Coming Of Agein Bikaner

In a change of events, the long weekend getaways to quaint, unexplored cities have eclipsed Staycations in the metros. At Narendra Bhawan in Bikaner, it’s a slow discovery of the royal heritage of Bikaner coupled with experiences befitting a modern-day king.

- Anwesha Sanyal

At half past two, I landed on Bikaner’s tiny runway strip to cautious security off icers and nervous locals still adapting to their brand new airport. It was the 26th day of operation, and Air India’s Alliance Air ATR-72 was already flying with full flights from Delhi, reiterating just how much the city desperately needed to overcome the eight-hour train route for fastpaced travellers. Bikaner’s is a story of coming of age; a city full of forts and palaces with licensed guides waiting to educate tourists, luxury hotels rolling out carpets in anticipation of arrivals, and the Thar Desert replaying perfect sunsets for imaginary champagne sundowners.

One of the royal residences-turned-hotels, Narendra Bhawan, was the house of the last reigning Maharaja of Bikaner, Narendra Singh. Exactly a year ago, it was refurbished into a modern design hotel and immediately taken up by leading new portals, magazines, and travel blogs that named it one of the most promising new launches of the year. I was intrigued.

When stay cations came into vogue in India sometime ago, it quickly struck a chord with corporate professionals spending long hours at work. Now there was an excuse to take that long weekend off and check into the most expensive city hotels, order room service, and let the hotel staff pamper them silly. And oh was it glamorous! From a brag worthy tale to bring up at high tea to a passing mention at the family gathering, we heard them everywhere. Not much later, hotels started lapping up the demand and began off ering elaborate stay cation packages around calendar holidays. ‘Getting away’ from the crowd became fashionable.