Two years after Dining with the Nawabs, Roli Books has another coffee table gem, dedicated to luxurious getaways. And like Meera Ali’s book on the culinary heritage of 10 nawabi families, it benefits from the observations of well-connected writers. Cosmo Samuel Brockway and Harriet Compston have included opulent hotels like Falaknuma Palace and Umaid Bhawan Palace, both Taj properties, but they have slipped in a few intimate guesthouses, from stylist and designer Isla Van Damme’s haven near Kodaikanal to famous embroiderer Jean-Francois Lesage’s manor house in Puducherry.
“When Harriet and I decided to write this book, we put our London flats up for rent, left our jobs as editors of the VisitBritain magazine and spent eight months living out of suitcases to bring the most authentic knowledge to the book,” says Brockway, 35, also referred to as a social maestro by luxury travel outfit, Ampersand Travel, where he is the South Asia specialist. “Visually impactful” was the key priority when selecting the hotels from the longlist of 75. ‘Has it been seen everywhere?’ was another. Thus you have Lesage’s space, which will officially open to the public only in two years. “It is for people linked with design or culture. They will have to take the entire house,” says Lesage. Shoe supremo Christian Louboutin and the iconic Dame Judi Dench are some of the celebrities who share their recommendations in this keeper that has the remarkable work of art photographer Karam Puri. More from Brockway:
Given your extensive travels, what is singular about the hospitality industry (luxury) in India?
The soul in it. Luxury hospitality in other parts of the world may be slick, discreet, all-procuring and aesthetically gorgeous but, joyfully, it does not matter what lofty heights a property reaches in India. It still, without fail, retains the unique Indian warmth and eccentricity at its heart. Staying in the Maharani suite of Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace, with its acres of art deco furniture and domes of macaroons on every surface, your white-gloved butler may have looked after Madonna and Prince Charles in the last month, but he takes you on a picnic to a local village and makes you feel you are the only person to exist.
What do global luxury travellers look for in India today?
An authentic, unspoiled India that offers a simple yet profound experience. During our tours for Ampersand Travel, we unlock for our guests: candle-lit evenings at Amritsar’s Partition Museum, gazing up at the domes of Kapurthala’s Moorish Mosque with the grandson of its builder, Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, listening to the music of the Silk Road under the frescoes of Patiala’s Qila Mubarak or taking a speedboat across the waves to poolside lunch at an Alibag villa.
Karam Puri and Cosmo Samuel Brockway | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Any behind-the-scenes anecdotes you would like to share, from your interactions with these people?
Dining with Loulou Van Damme on her terrace under the starry sky on dishes fresh from her garden, with the scent of raat-ki-rani filling the air and listening to her stories about growing up in Bombay and dressing the Queen of Belgium in Banjara kaftans! After dinner, Karam retired to sleep on the leopard-print festooned daybed and watched the moon light up the valley below, while I lay in state in a four-poster designed by Van Damme - the magic is in these.
Your book begins with Abode, which has the most creative use of reclaimed furniture.
It pays homage to the city’s transformation from old Bombay to modern Mumbai. Bedside tables have been made from chaat stands. Reclaimed Burma teak, rescued from demolished houses, has been used as flooring. Fabrics used for soft furnishings have been largely sourced from vintage saris and textile markets. Colonial and art-deco hardwood and wicker furniture, rescued from Mumbai’s scrap yards, dot the hotel. It has all been executed beautifully, creating a characterful hotel that is fun, contemporary and inspiring and a love song to the ingenuity of Mumbaikars.
Which hotel was the ultimate in luxury?
Umaid Bhawan Palace, which we stayed in just before Christmas. We were taken out for a spin in the Maharajah’s Cadillac with the liveried butler pointing out all the marvels of the Blue City. Everything in the hotel sings of luxury, from the bath carved out of a single piece of rose Italian marble to the throne room which sports six monumental frescoes. The cache of having HH Bapji and his family still in residence in one of the wings keeps the palace’s illustrious aura alive.
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Taj Falaknuma Palace
| Photo Credit:
Karam Puri
Light fantastic
Having worked on this book for two years, art photographer Karam Puri recalls that most of the shoots were seasonal and involved extensive travel as they criss-crossed the country, on boat, plane, train and in cars and rickshaws. “I shoot with almost 100% natural light, so the time of day is very important to get the perfect shot,” says Puri, who braved challenges like monsoon downpours and oppressive heat and, in Ladakh, a serious bout of dengue fever. If he had to frame a photo from this book? “It would be the image of the two beds in Loulou’s Land in Tamil Nadu. There’s something calming and yet brutally clean about it,” says the fan of Steve McCurry’s Monsoon.
Unforgettable
Brockway has many memories from this project. “Boarding a teak steamer boat in the shadow of Murshidabad’s columned palace and sailing down the Ganges, flocked by river dolphins, past bird sanctuaries, terracotta temples, holy islands and ghats of burning bodies is one of the most extraordinary glimpses of rural India with no noise pollution - true luxury.”