Udaipur is often described as the ‘Venice of the East’ with its beautiful lake palaces and structures dating back to 15th century. This is the only region in Rajasthan that remained unconquered by the Mughal empire. Today, the beautiful city is surrounded by the aravalli range and is a hotbed for tourists who seek history, silence and beauty.
In a recent trip to Udaipur, EE got an opportunity to be in a one-to-one conversation with the Maharaj Kumar, The Prince of Mewar – Lakshyaraj Singh about the city and its people.
EE: From events perspective, how does Udaipur cater to the youth of today and what other events does the city hosts apart from weddings?
LS: “Generally speaking, it is the youth in my age group who get married, so it automatically attracts youths who take their vows here. Apart from that, we do a lot of cultural and traditional ceremonies. When we talk about holi, for most people, it is just about throwing colours. This is where it starts and this is where it ends. For us, it starts almost a month before holi. We call it ‘Holika Dahan’ here. We also celebrate ‘Ashwan Poojan’, Ashwan being the horse played a key role in our survival since early days. Today, we have cars, rail services, flights and so on, but in those days, horse meant everything, from survival, travel, transportation of people, foods to even wars. All these festivals are open to public where they can come, join and celebrate with us.”
“Coming to music, we celebrate Kartik Poornima each year that lasts an entire month. On its final day, we hold musical shows, unlike Bollywood, these are connected to our roots, tradition and being played for centuries. Each year, we have a different theme from folk music to sufi. The music festivals we encourage have history, legacy, soul, depth – which have been part of our past. The people who take part in these festivals are of mixed demographics from youths to adults.”
“At the same time, we also have brass and Jazz bands, western and Indian orchestras, so our youth is exposed to everything. We are not into something that you find on Indian Idol, although that is important as well, but for us recognizing our roots is vital. Our foundation also holds award ceremonies to recognize heroic acts, journalism, literature, movies – all national, international and regional. For example, nobody knew Abdul Kalam before he became a president, even when his nuclear programme was successful, only a handful knew him. We recognize and acknowledge such people who have done great work and showcase them to the people of Udaipur and beyond.”
EE: What kinds of businesses bring revenue to the city?
LS: “Tourism is our main breadwinner and wedding is our core competency, which gives a fair share of the pie to every person in the city, so everybody gets benefited.”
EE: What is contributing to the tourism of Udaipur?
LS: “All of the above mentioned reasons are contributing to the tourism of Udaipur. In fact, Udaipur has been declared the No.1 city by a survey that has placed the city above other prominent places like Sydney, Paris etc. The factors like demographics, geographical location, people, weather, tourism, art and culture, monuments and construction, the time it was established – all contribute to this city’s prominence on a global stage.”
EE: Since, Udaipur relies heavily on tourism, Is there a backup plan in case of natural calamities etc.?
LS: “Natural calamity happens, there are many circumstances that are beyond your control, you can only prepare for them but you can’t stop them from happening. You can make certain plans and put best practices in place. For example, before monsoon, the local administration prepared a plan for evacuation and conducted a drill with the help of local administration as well as the Indian army. So, Udaipur has been conscious about such factors, however, everything is not within our control and when something happens, we can only stand up and deal with the situation in the best possible way we can.”
EE: How closely do you work with the state government?
LS: “We work very closely with them, we fairly share a good relationship with the state. We have pioneered a lot of projects working closely with them, it is nice to see the government come to us and share opinions on work that we execute together.”
EE: How do you balance preservation versus commercialization?
LS: “We earnestly preserve our rich culture and tradition, we don’t put fancy lights on our monuments and ruin it. We are living monuments, we don’t say this used to happen here or that was done here, we still live here, we still breathe the way it was done centuries ago. Our behaviours may have changed but our souls are still the same. For example, the purpose for which Jagmandir was built for, it is still being used for the same.”
EE: Are you consciously keeping Bollywood and Brands from entering Udaipur?
LS: “There are so many Bollywood events that takes place here but are not publicized as the people who come here are private and want to keep it that way. As for brands and commercialization, this is a city and place where you can actually hear silence, not many places can boast that. If you want all those fancy parties and discotheques, the world is your oyster. The oldest range of aravallis runs through this part of the world. When you talk about Sunburn, you immediately connect with Goa, if Bollywood then it is Mumbai, but you can’t relate anything with silence.”
“Everything is not money, you can’t buy silence with money. If you fiddle with your core competency, your DNA, you tend to lose the most important thing that separates you from the rest. There are millions of places where you can go and party but here, you can come with your family, your children, your girlfriend and you will not be bored. Why would you want to ever tamper with your USP. Destroying silence and soul of this place is like someone asking you to change your character and personality.”
