The railways, like electricity, were one of the inventions the British used in India. While its early arrival and promote use may have been governed by the Raj's need to ferry troops rapidly through the length an breadth of the country, it was also clearly marketed as an innovation. The princes, therefore, were quick to seize the idea, and various states were able to establish their own networks for the movement of people within their state, and with linked towns around.
Particularly those in Rajasthan where travel through the burning sands could hardly have been a convenience. Soon after independence, they were merged into the state-run railway. But fifty years back, the railways were the property of princely states and even now the facilities at some of the main stations in Rajasthan, and their maintenance is among the best in the country.
While the princely railways evoke a nostalgic era of wooden carriages and spacious compartments, it was the private carriage of the princes that represented the best each state had to offer. Here, coaches were embellished with the state's coat of arms, and the suites on wheels became, literally, miniaturized palaces on wheels. Each princely coach or set of coaches, had formal living rooms and dining rooms, meeting rooms and studies, and of course bedrooms, and zenana wings for the royal women. And they were lavished with every comfort-heavy furniture that was usually are-deco in the style of the turn of the century fad that was sweeping across Europe and into Indian princely residences. Brocaded canopies on beds, and matched linen, along with drapes, priceless carpets on the rolling floors, expensive bric-a-brac, the saloons had them all.
Till the eighties, that is, when the Indian Railways and Rajasthan Tourism got together to resurrect some of these forgotten symbols of its historic heritage. Thirteen carriages from different princely states were brought together and refurbished, and the Palace on Wheels was launched. A superb train that evoked the past with modern facilities and created a journey that was on offer to people around the world. Wannabe princes who could be royals for their week of the journey.
|
