Imperial Blue

Fifty-five years after Independence, 31 years after the abolition of the privy purses, princely India — the 21-gun-salute states as well as the minor thikranas and taluks on either ends of the social scale — is reinventing itself in an entrepreneurial mode, but with the royal insignia stamped firmly in like a designer label. The younger generation of India’s former royals may have tripped into uncharted territory but they refuse to shake off their royal past. Instead, they use their status to its fullest potential.

So, Satyajit Khakhar of Jasdan, Gujarat, is fast emerging as one of the most sought-after cattle-breeders in Brazil, while Kapurthala’s Tikka Shatrujit Singh has turned his family’s passion for the Louis Vuitton label — they are apparently one of the biggest patrons of the luxury label among the princely families — on its head as its brand ambassador among the country’s new elite. (Singh plans an exhibition of old Louis Vuitton trunks that used to be made for the Maharajas in December-January). As Samarjitsinh Gaekwad of Baroda likes to say, ‘‘One must stop seeing what we have as a white elephant and see it as a race horse, instead!’’

The younger Gaekwad apparently is a man who likes to follow his own advice. That the Barodas have a priceless inheritance with the largest privately owned collection of Ravi Varma paintings (all of 38) at their Maharaja Fatehsinh Museum is well known. But the younger generation has great plans to carry it forward. Next February, not only are the paintings travelling to Mumbai to the National Gallery of Modern Art but will be accompanied by a fashion show exhibiting traditional Maharashtrian sarees, borrowing the theme from the Ravi Varmas. The Gaekwads have other plans too — a golf course, with the Baroda Palace as the centrepiece, thus offering golf tourists some age-old charm. Plus a restaurant serving traditional royal cuisine at the club house.

If you would like to sample royalty, it is a good time to be around. Food — as opposed to hoteliering that the earlier generation had taken to with such gusto— is one of the major areas which the younger royals are increasingly turning to. Jodhpur’s Shivraj Singh, for instance, took a break from his favourite pastime, polo, to host a food festival at an upmarket Delhi restaurant. As opposed to dad Bapji’s Marut Hotels, the festival was Singh’s own ‘baby,’ as he would like to say. Like the Sodawas’ or even the $ 175 dinners that the Jaipurs host, it could be seen as an extension in the hoteliering business. A point that the erstwhile ruler of Kishengarh Brij Singh — who is also planning a food festival in Delhi in November alongside a promotion of Kishengarh art at the Crafts Museum in the Capital — likes to make: ‘‘Food is a part of our tradition and culture… but after September 11, with most heritage hotels hit, it offers another option to carry the business forward.’’

Even those royals not in the hospitality business are now tying up with various hotel chains and organising regional cuisine promotions. So, while Siddhi Kumari acknowledged she was not a ‘foodie,’ she nevertheless went ahead and held a Bikaneri food promotion at a five-star hotel in Delhi last year. Of course, you had to ‘‘ask the chef’’ instead of the ‘princess’ as to what defines Bikaneri cuisine but the lady is undaunted, and she is now taking the ‘royal food show’ to Mumbai, this winter.

In Dungarpur, Yuvraj Harshvardhan Singh and Yuvrani Priyadarshini Singh (who hosted several Rajasthani food festivals in Switzerland before she got married) are now planning to take their cuisine all over India. So too, the 20-something Aliya Balasenor, of the one-time small principality in Gujarat, who is planning food festivals. Those who are not into food but still want to do something, will at the very least, make an appearance at a particular cuisine promo to ‘‘authenticate’’ it.

It is obvious the sudden burst in royal culinary activity is the easiest way for the younger royals to preserve their heritage and indeed keep the ‘royal’ tag alive. According to royal-watcher Umang Hutteesingh, such food promos contribute to awareness building of the ‘royal’ brand. ‘‘Till 15 years ago, fashion and food didn’t exist as art forms or revenue earners,’’ he says. ‘‘However, they are important aspects of living today and they are simply cashing in.’’

There are those erstwhile royals who have gone full-time into finding a mass base for their cuisine, that they are now employed as professional chefs. Kulsum Begum, a niece of Salar Jung, the Nizam of Hyderabad, and married into the Mehmoodabad family of Lucknow, has now been working full-time with the Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi, for the last one-and-half years.

Another royal-watcher Malvika Singh of Seminar magazine, offers a solution. ‘‘People like Gaj Singh of Jodhpur showed how to reinvent themselves as successful entrepreneurs. It was only natural for the next generation to value add to existing assets.” According to Singh, what the younger royals need to do is find new joint venture partners and look out for growth in infrastructure to support their tourism-related enterprise.

The former younger royals know that in this brand-obsessed world, they have a great label to offer.