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Rajasthan: More on the Havelis
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Travelling in Rajasthan in February 2008
Jaipur >> Shekhawati >> Pushkar >> Jaisalmer >> Jodhpur
Continued from Young Brat from Mandawa
Even as the locals today don't care much about those murals on the walls of crumbling havelis, some people have woken up to the value of these treasures. A few of them are original owners who want to restore their ancestral home and showcase it to the world. Some people just fell in love with these artworks, bought the havelis from their owners and worked to restore them. The smart, enterprising types converted them to hotels.
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A haveli converted into a hotel
Most hotels I see in Mandawa had murals donning the walls. While the one I stayed in was a new building trying to re-create the colors of the havelis, others were old structures restored and converted. People still live in some of these havelis, such as the one that belonged to merchant Gulab Rai Ladia.
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Dr. Ramnath Podar Haveli museum
In Navalgarh, twenty minutes away from Mandawa, Podar Haveli was converted into a museum where professional guides escorted the visitors through the rooms of the haveli. In fact, there is an overdose of collected items in Podar Haveli, and each room in the haveli has some thing to display. As the guide took me from room to room showing me through the collections(some of them newly created to engage the visitors), I came back bored and tired. Fatehpur's Nadine Le Prince Haveli was bought, and carefully restored by a French artist Nadine Le Prince. Most private museum charge upto hundred rupees or more, and the locals don't seem to like it much. The caretaker of Sneh Ram Ladia Haveli called them with unprintable words for charging an entry fee. My guide at Podar Haveli, whom I met again on the way back to Mandawa found it incorrect to charge high entry fees to Indians. I argued that student discounts would be a good thing to have, but a private museum has the right to charge everyone else. But he did not seem convinced.
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Inside Nadine Le Prince Haveli
Some well known havelis don't have much luck with restoration though, like the Gulab Rai Ladia's. Walking along the streets of Fatehpur, I could see many of these old structures left to rot by themselves. All around Nadine Le Prince Haveli are crumbling remains of the past with nothing more than fallen down walls few feel high.
A crumbling haveli
As I leave Shekhawati to explore more of Rajasthan, I could not help but wonder what a magical world it would have been, had all the havelis were put back to their original colours.
To be continued..
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| Similar Posts |
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Rajasthan: The Young Brat from Mandawa
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Travelling in Rajasthan in February 2008
Jaipur >> Shekhawati >> Pushkar >> Jaisalmer >> Jodhpur
Continued from Images of paintings on the havelis
'Shhh... shhh...' I heard someone calling me, and turned around as I wandered the dusty streets of Mandawa in search of the painted Havelis. Standin...
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Arun
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About This Blogger
Arun Bhat is a freelance travel writer and photographer. While he is not writing for India Travel Blog, you can see him exploring the corners of India, be it trekking in the high mountains, looking out for colorful birds in the forest, immersed in the country s ancient architecture, relaxing in a beach or searching for less known locations. Some day he hopes to document the beauty of India in words and pictures, end to end.
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