Jamindar's Palace

Our place is on Chakratirtha Road, not far from the sea in Puri. It’s an old building that used to be quite grand, though now it takes a lot of work to keep the salt air from eating the paint. We spend our mornings checking the courtyard and making sure the rooms are aired out. Puri is a humid place, so things can get musty if you aren't careful. We have some high ceilings and old fans that hum all night. Most of our guests are here for the temple or the beach, so they come and go at all hours. We don't have a big fancy restaurant, just a kitchen where we prepare simple stuff if someone is hungry. The street outside is often crowded with rickshaws and people walking to the water. We try to keep the garden green, but the soil is very sandy. My uncle used to run this place, and now it’s just us keeping it going. We fix things as they break, which is pretty often with an old house like this. The stairs are a bit steep and the floors are stone. It feels like a real home though, not like one of those new hotels that all look the same. We spend a lot of time just sitting on the balcony watching the people go by on their way to the beach. It’s a busy road but we like being in the middle of it.