Ancient town Ayodhya now means business, reveals its modern avatar

Houses, shops and eateries on both sides have been shorn of their façades, leaving gaping holes through which the world can get a view of the lives inside

Ram Path (pathh) is dug up. The 13-km stretch, the main arterial road of Ayodhya by which the promised temple is coming up at a frantic pace, is being widened, beautified and lined with footpaths. All that is falling in its way is being removed or pushed back. 

Houses, shops and eateries on both sides have been shorn of their facades, leaving gaping holes through which the world can get a view of the lives inside. Some of these old buildings have got a new, homogenised façade, a pale yellow exterior, which Satyendra Singh, secretary of Ayodhya Development Authority, says the government is paying for. Others will get it, too.

On this bustling road, where cars, bicycles, motorbikes, tempo-rickshaws and construction machines jostle for space, a posh new building suddenly appears. It is the Mall of Avadh, Ayodhya’s first such space. The hoardings on its walls announce the arrival of Pantaloons, Meena Bazaar, Pizza Hut, Titan and Avadh Classio, a two-storey, 26-room hotel with a food court. The cinema in the mall is currently showing two latest films, Animal and Sam Bahadur. The entertainment firm screening them is Dhishoom Cinemas, which is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. PVR INOX, the giant of the multiplex industry, hasn’t entered Ayodhya yet.

Mall of Avadh is one of many signs of a city that aspires to become a hub of religious tourism catering to all strata. The man behind the mall, Atul Kumar Singh, is a businessman from Ayodhya. “My father’s kiln is supplying bricks for the Ram temple,” says his daughter, Malavika Singh, a Paris-based banker who is visiting the family. With Christmas round the corner, an ornate tree is being put up in the mall’s foyer. “My father, brother and sister-in-law have lived outside Ayodhya for years,” Singh says. “The temple is bringing everyone back to their roots.”

Many of the new businesses, whether eateries or hotels, that have sprung up in the city have roots in the state, Uttar Pradesh. Among them is Curry Leaf, a chic restaurant that offers vegetarian-only north and south Indian cuisine. It is run by the Lucknow-based Aryan Group, whose other restaurants serve non-vegetarian fare as well, but outside of Ayodhya.

“The 5-km radius around the temple is a strictly vegetarian and alcohol-free zone,” says an employee of Ramila Kutir, a premium hotel that completed one year on November 20. Like other premium hotels that are up and running in Ayodhya, this is a lone property with no other branch. Most of these new hotels are locally owned. The managing director of The Ramayana, for instance, is Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mamta Pandey, who belongs to the region.

These first-movers in Ayodhya’s hospitality segment, which expects a boom with big names like the Taj group and Radisson entering the market, are reporting booked-out rooms. Well, almost. The staff at a hotel lets in that with VIPs pouring into Ayodhya, they keep two-odd rooms vacant at any given time. “They simply call and say they are arriving. If we don’t have a room to spare, we’d have to ask a guest to vacate,” says an employee.

Ayodhya railway station is being revamped. Photo: Veenu Sandhu

The needs of the guests coming to Ayodhya are special, and the hotel staff are being trained to meet them. Chefs have been hired to whip up a range of cuisines, from spaghetti napolitan to religious recipes. Some hotels even play Gayatri mantra in the mornings to gently wake the guests up in the mood of bhakti.

For those who would rather camp it, a Tent City has come up. For the temple’s inaugural month of January though, most of its luxury, air-conditioned tents, which offer breakfast, lunch, high tea and dinner as a package, are taken. “For the few left, the rate is Rs 20,000 (excluding GST) for one night,” says a staff in-charge of the reservation. For February, it is a little over Rs 10,000. “But that’s just for today. The rate might change tomorrow, depending on the tents left,” she adds.

Also coming up is a Ramayana themed park. “It will have an experience centre, wooden cottages, millet farming, Ramcharitmanas recitation, and a lot more,” says Ayodhya Development Authority’s Satyendra Singh.

All of this requires land. With the spate of businesses turning their attention to Ayodhya, land rates have shot up, in some pockets by as much as 10 times. Whether one walks into a hotel lobby or sits down for a meal, land deals are being discussed at every other table – one on one or among groups.

Ayodhya railway station is being revamped. Photo: Veenu Sandhu

Dikshu Kukreja, managing principal of CP Kukreja Architects, the New Delhi-based firm that was among those involved in drawing out a blueprint of the Ayodhya masterplan, says the city has to be envisioned as a blend of tradition and innovation. Given the flood of people who would descend on the city after the temple’s opening, the masterplan had envisioned not just the airport, which is expected to become operational by December-end or January, but also a better railway station and bus stand. Two IHCL properties, a 100-room Vivanta hotel and a 120-room Ginger hotel, will be located near the airport.

The old railway station is being revamped to have four platforms instead of two and to accommodate 1,000 people. “Earlier, it had just one generator, which they would turn on only when the train arrived,” says Dev Yadav, who has been ferrying passengers to and from the station on his tempo-rickshaw for over 14 years. The number of trains to Ayodhya will also be increased once all rail lines are functional. Outside the hustle and bustle of Ayodhya, a spanking new bus stand is ready.

The Sarayu river, on the banks of which Ayodhya is situated, has also got attention in parts. The riverfront is being developed as a tourist destination with cafés, eateries, watersports and light-and-sound shows.

In the years to come, Ayodhya’s transformation promises to be complete. For those who want to get away from the frenzied activity that has consumed the city, a new rooftop bar called Tipsy Town has opened outside of the 5-km, no-alcohol radius. It is an aside, though, to the Ayodhya story that is centred around the temple.