Cathy Hopkins - Blast from the Past

Four days ago, we’d arrived through the three-arched gate into Udaipur in Rajasthan, the last leg of the journey. We’d been on a budget for most of the trip, but had agreed to splash out for our last few days and stay in the Shiv Niwas Palace, a heritage hotel on the shore of the lake. Our time there was made even more special when, on hearing that we’d all just turned fifty, the hotel manager, Rakesh, an elderly man with an impressive white moustache and big smile, had insisted on upgrading us to the royal suites. ‘My biggest pleasure,’ he’d said when he showed us the rooms that were out-of-this-world fabulous. ‘Hotel used to be royal guesthouse, long time ago. Suites empty today, now full with you my new friends. Everyone happy. Good to be happy on big birthdays.’

We couldn’t believe our luck. The rooms were vast with high ceilings, and decorated in the glorious colours that India does so well. Mine was sugar pink and apple green, Pete and Marcia’s pale grey with royal blue stained-glass windows and, hanging from the ceiling, an enormous chandelier in the same vivid shade. Both suites had arched doorways leading to balconies where we could sit and marvel at the magnificent City Palace to our right, the lake in front of us, and the purple and ochre mountains in the distance.

Pete indicated the envelopes again. ‘Go on then, open them,’ he said. Marcia and I did as we were told and found vouchers inside for Ayurvedic massages.

‘Just what I wanted,’ said Marcia.

‘Perfect,’ I agreed. ‘Some pampering to end the trip. Thank you.’ I pulled out two parcels that I had hidden under the table earlier. ‘And these are from me.’ I’d thought long and hard about what to get for Marcia and Pete. We were all at an age where we had most things we wanted, and at first I had been at a loss as to what I could possibly add to their lives. In Jaipur, I’d had an idea. I’d been out one afternoon buying merchandise for my shop and had passed a stall bursting with fabrics of every colour. I’d bought metres of gunmetal silk for Pete and scarlet for Marcia, then found a tailor in Udaipur with a sign outside his shop advertising that he could make anything in twenty-four hours. I’d asked him to make the material into long kimono-style dressing gowns and he’d been true to his claim: the gowns had been delivered to my suite yesterday evening and the stitching was immaculate.

Marcia and Pete ripped the wrapping paper to reveal the robes. Both immediately put them on. ‘Wow,’ said Pete, as he gave us a twirl, then looked at Marcia. ‘You look amazing. Bea, these are fabulous. What a great idea.’

‘Yes, thank you. I love it,’ said Marcia as she stroked the soft fabric. ‘I hope you’re having one made for yourself too. In fact, you ought to think about manufacturing these and selling them.’

‘My thoughts exactly,’ I said. ‘But Stuart gave me a stern talking-to before we left about not spending until business has picked up back home.’ Stuart was my accountant and a good friend and I knew he was concerned about the drop in profits in the last year.

‘The killjoy,’ said Marcia.

‘Looking out for me as always,’ I replied. ‘And he’s probably right. I need to get things back on an even keel before I think about expanding into importing silk dressing gowns.’

Marcia sat down. ‘OK. My turn.’ Like Pete had done a few minutes earlier, she produced three envelopes, handing one to Pete and one to me and keeping the last for herself.

‘Oo, what’s this?’ I said as I ripped mine open. Inside, there was a voucher not unlike the one for Ayurvedic massage, but this said, ‘An hour with Saranya Ji.’ I looked to Marcia for explanation.

Her face was glowing with excitement. ‘She’s one of the top psychics in India.’

Oh no , was my immediate reaction. I don’t do clairvoyants, astrologers or palm readers: they’re not my thing at all. I think fortune-tellers prey on the vulnerable and tell people what they want to hear, but this was a present from Marcia and the last thing I wanted to do was to hurt her feelings. ‘Fabulous,’ I lied.

Marcia laughed. ‘You hate it. I know this isn’t your bag usually but she has a fantastic reputation; all the reviews say that she is amazing in what she reveals.’

‘No, no, I don’t hate it at all. It will be fun,’ I said. It was typical of Marcia to have done something like this. She had stacks of books on spirit guides and the meaning of dreams at home, was always a sucker for a card or palm reading, looking for someone who could draw back the veil to the unknown. Not me, and she knew that. I was the more rational of the two of us, my feet firmly planted on the ground, whereas Marcia had her head in the stars. Pete went along with her interests if only to keep the peace but, privately, the only spirits he was into were those of the alcoholic variety.

Marcia laughed again. ‘You don’t have to put on an act for me, Bea. But come on, keep an open mind. If nothing else, it will be a chance to get a look inside the Taj Lake Palace Hotel, because that’s where she’s staying and doing the sessions. She’s on a tour and I was lucky to get us all in.’ She pointed out over the water to the middle of the lake where there was a two-tiered white marble hotel with pillars and arches around the sides. It looked like an enormous wedding cake. ‘It was originally built around 1743 as the royal summer palace, and it covers the whole island, which is why it appears to be floating. It looks straight out of Disney, doesn’t it?’

‘It does,’ I agreed. ‘And it will be great to take a look inside.’

Pete kissed his wife’s cheek. ‘Well I love it. What an original gift. Let’s find out what our futures hold.’

‘Can’t wait,’ I lied again. Probably some charlatan who will tell me I am about to meet a tall, dark, handsome stranger , I thought. As if that’s ever going to happen. I’d given up on men many moons ago, but I’d go along with it for Marcia’s sake. As she’d said, it was also a chance to look inside the world-famous hotel. ‘I’ve read that it was used as a location in the TV series, The Jewel and The Crown – and in the Bond film, Octopussy . I reckon martinis will be in order when we get there.’

‘Excellent idea,’ said Pete. ‘Make mine shaken, not stirred.’

The Ayurvedic treatments were to be at a health centre just outside the Udaipur City Palace, so we decided to make the most of our last day and explore the glorious-looking building on our way there.

‘There’s not a square inch that hasn’t been painted or covered in mosaic,’ said Marcia as we wandered through a maze of corridors and into vast, tall rooms interlinked with scalloped arches and carved pillars. We marvelled at the depictions of life-size elephants on one wall, a camel on another, Lord Krishna in shades of yellow glass, gods and goddesses in reds and blues. We passed through a gold door surrounded with a series of deep green arches that seemed to ripple out towards us, then we moved into and through a room covered in lines of silver, and scarlet tiles that had been set in dramatic zigzags across the walls.

‘Wow, opulent,’ I said as I looked at the lightning bolts of colour. Everywhere was a feast for the eyes: a gold and orange room; another that was pale turquoise with rust-coloured shutters; a ceiling covered with scarlet flowers on an emerald green background; a golden elephant against a royal blue wall; stained-glass windows with panes that shone like jewels with the light behind.

There were tourists in every room, all with their iPhones out. I was tempted to join them then decided not to. ‘I’ll take snapshots with my mind instead,’ I said as I put my mobile away. ‘And I can always revisit it on the Internet.’