Discovering a lost gem

When in Gujarat, one would expect a quick-serve all vegetarian life of theplas, dhoklas and maybe a cup of cappuccino in these occidental times. But drive just about a 100 kms east of Ahmedabad and you will enter a microcosm of Balasinor. An erstwhile Nine Gun Salute Princely state that dates back its glory days to the Mughal reign, and now thrives in the Garden Palace which has acres of fig, chiku and bougainvillea wrapped around an year 1883 built residence. Nawabs? Yes. The Nawabs of the Pashtun Babi dynasty, from the frontier province in the AF-Pak region, arrived in Gujarat during the reign of Shah Jahan and ruled the regions of Junagadh, Balasinor and Radhanpur.

Embodying the true Ganga – Jamuni tehzeeb, the Hindu Solanki Rajput, Maharana of Lunawada (another neighboring Nine Gun Salute former Princely state) performed the coronation ‘Rajtilak’ for the Nawab of Balasinor. Nawab Sultan Salauddin Khan Babi and Begum Zeba Khan; colloquially known as ‘Salad and Begum Zeba’ to friends work tirelessly to harness and live through the multicultural legacy of Balasinori Cuisine, Hospitality and an inclusive brand of Nawabiyat.

The original Balasinor palace was burnt in an unfortunate fire and Nawab Salad’s father, Late Nawab Sahab Salabat KhanJi was merely 11 months old when the treaty of 1947 accession was negotiated. He grew up in the tough and cash-strapped conditions as a young Nawab and his better half Rajmata Begum Farhat Saheba rebuilt a contemporary Balasinor, opening the doors of their Palace as a Boutique Homestay. Since then Balasinor has emerged as a culinary and cultural cult amongst the tribe of boutique travelers. It is a dedicated destination on the coveted ‘Maharaja’s Express’ train itinerary. Rajmata Sa, who is a celebrity chef, regularly features in the multiple international culinary shows. She has to her credit a 15-episode Doordarshan TV show dedicated to her culinary craft. The Begum’s of the palace handpicks young candidates and mentors them over the years to be the chefs of the Balasinor cuisine. A chef trained for a commercial restaurant who often uses cashew-based curries are not permitted to operate here.

Begum Zeba has interesting anecdotes to share about cooking Balasinor food in the kitchens of Marriott for food festivals, where the head chefs have to unlearn a lot, in order to learn the royal recipes. The cuisine is a blend of frontier, colonial, Gujarati and Mughlai which has delicacies that involve a layered approach of cooking and blend of spices that are inherited family secrets. For instance, the Murgh-e-Khusro is a preparation that takes over 36 hours for a chicken breast that is marinated with cottage cheese, nuts and cooked with an Indian white sauce that is based on green garlic and fennel seeds.

Our stay: Our stay here was accompanied by the renowned German photographer Robert Huber aka ‘Safed Hathi’, who asserts that he has not eaten a Keema Samosa like the one served here; while he chows down a fifth serving of the kebabs! Now, this is high praise, given that Robert has been a travelling gypsy in the Indian Royalty circuit for over four decades and has been privy to umpteen royal wedding feasts and bonfire cookouts. Robert has made it a point to visit here regularly since the 1990s. He thinks Balasinor has the unparalled curation of affection and fine food. The palace staff tells me that he only leaves when he finds it hard to fit in his pants or needs to punch a new hole in his waist belt. The palace has an eclectic collection of princely portraits and collectibles. The ‘Baal Mubarek’ – a hair claimed to be of Prophet Mohammad’s moustache is revered as a shrine here and is displayed during the public prayers of Eid- e- Milad. In addition to the largess of the hospitality and cuisine, this region provides for numerous non-crowded day trip options to explore the monuments, tribal arts and neighboring palaces.

Day Trip to Champaner & Jambughoda: While we were indulging in a live BBQ station by Chef ‘Badshah’, Nawab Salad proposed we take a day trip to see Gujarat’s 1st World UNESCO Heritage Site of Champaner, which is about 75 kms from Balasinor. He also called up Thakur Sahab of Jambughoda (another former Princely state) to let us visit his 100-acre large nature lovers’ Palace and share lunch with them. With a packed itinerary for the day, we set out to Champaner first which is a walled city that dates back to 746 AD and was Gujarat’s first capital in the 16th century. Today, there are about 31 protected monuments with excavation activity as recent as 2015. The walled city is an exemplary manifestation of Jain, Hindu and Mughal architecture and has 5 mosques amongst which consists of the Jami Masjid, which comprises a women’s chamber, a rare feature amongst mosques. The monuments narrate the tale of transition from Hindu to Muslim rulers and is surrounded by Pavagarh Hills and a large lake that add to the mystic charm of the landscape.

From Chamapner we drove to Jambughoda which has a 130 square KM wildlife sanctuary with a variety of flora and Fauna. Locals report the presence of Leopards and Indian sloth bears in addition to the abundant hyena’s and wolf’s. The waterbodies in the sanctuary make for great trail and sunset destinations. Tribal hamlets continue to carry the beacon of ethnicity in this area. Thakur Sahab Rana Vikram SinghJi has converted his palace into a Nature Lover’s Homestay which is a top-class nature resort with sun rooms, pools, colonial era rooms, art and history. He was a classmates of the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Doon School, and is credited for his efforts to secure a protected sanctuary status for Jambughoda in 1990. After a sumptuous lunch in the Al-fresco gardens, Thakur Sahab arranged for us to visit the tribal ‘Pithora Paintings’. We were told that only five of these paintings have survived and each costs about INR 5 lakhs ($7200) for the family that had commissioned it. While the art itself is humble, lively and focuses on depicting nature with local deities, the painting is commissioned as an offering to the tribal God on accomplishment of a vow. The painting process is about 60 days long and the host family invites the entire village to dine together during the two months period. On our drive back, we passed through the city of Godhra, infamous for the 2022 communal riots. Balasinor was ready to host us with another spread of its Shahi Dastarkhwan (Royal Buffet), but we spent the evening over a bonfire conversation where we learnt about the hardships Balasinor faced during the riots. Balasinor has about 45% Muslim population and finds itself consistently under the radar on state’s scrutiny. Nawab Salad narrated a life risking personal experience which involved a multi-day undercover mission in which he was driven home from Ahmedabad. He told us how the Late Nawab Salabat Khan led the patrolling shifts around the clock to safeguard the people and property in Balasinor. However, there seemed no glaring trace of angst or bitterness in the community here about the bad days. Nawab Salad often dresses like a Hindu Rajput Royalty, recites verses in Sanskrit as well as Urdu with equal joy and soul. He hopes for the brighter times for his city.

Day Trip to Lunawada: Lunawada town, a 45 mins drive from Balasinor is home to RajMahal of erstwhile Lunawada State. Maharana Siddharaj Solanki, the current titular head of the Solanki Clan graciously allowed us a privilege to see the medieval limestone palace complex and also took time to cook a delectable lunch for us. Maharana Sa is an ardent wildlife photographer, agriculturalist, and possesses a rare trait amidst the Indian Royalty, of being a fitness freak. Over a meal of corn parathas and an array of family secret recipes, he proudly shares his farming accomplishments of being able to breed Yorkshire of English grade and Dairy of A2 class via organic processes. While the palace possesses a grand two-level Durbar Hall which has been recently restored to its glory, the showstopper is the bird mahal. It is certainly one of its kind and propelled Robert to work on his tripod setup for a ‘Safed Hathi’ photography session, denying all inklings of an afternoon siesta. The Bird Mahal is a mini ball-room with 1200+ individual clear glass window panes and a handcrafted native Indian bird painted on each one of them. The ceiling is like a Kayak’s parabola in curved wood and the floor is made up of 5-inch-thick frosted glass tiles. Princess Mrinalini Kumari, who has recently returned after her graduation in design from Florence, is empowering the restoration and reflects commendable patience for a multi-year project to restore Lunawada Palace to its grandeur. Maharana Sa recounts his concerns, since unlike Rajasthan, a remote palace in Gujarat might not be able to make ends meet via tourism and wedding revenues. He reaffirms his commitment to invest in an end to end restoration plan that includes a museum that depicts Lunawada’s contribution to Sardar Patel’s quest with Junagarh state’s accession to the independent India in 1947.

For yet another day trip, Nawab Salad offered to accompany us for a visit and lunch at the nearby & scenic lake facing Joaraver Vilas Palace at Santrampur. Unfortunately, we had to opt out due to COVID circumstances. We also couldn’t find time to visit the world acclaimed Dinosaur Fossils sites with Princess Aliya who has collaborated with the government of Gujarat to build a state-of-the-art dinosaur lifecycle museum and is known for her authority on the subject. We’ll definitely come back to visit this site!

As it was time to depart; Rajmata Saheb graciously signed a pouch made of Nawab’s wedding sherwani for me and Begum Zeba rendered a rare Balasinor Coin to my wife. Nawab Salad ensured to check upon our safety and schedule through every step of our 30-hour return journey to Seattle. We realized that it was not just that we were able to live through a glorious week of indulging in architecture, history and royal cuisine, but we were also filled with a sustained Zen-like satisfaction and affection from this experience. No incessant traffic honks, rash overtakes, queues at the airport seemed to perturb our peace. Life felt like a happy breeze. It is more so fascinating that while the world seeks ‘revenge tourism’ after two straight years of COVID-19 pandemic, Balasinor offers you peace with its open spaces, vaccinated and frequently tested staff members. We were able to luxuriate with quite a filled itinerary, safely with no one contracting the virus. I wish I could articulate the experience even finer. I wish I could translate the experience better. But all I can say is that please go to Balasinor before it’s too late to have an unadulterated first-hand experience of discovering a lost gem.

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Hi, I’m Pratik Sharma…