Rameez builds his own Rajasthani palace in Lahore

JAIPUR: Pakistan captain Rameez Raja has a special affinity for Rajastani architecture. So enamoured was he by Jaipur's Rambagh Palace that he modelled his Lahore home on the same lines.

Rameez, now in India as a television commentator for the India-Pakistan series, said that when he returned home in 1987 after a cricket tour he contacted the Delhi-born Pakistani architect Nayyar Ali Dada.

"I told him to have it designed on the pattern of Rambagh Palace. I got to see the palace from close quarters when the Pakistani team stayed there during a Test match in February 1987," Rameez said.

"I built my house in Model Town area of Lahore in 1991. And I wanted it to be designed on the same pattern as Rambagh Palace," said the former opener who smashed a fine 114 in the match.

Rambagh Palace, built in 1835, originally belonged to the royal family of Jaipur and was home to the Maharaja of Jaipur. Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II converted the palace, also called the 'Jewel of Jaipur', into a luxury hotel in 1957.

Rameez chose Dada to give shape to his dream house because the latter had also designed Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Zoo and Sheraton Hotel.
 
Said the former CEO of the Pakistan Cricket Board, "For instance, my house has the arches and thick walls built just like the palace."

Rameez, who played 57 Tests and 198 one-day internationals between 1984 and 1997, captained the Pakistani team to India for the Independence Cup in 1997 and played his last one-day against India in Toronto in September that year.