Location courtesy: The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon; Pic by Jagan Negi

He’s an elegant contradiction in many ways. Home is a castle in Shillong where he lives alone with his 85 rescued dogs. He potters round the castle feeding the animals and cooking new dishes using herbs from his garden. At other times you’ll find him wandering around the nearby forests with his two semi-professional-grade Canon cameras. “I am an eccentric raja who loves the hills and mountains,” he says with a relaxed grin.

But don’t underestimate Maharaja Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Burman, the head of the royal house of Tripura and the sole heir of the over 800-year-old Manikya dynasty. Some months ago he was invited twice to speak at the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School in Boston about the government’s draconian emergency powers in the restive Northeast and on India’s Look East Policy — he was critical. “I spoke keeping in mind the sentiments of the people,” says Burman.

In fact, the 33-year-old history graduate from Shillong’s St. Anthony’s College has been stepping into the limelight more frequently in the last year or so. And the big question that has been hanging over him for years is whether — or when — he will make a great leap into full-time politics.

He’s been a member of the All India Congress Committee and an advisor to the North East Students Committee in Delhi, so he’s often in the capital. And, in fact, the Congress did offer him first a ticket for the state assembly in 2008 and then a Lok Sabha ticket the next year. “I refused because I didn’t think that I had done enough to earn the ticket. I needed to travel and work in areas that are untouched. I cannot just stand for an election because I inherited a legacy,” he says.

(Top) Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Burman was 28 when he ascended the throne soon after his father’s death; (below) The Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala is a study in opulence with its musical fountains and Mughal gardens

Still he does not rule out a full-time foray into politics. He even speaks fluent Kokborok, a local language none of his married sisters can speak. He says enigmatically: “Maybe the day my heart says to go for it, I will.”

Not surprisingly perhaps, he’s a bit wary of the cut and thrust of politics and the petty politicking that is prevalent at the state level. “I feel slightly disappointed with petty politics in Tripura,” he says.

Whether he gets into politics or not, he has already been involved for years in charity work. Says his mother Rajmata Bibhu Devi: “Like me, my son likes to see people happy and doing well.”

He has already reached out to people in the region in a big way. Two years ago, he was behind the setting up of the first English medium school in Dhalai, a remote district in Tripura. “The village really needed a school. People who are 100km away from Agartala, the state capital, must at least know what’s happening outside. English is their link to the world,” he says

In fact, for a while now, Burman has been crusading for the need to impart education in English. “I think that the medium of instruction should be in a language where our next generation can go out and compete with the best. There is no point teaching English literature in Bengali or Kannada,” he says. He’s a strong critic of the state government on that score.

Like many other former royals, Burman has also made a foray into the hospitality sector. He teamed up with a friend and got into the business, when he was still in college, by converting one his family’s summer resorts into a heritage property. The Royal Heritage-Tripura Castle was one of the first heritage hotels in the region.

“The only thing my father gave me then was a free hand on the property — but not on cash. He told me to take a bank loan to develop it,” he says. In the first two years, the boys broke even.

Burman is also getting feelers from several big hotel chains that want to turn the family’s palaces into heritage hotels. The family owns four palaces — Ujjayanta Palace and Neermahal in Tripura, Tripura Castle in Shillong and Tripura House in Calcutta.

Certainly, Burman shows a maturity that’s beyond his age. “I grew up overnight after my father passed away,” he says. Burman is the fifth child and only son of the late Maharaja Kirat Bikram Kishore Deb Burman and Rajmata Bibhu Devi of Tripura.

He was crowned at the age of 28, in 2006, soon after his father died. His father was the last independent king of the Manikya dynasty. In Tripura, Burman is addressed by many as Maharaja or “Bubaghra” which is the equivalent of the word for ruler in Kokborok.

In a lighter vein, there’s the other side to the young man as a foodie, movie buff and a soccer-crazy youth. And when he’s in Delhi, you’re likely to catch him at his favourite restaurant Nagaland’s Kitchen in Green Park eating Naga pork with rice.

One thing that he religiously follows is the football World Cup. Perhaps that makes sense for the co-owner of a popular football club, Shillong Lajong Football Club, which was established in 1983.

He is, of course, one of the most eligible bachelors in the Northeast. He laughs when the subject is raised. His ideal girl, he says, should be “free spirited and independent”. But till then, he’ll stay in his castle with his 85 dogs and has plenty to keep him busy and on the move.