Our Story Of Rana Mahal

Since a couple of years, we’re lucky to be able to travel to India often, exploring new places, and starting new adventures. One day Bala suggested to go to Varanasi, also called as Banaras and Kashi. His mother always wanted him to go to this important place for Hindu’s, but for one reason or another he never reached Varanasi. There always was a reason to hold him. Gervaise knew the place only from paintings and etchings in the house of her parents. Her father being an art collector in her youth she was surrounded by art, some of the works depicting 19th century Banaras. As a kid she saw those pictures daily but didn’t pay much attention to it.

When we visited Varanasi for the first time, in February 2023, we immediately fell in love with the place. We stayed in a hotel facing the Ganges and were captivated by the beautiful view. We woke up the next day, early in the morning, to experience the sunrise and afterwards made a long walk along the banks of the holy Ganges. And somewhere we decided to take a break and have a cup of chai and lemon tea.

While sitting in silence, enjoying the scenery, we got a call from the Netherlands. The father of Gervaise, who normally only calls when it’s her birthday, was reaching out to her by phone. While describing where she was – relieved that nothing worse had happened back in The Netherlands – her father replied that he exactly knew that particular place from an etching by Marius Bauer, a Dutch artist that had visited Kashi in the 19th century. Her father, knowing the oeuvre of that painter very well, also had been to Varanasi himself long time ago, inspired by the etchings and paintings of this artist. To show he really knew where we were sitting, he immediately send a picture of the specific etching via whatsapp. And yes, that was indeed exactly the place where we were, next to the famous Brij Rama. Then Bala went to the chai seller upstairs for another cup of happiness and learned that the building behind us – exactly the same venue that was on the etching send to us from The Netherlands less than a minute ago – was for sale. How big are the odds! After this we deeply felt and realized that a new era had started for us. Driven by forces beyond logic. And we surrendered to it – and still do.

We see this project as part of a greater plan. Having a track record as entrepreneurs in leisure, marketing, IT and HRM in Europe, we want to contribute to a better world by preserving some precious nature and heritage sites in India on a purpose with profit base. In this way we want to secure their future in a sustainable way, for the next generations to come.

Namasté
Bala & Gervaise