At Jaipur's Rambag Palace Hotel

January 18, 2012: I arrived in Jaipur last evening. It was freezing. I went to the Rambag Palace Hotel for dinner and sat in the lawn in front of coffee shop. The cold was too much for the guests as all the other tables outside were empty while the coffee shop was full inside. Oddly enough, I like this kind of weather. I requested the bearer to put more sigris (stove lit with coal or wood) and stayed there till the midnight.

From the lawn I could see the Hotel's SMS block which has about 15 to 17 rooms on one side. All the rooms, located on the ground floor, are like that of a good 3 Star hotel. There is a gate from where you can walk to Rambag's adjoining areas. The SMS banquets are also located there. Normally these rooms are booked for weddings, conventions and conferences. The tour operators also bring in tourists to the Hotel by enticing them with the majestic and imposing pictures and photos of Rambag property. I personally like SMS a lot.

There were times when I wasn't staying at the Rajputana, I always used to stay here at the SMS . There's one particular room in this Hotel, the first one before the reception, that has a separate drawing room and bedroom. If I remember correctly it is the Room No 430. The place was good for me and I often joked that it was a well-serviced circuit house with 5 Star facility.

I remembered Mr R D Singh who used to manage the property. I called him on his cell number which was switched off.

I asked a waiter about him and was shocked to hear that he is no more. I suddenly realized that it has been three years since I was last here and had spent many weeks. Mr Singh used to take good care of me and I had known him since the days when he was a duty manager here. He also owned a heritage hotel where I had met his family once.

I don't feel like staying at the Rambag any more in the absence of Singh ji. I remember my last conversation with him was about his son's (the name fails me) career who wanted to join The Taj Group then. The whole evening I was flooded with memories of R D Singh. The bearers, fearing I'll catch cold, kept warning me of the chilly weather.
Tomorrow I will be busy the whole day in a personal function.

ess bee