Rajwada in Indore means many things to many people. For some it is the de-facto symbol of the city. It is to Indore what the India Gate is to New Delhi. For some, it is just a nuisance. A worn down building in a noisy square with traffic issues. And for some, especially youngsters and outsiders, it is really nothing at all.
For US immigrants going back to Indore, it has some appeal I guess and not only because it is close to Sarafa where all the crazily enticing delicacies are consumed in copious quantities.
What is it to me? Well, I never really thought about it. When I used to live in Indore it was a rotting old building that no one paid attention to. It was very crowded and the traffic around it was a nightmare. It was 'pull par' [across/West of the Shastri bridge] or it existed, for all practical purposes, at the part of the town that I had nothing to do with. All that changed when I started seeing Puja who lived near Rajwada :-)
This year was probably the first time that I actually gave it a second look. I guess being older and being an expat makes you that way. I had Sriram by my side this time, an unusual companion for this adventure I must confess, as he probably saw everything in me, from taking lots of pictures with a relatively serious camera to obsessing over getting the right angle and generally being in awe of the building, as simply misguided nostalgia.
We spent a lot of time outside the building and then an almost equal amount of time inside. While I was taking pictures, a guy came and demanded I give him Rs. 10 as a 'fee' for taking pictures. He tried to sound official and even gave me a receipt but I wasn't sure he wasn't just some random guy with a bright business idea. If that was indeed the case then he certainly deserved the Rs. 10 that I gave him.
As I looked at the building I realized that it is actually quite pretty. It is a 7-story building constructed during the Holkar era (late 1890s.) It reminded me of some of the palazzos we saw in Venice.
(more photos from my Rajwada trip)