Royal Impact

I felt living in a palace would make me feel fantastico. I always wanted to live in a palace. But I wasn’t born into a royal family. I was born into a middle class family. So how could I experience the luxury of staying in a palace? But if you wish, everything will happen. This is how I landed in a palace. Not just any palace, but a palace in Rajasthan where the Royalty lives even today.

I was travelling from Udaipur to Jodhpur. On an impulse I asked the driver to take me to Village Auwa. There was a sign board which showed me the direction to Auwa palace and I did not want to miss it. I learnt when I went there that Auwa village is one thousand and two hundred years old. Its not just known for its royal heritage. Auwa was one of the villages which actively participated in the first war of independence in the year 1857. The Auwa palace is actually a fort. A victory pillar built in the ethnic Rajasthani style welcomed me to the palace. The victory pillar is actually commemorates the freedom struggle.

The palace has two temples and numerous buildings. It has a beautiful garden restaurant which offers delicious food. Locales say that there is a ghost in the palace as well. That made the stay at the fort exciting. I was told that the standalone, odd wall in the palace was the handiwork of the ghost. Unfortunately I never came across the ghost.

It was the price of the rooms, which made my decision to stay in the luxury palace now converted into a hotel. It had three types of rooms in three different buildings. One was heritage building, another was contemporary and finally the faux heritage. I wanted to have the feel of Royalty. Hence I settled only for the heritage room. The arched windows and the balconies with the old teak wood bed made me feel like a Royalty.

The real royalty, the Thakur family still resides in the fort palace. Obviously their residence is not open for the tourists. But they do mingle with the guests. They enquired me as to how was my stay. They narrated me the stories of their great belligerent ancestors. They also took me to their old village in their open jeep. They stopped at places to show me the historic landmarks and of course the stories behind them.

This stay has had a great impact upon me. I too got the taste of the Royalty. I stayed in the same room where the royal men and women may have stayed centuries ago. Now my foot fall into their property made me a part of their royal lineage. So what if that came for a price. Now whenever I walk, I walk like a royal scion. That was the impact of my stay. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.