Date: 04-06 April 2019
Venue: Bikaner, Rajasthan

“People will forget what you said, forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou

Gaj Kesri crudely translated would mean -“King of Elephants”.  We recently stayed at Hotel Gaj Kesri, part of Basavana Art Hotels, in Bikaner, Rajasthan for three days.  Air India runs a lone flight to Bikaner airport, which is actually an air force base. We took this flight from Delhi and in a flight time of about 1 hour 15 minutes, landed at Bikaner. Gaj Kesri from here was half an hour’s drive.

We had seen photographs of Gaj Kesri on their website. Yet, the imposing red stone palatial facade, complete with minars (turrets) and jharokhas (hanging balconies) took us by surprise.  The property looked straight out of the sets of a grandiose Bhansali movie.  The built up structure, in Rajasthani haveli (mansion) style, was part of a 30 acre piece of land. It was double storied and the architectural design included many roofs and landings. That gave this place a lot of magic. In fact, we were surprised when we came to know that this mansion was designed by the owner Sunil Rampuria.

Sunil Rampuria, as we would come to know during our stay, wore many hats. He is an artist at heart and an avid collector of artwork. To satisfy his love for art, he had painters and artisans come to the property and create traditional as well as modern pieces. The harmonious melange of antiques and modern artwork in the rooms as well as the public areas characterises certain elegance and makes the space a shutterbug’s delight. We could clearly see why is Gaj Kesri an “Art Hotel”.

The artwork also extended to our room. There was a lot of space here with an ante-room and a well-fitted washroom.  In addition to a very comfortable king size bed; the room had sofas, centre table, study table – chair wardrobe, television, tea corner, mini fridge and a full length mirror. An antique bench in the dressing area completed the opulent setting. The air-conditioning worked full force and once inside, we were totally insulated from the desert heat outside. The WiFi at Gaj Kesri is fairly robust and we managed to attend to some office work too.  They have a prompt room service system and the staff here attended to our requests never without a smile.

The building had an open square courtyard at the centre.  The chip tiled floor of the courtyard had a European feel. Pieces of antic imported ceramic tiles from the colonial era had been used on the floor here.  There was colonial style cast iron outdoor dining arrangement to complete the picture. The whole setting was very dreamy.

Gaj Kesri has a live band who, led by the lead singer Raja, belts out old and new Hindi numbers here every evening. Given the melodious singing of Raja and his band, we unknowingly let our hair down and danced away to his numbers. Many other guests, mostly foreigners, joined us in the dance and it was as merry a party as it could get. On ardent request Mr. Rampuria took the mike and we were surprised he was a trained singer too! The dance and music went on till late and the band left only after we would virtually drop. We went for dinner post 12 that night!

Gaj Kesri served all meals in their beautifully done up dining hall.  The breakfast was a buffet while the other meals were served on table course by course.  It is a vegetarian fare but is not restricted to Rajasthani or Indian cuisine. Mr. and Mrs. Rampuria have grown up in Kolkata so the food had Bengali influence.  To add variety to the menu, they regularly had Continental dishes as part of the spread.  The food was very moderately spiced and extremely kind to our system.  Given the desert heat, eating very rich or spicy food could lead to health hazards so we loved the fare here. Again, the smiling staff who served us made the dining experience even sweeter.

We also did our daily dose of exercising by taking a dip in the sparkling pool. Surrounded by trees and chirping of birds all around the pool, the swimming session was most meditative.  The staff would serve drinks and snacks on poolside in the evenings. The only thing we could have asked for is a gym. And apparently it is in the offing. The gym we are told would be ready next month.

While in Bikaner, we visited the Karni Mata Temple well known for its rats, Junagarh Fort and Prachina Museum from Gaj Kesri. We also had a sumptuous Marwari lunch at Bhanwar Niwas, an old mansion belonging to the Rampuria family. We visited the Camel Breeding farm, the only one in India, from here.  Gaj Kesri is located about 10 – 15 km away from the city so it was easy for us to visit the magnificent sand dunes which are also visible from the roof of Gaj Kesri.  We shall cover these sites on other posts in the future so do stay tuned.

Meanwhile, we shall remember Gaj Kesri for the most warm and hospitable treatment we got here. Mr. Rampuria and his team made us feel so at home that we surely want to come back with family and friends. Hotel Gaj Kesri is also available for weddings and other functions and would make a beautiful traditional Indian heritage setting.

Given its offbeat location, Gaj Kesri, gave us the first opportunity to experience the tranquility of desert in almost decadent luxury. But don’t take our word for it, visit Gaj Kesri and be treated like a King.