When you are travelling with dogs, you have to get your planning done right. This is particularly so when it's not one, or even two dogs, but – as in our case – four of them. You cannot just land up at a destination in the evening and wander about hoping to find lodgings. Most innkeepers would raise their eyebrows at finding such a muttly crew on their doorsteps.
Many years of dealing with this scenario has taught my wife Anjali and me a strategic process. After we have worked out an itinerary, I research accommodation options on the Internet, and give Anjali a list of hostelries to follow up with. She then coaxes, cajoles and charms the places into agreeing to let us and our furry brood spend the night. Some places are easier to convince than others. As a state, Gujarat has always been a stumbling block – we have never managed to find accommodation there that is, well, accommodating.
So the Sarita Mandvi Mahal seemed like a wonderful find. I had dredged up the place on one of those websites where travellers share experiences. Located at a place called Chandod, some 50-odd km from Vadodara, the Mahal, I had learnt, was the seat of the Mahidas, once rulers of the area. As with many such once-royal households, this one too now earned its keep as a heritage hotel. However, it seemed too remote and unsung to be a significant draw, and I felt there was an opportunity in that for us.
Armed with this information, Anjali made the call. The person who responded introduced himself as Narendra Singh Mahida, and went on to divulge that he was a 95-year-old ex-parliamentarian and practising Gandhian. The conversation continued for a long while. Anjali kept trying to hang up, only to become entangled in another skein of words laid by the genial old man at the other end. By the time she finally terminated the call, he had told us much of the history of his various pets. And he had welcomed the idea of our coming to stay at his place with our dogs.