The moon is up, almost full. It's a chalky thumbprint in a copper-pink sky mottled with sunset and mirrored in the silken water. Our boat glides across Udaipur's Lake Pichola, washed in gold as the palatial buildings that line its banks cast their own shimmering reflections. We take in the scale of the City Palace, one of the largest in India, as it tumbles towards the water's edge. And we slip past the white marble edifice of Lake Palace, built in the heart of the lake in the mid-18th century for the pleasure of Maharana Jagat Singh II and now a destination hotel.
Our small group is so absorbed by this swirling mirror world of liquid light and colour that Sunny's insights into the fascinating history of Udaipur, the so-called City of Lakes in the north-west state of Rajasthan, are falling on distracted ears. And that's when, halfway through our Abercrombie & Kent journey, our resident tour director slips into the conversation the small fact that he is royalty. Now he has our undivided attention.
Ex-professional cricket player, PhD student and devout Hindu. Equally proud of India's forward trajectory as the fastest-growing major economy in the world and the huge potential of its youthful population as he is of the many facets of its ancient culture and heritage. In demand as a tour guide for his love and knowledge of India and the generosity with which he shares it with guests. Passionate about his role as storyteller to help visitors understand the country in all its richness and complexities. This much we'd gleaned already about Sunny, or Suryaveer Singh Shaktawat, whose name is derived from two Sanskrit words that translate to Brave Sun. But now we are in his hometown and, as we cross the lake from our hotel, The Oberoi Udaivilas, for an evening at his family home, he adds this thread to the tapestry.
