Old Gold In The Land Of Brass

Sahaspur Bilari House has to be Moradabads nicest B&B.

- Aman Nath

This tale is of an Indian time warp. Once, when the British ruled India but were also considered outcasts, the homes of a certain social status would not admit them in to sully their purity. And yet, to have a visit from a white sahib was considered an honour. They were the scheduled castes of yesterday with their own ‘reserved’ status.

Into this predicament of double standards, layered over with nuances of rules and exceptions made over time, the Rajah of Sahaspur Bilari in the United Provinces, found a perfect solution. His guest house for the untouchable goras was built at a distance, within the security of the Civil Lines of Moradabad. The British too preferred it that way, as the ‘Mutiny’ of 1857 though behind them, had not yet erased its blood streams from their memory. Between 1909 and 1913, during which time the glamorous Delhi Durbar was also enacted, this structure arose in Moradabad to host Lord Meston and his elegant wife Lady Meston and thus it got christened ‘Meston Niwas’ but the World War saw it requisitioned for senior Italian POWs kept under house arrest.