Nayar, who, since then, have turned to Jodhpur’s Ummaid Bhavan Palace to finish off their nuptial knotting.
Having finished our drinks and paid our bills, we roamed about the nooks and corners of the fortress. The architecture of the Durbar Hall, Durbar Courtyard, Zanana Mahal, Kamal Court and the pool were all fascinating. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking, with the golden rays lighting up the sky in various shades of orange, and the Fort wearing an amber shade from the dwindling sunlight.
I returned to Devigarh on two more occasions before I left Rajnagar for good – once with my colleagues and once with my better half. We, almost ritually, ordered iced tea, much to the dismay of their F&B men, who one occasion, begged us to try their new delicacy – a whole stuffed roasted c-o-c-k with mushroom sizzlers! Now, I hear, it is inaccessible to casual visitors. The Palace I mean, not the bird.
No problem, I have its visual delights etched permanently in my memory.
Thanks as always for reading my review. Ratings and comments welcome.
Sudipto Chakravarty - 2007
