Jaipur heritage hotel, India

One of the things that we believe makes our retreat unique among its fellow hotels/resorts in Jaipur is its commitment to a responsible and sustainable lifestyle. Here we share with you some of our environmental, social, heritage features that mark it as a responsible travel destination.

Environmental:
We are conceived as an eco-friendly habitat. The building materials used were locally-produced and low-energy intensive, i.e., minimum use of cement and steel, and greater reliance on local brick, stone and building techniques which, accordingly, permitted the introduction of thermostat/insulation component in the design of walls, windows, terraces and awnings. Masonry work was done by old-style masons with a hereditary record of being involved in the construction of forts. These masons helped source specific rooftop bricks - known for their thermostat/insulation properties - from far-off villages, where a few households still practice this dying art of brick production. The roof was constructed using these specially baked tiny bricks which were laid in honeycomb pattern on a layer of stone slabs, topped by a further layer of brickbat coba. This was covered with a layer of hand-ground limestone infused with the powder of ground fenugreek seeds (the mixture is traditionally believed to strengthen binding), used as mortar.

The trees and plants on the estate are local varieties, known for their hardiness and low water requirement (e.g., khejri, neem), nitrogen fixing properties (e.g., khejri), cooling and antiseptic properties (notably neem), and flower and fruit bearing properties that attract birds and bees (all of the above including e.g., lime, guava, bael, lesva, pomegranate, drumstick etc.). The honeycombs and nests on the estate trees, and the sixty-odd resident bird varieties that we have documented so far, provide evidence of this. The estate has a variety of local aromatic plants (e.g., chameli, mogra, champa, mehndi, raat-ki-rani, parijaat, hibiscus) and flowering trees (e.g., gulmohar, kanji). The lawns are prepared using local varieties of grass (tough, hardy and low water-intensive).

Both lawns and shrubberies are kept green through sprinklers. Some parts of the estate are irrigated using hydrants that are fed with water on the basis of gravity from the non-chlorinated swimming pool. The aesthetic and eco-friendly swimming pool, thus, doubles up as an irrigation resource, making it possible for the pool water to be freshly refilled on a daily basis. All water needs – including bathroom taps - are met from groundwater that is pure and sweet and fit to drink. Recharge wells ensure that excess runoff is harvested, while rooftop and courtyard rainwater is harvested using a gravity-based system of water supply/drainage pipes. Guest bath and bed linen is changed every two days, unless daily change is specifically requested for. Finely-sieved ash from woodfires is used for burnishing copper and brass objects d’art. Fallen leaves and farm and kitchen wastes are recycled for the preparation of manure using compost pits. Farmyard manure using cow/buffalo dung, supplements the manure used for crops and gardening.

We do our bit to sustain historically evolved symbiotic economic/social relationships between rural actors, traditions that are typical to the region. No family in the area, irrespective of social position, is denied access to our water for household use, should their own water source become unavailable temporarily. Neighbouring farming families get free access to our freshly mown grass for feeding their cows, whose milk is in turn bought back by us for our own requirements. We also continue to uphold the traditional practice of permitting nomadic herders of camels, sheep and goats to harvest the leaves of our 150-odd khejri trees, traditionally valued for being tasty and nutritious green animal fodder. In order to do this, the herders need to prune the trees. This (annual) practice benefits us, in a region where fierce desert storms can bring down top-heavy trees.

We universally use CFL (energy-saving) bulbs for all our lighting requirements, supplemented by locally manufactured candles. During winter, pruned twigs and logs from our trees are used for heating (lighting bonfires in the courtyard and in the open-air dining area, and for fireplaces in the dining room, bar and a few select guest rooms). Solar roof panels heat water for bathroom and kitchen use. We are currently experimenting with a first generation solar air-conditioning technology for cooling part of the villa. If successful, this technology will be gradually extended to the entire enclosed space that is at present cooled by conventional air-conditioners. We rely mainly on web-based marketing and make minimal use of printed brochures. Paper is routinely recycled for internal office use. Printer cartridges are recycled.

Social:
We grow our own grains and vegetables and also support farmers in the neighbourhood to supplement requirements of milk, grains, vegetables and poultry. Maintenance/repairs of generators, pumps, etc., are generally done using local mechanics. In keeping with our policy of social inclusiveness and equal opportunities, we employ most of our staff from among the surrounding communities, irrespective of caste/religious considerations. Among the housekeeping and kitchen staff are members of one of Rajasthan’s erstwhile ‘untouchable’ castes (Regars) who form a sizeable community in the nearby villages. Once at the bottom of the traditional social (caste) hierarchy, they are today empowered at the hotel to hold modern sector jobs. Salaries are higher than prevailing wage rates in the area. Where necessary, staff are provided with housing and food; alternatively, they are given transport to and from work.

Guests have the opportunity to get an un-mediated, un-exoticised experience of an everyday rural India and ordinary people’s lives, at a pace and rhythm that eludes run-of-the-mill tourists or city-based luxury hotels. Interested guests can visit any of the schools in the village or go on camel/camel-cart rides or cross-country walks through the surrounding countryside. Here they have the opportunity to exchange greetings with local people, visit homes to share a cup of tea or buttermilk, observe women churn butter or tend to livestock, and watch and talk to women and men carrying out seasonal agricultural operations. Guests interested in being orientated to social, cultural or political dimensions relating to Rajasthan or India are offered the choice of orientation talks or printed materials.

A heritage property with a difference:
We are a heritage property with an interesting history. As a completely restored residence of an erstwhile royal Kachchawa chieftain, care has been taken to totally modernise the interiors while retaining many of the traditional architectural design features of aristocratic residences characteristic of the region. At the same time, the property zealously avoids ostentation and obvious over-the-top-extravagance, letting the whole place blend seamlessly with its local surroundings.

The socially progressive character of the hotel stems from the social/political and spiritual heritage of the owners. A significant ancestor of the family who lived in the mid-19th. century chose to renounce his feudal patrimony and become a sanyasi (ascetic). In doing so, he exhorted his descendants to integrate a core set of philanthropic and spiritual values into their feudal lifestyle. There thus developed in these villages the tradition of a less-sharply-unequal feudal society.

More recently at the time of India's independence, when democratic land reform laws abolished hereditary feudal fiefdoms that had concentrated all land ownership within single families, the then family patriarch – the father of the current owner - ensured that all the land of these two villages under his control was redistributed among the resident tenant population.

He also took the leadership in dismantling many of the old norms of social inequality through example: not keeping any land in his own name, bequeathing land to his children in keeping with the new land ceiling laws, endowing considerable amounts of land as ‘public properties’ for schools, temples, pastures, and social forestry projects, and empowering even the lowest dalit castes (erstwhile ‘untouchables’) through land ownership deeds. The result is that there is not a single household in this area that does not own land. The visitor will also find that the ubiquitous poverty that India is infamous for is missing here, as also obvious signs of acute inequalities.