Heritage Hotel Megh Niwas

Our place, Heritage Hotel Megh Niwas, is sitting at 357, Jaswant Nagar in the Khatipura area of Jaipur. People call it heritage, but to us, it’s just an old building with thick walls that stay cool even when it’s forty degrees outside. We spend a lot of our time fighting the dust that blows in from the street. It’s a constant battle. The garden out front needs a lot of water, and someone is usually out there with a hose early in the morning. Inside, the furniture is heavy and dark, and the floors are made of stone that’s been walked on for years. We don't have those shiny elevators or automatic doors you see in the new parts of town. You have to use a heavy key to open the doors here. Khatipura is a bit quieter than the center of Jaipur, which is nice if you don't like the sound of constant horns. We have a few cats that hang around the backyard, and the neighbors are mostly families who have been here as long as we have. We keep the ledger on the front desk and write things down by hand mostly. It’s just the way we do things. The kitchen is usually busy around breakfast time, smelling like parathas and tea. We just keep the place running day by day and hope the roof doesn't leak when the monsoon finally hits.