ALILA FORT BISHANGARH- A HIDDEN GEM

I haven't kept count of the number of trips I have done between Delhi and Jaipur on National Highway 48, but if someone said 100, it would be grossly short. After settling down in Delhi in 1990 post-retirement and with one leg in Jaipur, 3-4 trips per year have been the norm. For 35 years, you do the math.

Once one enters Rajasthan at Shahjahanpur, one sees a number of forts atop hills. The first one is Neemrana, a pathbreaker of sorts since it set the pace for converting forts into heritage hotels. Then there is one at Shahpura followed by Achrol which featured in the popular 1984 TV miniseries "The Far Pavilions". Driving on, when you see the majestic well-known Amer fort, you know you have reached Jaipur. The same hill range has the Jaigarh fort famous for its cannon named "Jaivana" which was manufactured in 1720 in the foundry within the fort, and was then the largest cannon on wheels in the world. Finally, we see the Nahargarh fort which keeps a watchful eye on the whole of Jaipur. Don't go there at night; it is believed to be haunted!

Sometime back, searching for heritage hotels around Jaipur, I came across one named Alila Fort located near Manoharpur which is on NH 48 next to Shahpura and just 50 kms. from Jaipur. I wondered why we had never seen it from the highway and then forgot about it....

Till last month when we got an invitation from Akhila's cousin, Anup, to the wedding of his daughter, Anusha, with a boy also named Anup! This was followed by a number of calls from Anup and his wife, Sarita, and the venue for the wedding was Alila fort.

We decided we must go for the wedding and hit the road a day before the date. In three and a half hours, we had crossed Shahpura and turned off the highway to the right for the fort. After about 5 kms. we sighted the fort for the first time, a quaint structure on a small granite hill. When thinking of forts, one generally pictures a fortification spread over a large area. This fort is different as it is only as wide as the small hill it is perched on but is nine stories high more like a modern multi-storey building. Appropriate, as the fort was originally built 240 years ago as a watchtower with a long-range panoramic view of the surroundings to provide early warning to Amer/Jaipur for any approaching aggressors.

Originally called Bishangarh fort after the village it is located in, it is now popular as Alila, a name given by Hyatt for a luxury class of hotels. ‘Alila’  means ‘surprise’ in Sanskrit which Hyatt hopes to achieve for their guests in these hotels by offering glimpses of local culture combined with ultra-modern facilities.

For many years, Bishangarh fort lay unoccupied, neglected and deserted. A "For Sale" sign was up on the highway when it caught the eye of one Rahul Kapur. He decided to have a look and after sighting it, roped in his architect brother and friends to buy and convert it into a heritage hotel. His account of their travails to do that makes interesting reading. There was no road and to reach the fort, they had to clamber up on hands and knees. They had to be careful not to annoy hordes of monkeys for whom the fort was a safe haven from leopards. The fort was in a state of decay and covered with vegetation consisting of thorns and brambles. And when they attempted to enter the fort, "zillions of bats" flew out. 

With no road, when the renovation work started, Rahul Kapur became the proud owner of 22 donkeys to cart the material to a height of 145 metres. Extreme caution was exercised not to cause any damage to the original structure the complex nature of which required three lifts to reach different levels much like changing trains at railway junctions! Finally, 15 years from its rediscovery and 9 years of renovation, Hyatt started running a 58 room hotel with two presidential suites in 2017. 

Its potential was then recognised as a venue for weddings. 60 more rooms were added at ground level along with lawns, gardens, halls and special sites for different Indian wedding ceremonies. To say that we were glad to attend a wedding at this spectacular fort would be an understatement.

The wedding evening started with the reception of the 'baraat' at the gate of the ramparts of the fort. That was followed by the 'Varmala'  ceremony with the bride walking slowly down the slope escorted by other young girls and the bridegroom receiving her at the bottom of the hill. They then moved to a gazebo by a small pool for the exchange of garlands. Finally the 'Pheraas' which were held down in a 'Baaori'.

Watching the ceremonies, I thought the scene was ideal for a romantic movie. Which story would be better: Romeo scaling the walls of the fort to abduct Juliet or Juliet running down the winding road in the dark to elope with Romeo?

Any royalties from the story would be mine!