JYOTI BASOTIA AND her husband Vishnu are investing what is to them a small fortune - US$36,000 - to keep history alive. That's how much it's costing the couple to restore their haveli - a traditional north Indian courtyard home - and convert it into a guest house. They hope the hotel project will save their home in Nawalgarh, a town in the Shekhawati region, in northeast Rajasthan, famous for its ornate heritage homes.
'These buildings are beautiful and a very important part of this region's history, but they're very expensive to maintain and difficult to renovate,' Jyoti Basotia says. Owners often can't afford the upkeep and many havelis in her neighbourhood are being destroyed as a result. 'It's a great pity,' she says.
Besides repairing the structure, another snag in the renovation work is the dearth of skilled artisans who can touch up the frescos that decorate the walls.
'The artists that can paint these frescos just aren't around any more,' says Basotia. To cut costs, she tells the workmen to paint over the intricate fresco of Hindu deities in her dining hall, keeping patches of wall blank until they can be decorated in the traditional style. 'When these skills are available again, we will make use of them,' she says.
The three-year transformation of Basotia's family mansion into the Thikana Hotel is expected to be completed next month, but she's uncertain whether she'll recoup her investment. 'We haven't had many tourists yet,' she says. 'One of our problems is that we're not in any guide book.'
Most of the havelis in Shekhawati were built during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the semi-arid region profited from being on a strategic trade route between the fertile Ganges Valley and the ports of the Arabian Sea. Seen as status symbols by wealthy banking and merchant families, the mansions were built on a grand scale, with separate courtyards for men and women, ornately carved window frames and elaborate gateways. Teams of artists decorated walls and ceilings with frescos of Indian deities, local celebrities and the world's latest inventions, using techniques that had been imported from Italy under Mughal rule.