I was not so much fascinated in the Scindia history at Jai Vilas Palace as I was interested in the wing that is now the royal residence of Maharaja Jyotiraditya and Maharani Priyaraje when they are in Gwalior. It houses the modern kitchen that is run by the Palace�s Nepalese cook Vijay Chhatri. This is not to be confused with the old kitchen that is part of the Museum and which a 90-year-old cook from yesteryear, G. R. Chavan, still haunts like the Palace ghost. Reluctantly, he allows me a peep into this part of the Scindia�s culinary past. Creaking doors open and let sunlight into the dank and dark interiors of a kitchen that once buzzed with English chefs and bakers, Indian cooks made up of Bengalis, Christians, and Maharashtrians (�There were no Nepalese then,� said Chavan), Indian waiters, and whose equipment lies rusted and unattended now. Chavan rotated a giant grill on which entire carcasses of animals shot in the shikar were roasted. And he pointed out a cooking range as large and long as a railway engine, made by Ateliers Briffalut of Paris, on which entire banquets for hundreds were cooked at a time. The cupboards and sideboards still hold crockery and cutlery of a royal design. �This kitchen was last used in the mid-80s, I cannot remember when and why, probably for a marriage banquet,� said Chavan, shutting the doors on the past. Chhatri is of a younger and more recent vintage. He has spent 12 years in the Jai Vilas Palace only which is about as many years as the current royal couple are married. Chhatri, and another Nepalese cook by the name of Ravi Thapa, provide the Nepalese cuisine to the Palace. They also trained the Taj chefs in the adjoining Usha Kiran Palace Hotel how to cook Nepalese food. As a result of which, The Silver Spoon Restaurant there has an exclusive Nepalese menu now featuring cuisine like you will only get in the royal palace of Kathmandu. �The thing about Nepalese food is that it is always cooked fresh,� revealed Chhatri. �We Nepalese like the Sole fish, we use country chicken, and good quality mutton in our food. And we cook everything in mustard oil. The food tastes different and it is also good for health. The mustard oil must be fresh. Faida hota hai. We use it like ghee. Our main spices are jeera and cinnamon, they are good for taste and flavour, and also cure colds, aid in digestion and keep the throat clear.� I sampled the Nepalese menu, all of 11 dishes, suggested to the Usha Kiran Palace Hotel by Maharani Priyaraje Scindia�s mother and mother-in-law. There is a soup, Chara Ko Raas, which is a mutton broth that is hot and spicy and floating with mutton dices. It will make you sweat. And a Nepalese fried rice, Bhuteka Bhaat, that is the base of any meal, and which is flavoured with cinnamon, garlic and chilli. You may have the Bhuteko Masu, a spicy garlic-flavoured lamb, with the rice. But the piece de resistance of any Nepalese meal, I discovered, is the Kwanti Dal. �It is a royal dal,� said Chhatri, �made up of nine different lentils that are soaked overnight like a Dal Makhani but cooked in mustard oil and fried in pure ghee. It is very rich.� Another dish that is very typical of the cuisine is the Sekwa made of Sole. It is sourced from the Chambal River where dacoits like Phoolan Devi once roamed on horseback, looting and plundering. The fish is shallow fried in mustard oil and served like a starter, with curd, cinnamon powder, turmeric and chilli. This is the food that Priyaraje grew up eating. She does a lot of cooking herself, which is strange for a Maharani, but not so unusual for a wife and mother whose family love eating everything from sushi to pasta. �I can cook everything, my father taught me,� said Priyaraje whose own tatebuds are partial to Japanese food. Her late father-in-law Madhavrao Scindia, with whom Priyaraje had a specially close relationship, was fond of her cooking too. �I like things that are not spicy. I enjoy masala food, but it should not be spicy, I like what spices can do to food.� Her own culinary style is fusion. She doesn�t really cook Nepalese and Maratha food. �I go into the kitchen and do what I want. I am an experimental cook. My roast chicken, for example, comes out completely different each time. My kids, Aayraman who is 11 and Ananya who is four, complain all the time. They say, �Mom, this is not what you made last time!� I tell them, �If you like it, then just enjoy it. How food smells, what it tastes like, is only of the moment.�� Unfortunately, her husband�s political career keeps them at Safdarjung Road in New Delhi more than at the Jai Vilas Palace in Gwalior. So they have not had any great royal banquets here since they got married, only two very grand dinners. The menus for these dinners and other functions at the Palace that require catering, are planned by Priyaraje and her mother-in-law Madhviraje, who is also otherwise in Delhi looking after the Scindia estate interests. Priyaraje looks after the Museum and the Usha Kiran Palace Hotel. In the Museum, she is busy making a catalogue, because she is keen on knowing where everything is kept. And she works with the Taj management on everything concerning the palace hotel, from designing menus to buying crockery. They want her on the board of directors. But Priyaraje is happy to function without a designation. �It feels like home,� she said, �I walk around straightening photo-frames, telling the maintenance guys to change bulbs that are not working, suggesting where more potted plants can be placed. I�m hardly the boss!�