It was just a mud fort rising from
the plains and the village around it. Rao Raj Villas are situated in Kuchesar in
Western Uttar Pradesh. A comfortable two hour drive makes it a weekend destination from Delhi. The mud fort is a doaba rebel classic, almost immune to cannon fire and surrounded
by dense cane breaks. Seven massive mud bastions of the fort are still standing
around the periphery of the fort, though the moats have run dry, and the
canebrakes are gone. Roa Raj Villas is a good place to go on a Luxury holiday.

These are 3 havelis of the original
complex has been turned into the guest rooms of the Rao Raj Villas hotel. The havelis were
lying unused and virtually derelict till last year. Rao Raj Vilas is not one of
those heritage hotels where an old property is turned over to a larger chain; the personal
family touch is visible in everything. For one it is quite small and intimate,
there being only 10 guest rooms operational now. The entire family pitches in to
run the hotel, and they were all waiting for us when we entered the fort. As we
climbed down the stairs our eyes caught the swimming pool set in the main courtyard, deep bluish green tiles setting up a
striking contrast to the carved sandstone surrounding, a marvelous change from
the regulation swimming pool blue one has come to
expect.

When lunch was served, it managed to
be an extraordinary combination of homelike and exquisite. With the non veg the
desert served in the end which was the mango ice cream it was damn so fresh and
delicious that it comes from the family’s own orchards and made in home. After
that we had a sleep and when I woke up the room was cool in the afternoon, not
even needing to use the AC.

Anant one of the members of the
family took us for a tour through the property. Through the Peen Baagh, also
named because it is the quarter of the area of a standard issue garden and is
still rather large. We walked up to one of the bastions, and looked out fair to
the horizon, over orchids and seemingly endless swaying fields of sugarcane. We
walked through a thick little keekar forest growing inside the fort, in which
Anant said they are planning to conduct a nature walk. Then there were two
temples on one of the edge of the fort itself, dating back to the
18^th centaury. We visited the rooftop bar and open air terrace, which
is operational in winter and saw peacocks, perched atop the buildings. We walked
down the tehkhanas, currently empty, but with great potential to become a lounge
space.

After the constant madness of Delhi,
it is the most refreshing thing to be able to have seen and done everything to
do in a couple of hours. We played billiards and table tennis and there was also
a mini conference room where one can arrange for conferences with chairs and
table and projection screen comfortable under the huge old ornately brocaded
punkah.

In the evening we sat with our
wonderful hosts, as the breeze blow and listened to their stories of Kuchesar’s
past. We sat by the poolside, we drinking juices and some of them beer watching
the mohs circle shamaas. Again in the morning Anant made plans for us to drive
to the mango orchards for picnic, but the rain finish it all. However we sat on
the lounge chair reading the books and chatting as the rain poured down. When we
were checking out they compensated for the abortive trip to the mango orchards
by presenting us with big packets of mangoes, plucked from the trees.