With all the buzz about the Jaipur LitFest in the media, I couldn’t help recollecting my own attendance of it a couple of years ago. But I am mostly reminded of my subsequent visit to the Pink City. It was a leisure trip and I stayed at a delightful place called General’s Retreat.
A large sixties-look bungalow fronted by a large lawn, it is located on the Sardar Patel Marg, not too far from the railway station. Not that close either for it to be noisy or grimy. It is in fact in a lesser congested part of Jaipur and sits prettily and at a comfortable distance from all the main attractions of the city.
For those keen on quality ethnic wear and handicrafts, those attractions would include the outlets of Anokhi, Soma, Neerja International, and others of their ilk. After many hours of retail therapy, it was indeed very comforting to return to the well-appointed environs of the home-stay.
Replete with all the ingredients of a comfortable home-stay, it has the advantage of added privacy as the owners’ living quarters are at ground level, while guests are accommodated on the upper and mezzanine levels. Managed by the ever warm, welcoming and hospitable Ketaki Singh, one of the grand-daughters of the late General, who does however, assisted ably by her father Mr Bisht, run a tight ship.
Rightly described as a home away from home, the owners take their hosting duties very seriously and appreciate being met halfway by considerate guests. So the next time you find yourself in Jaipur, you may want to give this lovely home-stay a look-see.
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, travel enthusiast and the author of Adrift: A junket junkie in Europe is the youngest of four siblings born into an aristocratic family of Punjab. Dogged in her resistance to conform, and with parental pressure easing sufficiently over the years, she had plenty of freedom of choice. And she chose travel.
She was born in Shimla, and spent her formative years at their home, Windsor Terrace, in Kasumpti while schooling at Convent of Jesus & Mary, Chelsea. The irrepressible wanderlust in her found her changing vocations midstream and she joined Singapore International Airlines to give wing to her passion. She has travelled extensively in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and SE Asia; simultaneously exploring the charms within India.
When she is not travelling, she is writing about it. Over the past decade or so, she has created an impressive writing repertoire for herself: as a columnist with Hindustan Times, as a book reviewer for The Tribune and as a contributor to travel magazines in India and overseas. Her work-in-progress, the documenting of colonial heritage along the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road, is an outcome of her long-standing romance with the Himalayas.
