Originally reported and written in September 2023, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

Considered among the oldest fold mountain ranges in India — and possibly the Earth — the Aravallis form the backdrop against which the glorious city of Udaipur stands. On any given day, a drive from Delhi to Udaipur treats the traveller to a spectacular view of the mountains, the interspersed valleys and the honey-coloured villages amidst the desert sands. 

It would be a shame not to fall in love with this scene.  

And on one such road trip in 1994, Major Durga Das and his wife Jyoti Jasol, succumbed to the same fate. Fondly called ‘Major’, he once served in the Indian Army. 

“We had always wanted to buy a home in Udaipur,” shares Jyoti (57), who belongs to the royal ancestral line of the Rathores of Marwar-Jodhpur. Major (66), meanwhile, is a descendant of the royal ancestral lines of The House of Bassi-Udaipur. 

One look at the scenery, the couple recalls, was all it took to convince them to buy this 2.5 acre land. Jyoti says, “My husband was still in the Army, and I was the manager of the Textile Gallery at the City Palace. But we both had a nagging thought that our lives were not being used creatively.” 

“So after 13 years in the Army, my husband left the service and we decided to start developing this land we had bought,” she adds. 

She adds that the name ‘Devra’, by which they christened this plot, is an ode to the local name given to tribal temples. 

Speaking about his decision to quit the Army, Major says his guiding belief has always centred around serving both the nation and the environment. “I saw this (Devra) as an opportunity to cultivate a generation that is acutely aware of their surroundings.” 

‘What is stopping you from making the dream come true?’

When they first began working out of this land, they started floriculture with the idea of supplying flowers to the Taj Palace, Udaipur. However, what they estimated to be a booming business did not work out. They had hit a dead end. 

So the couple moved to Delhi in 1997, where their baby girl was born, and Jyoti spent the next two years being a doting mother. But the dream she harboured of........

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