We left Jaipur and began our 7 hour drive towards Jaisalmer.
We plan to spend the night in Rohet. From Rohet it is a 5 hour drive to reach
Jaisalmer. On our last visit to India we were supposed to stay at Rohet, but
our plans changed and we never made it. We didn’t know what to expect in Rohet, but
wanted to see what Rohet had to offer.
The ride from Jaipur was like a 7 hour Hindi class for us. I
would attempt to read signs, advertisements, writing on trucks and our driver
would correct my pronunciation and translate words to English if necessary. It
was great fun for me. Many of the signs written on the back of the outlandishly
decorated trucks were prayers or religious sayings that were difficult to
translate. One of may favorites was Karum Hei Puga Hain (written of course in
Hindi) that loosely translate to: “What you do in this life is the prayer”
suggesting that your actions mean more than rote repeating of prayers.
We got into a very complicated and difficult discussion
about the kickbacks between merchants and drivers and guides. This is an area where we feel very uncomfortable, but it absolutely a part of the Indian tourist
equation. Stores kickback money to guides and drivers that bring customers to
them. Guides get more than drivers. The issue becomes when tourists like us, who
repeatedly return to India know where they want to shop. In that case the
guide or driver is like a taxi, they aren’t suggesting where we shop, we are
telling them where we want to go. Stores recognize us as repeat customers and
attempt to cut the driver or guide out. Meanwhile the guides are trying to take
you to places they know they can get a kickback. It is very tricky to negotiate
this and not feel uncomfortable. This became a major point of
discussion as we drove the Rajasthan desert towards our stop at Rohet.
Rohet is a typicaly poor Rajasthan village, dirt roads, cows
and goats and dogs run loose, garbage everywhere, nothing is particularly appealing. You then enter the princely house where we are staying. It is called Rohet Ghar (Ghar
is the Hindi word for House). This house is an estate. It has been in the same
family since 1622! They still live here in the house we are staying in. The
Ghar looks like it has been designed with the intention of being in
Architectural Digest, Indian Version. Maharaja’s are Kings. Under them there
were the equivalent of English Dukes. They are called Thakurs. A Thakur ownes
several villages and was very powerful and wealthy. The Thakur that owned Rohet
Ghar owns 12 villages, and has turned part of his immense and beautiful Ghar
into a guest hotel. He is extremely warm and sophisticated – he greeted us and
we played for quite a while with his wonderful dog. The Ghar has many wings,
gardens, and pools. Everything and I mean everything is perfectly restored and
decorated to perfection. Nothing is gaudy, or overdone or in need of repair. We
went to the spa and had a 90 minute massage followed by a bottle of Indian
wine. We then ate dinner on the roof of Ghar, overlooking the pool serenaded
by traditional Rajasthani music. The food was fantastic and the night was
magical. This is everything you can hope for on a trip to India.
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