Our plans to visit Jawai changed a couple of times, or rather the place at which we’d be staying changed. Originally, Lajpal had arranged for us to stay at a new guesthouse owned by a friend of a friend, but it turned out that it wouldn’t be finished in time. Then we were going to stay at an inexpensive hotel that Lajpal had been told about. Then, we had that party with Khuman at Mount Abu – and everything changed. Khuman, it transpired, had been to school with someone who now owned part of Castle Bera, a heritage pile in the heart of Jawai’s leopard country, in which he’d established a guesthouse. So, a short phone call to that old school chum, Winku – and Castle Bera (with the compliments of its proprietor) it would be.
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