In the land of Kings there is a fort everywhere. And I visited a lot of them. This time it was the Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur.
The walk up to the fort is EXTREMELY steep. I stayed in a hostel close the fort and the walking distance was hardly 1km. But by the time I reached I was huffing and panting. And once you enter the fort the climb does not stop either. It is just so steep.
When you walk up the fort, you do only two things. 1. You try to get some breath. 2. You look up almost spraining your neck to see how bloody high the fort is. It was massive.
After all this mighty difficult and steep walk you almost demand mentally to see some out of the world thing. So much effort needs a reward definitely. But sorry. Your demands are barely fulfilled.
All you get to see us a museum that contains how the king travelled, where he lived, what he wore, what utensils he ate and smoked from, the guns and spears he used for hunting, where the queens stayed, where they bathed, where they stood etc. Gawd, I am done with it!
There are courtyards with walls that have been carved beautifully. But somehow this fort did not appeal to me. I don’t know the reason. May be it was my state of mind. I felt it was big and ugly.
One good thing about the fort was there were lot of boards explaining in detail what was being displayed. I really like this cause you don’t need a guide and you could see the place at your own pace. While a guide is always good, sometimes their pace might not match yours. If there was one startup idea I will walk away with, it will be to do audio guides for all monuments in India.
I then walked out to a sunset point below the fort. The streets were painted and you could view the massive fort from here. I felt good in this place more than the fort.
The sunset was as usual very beautiful. Neither does the sun dress up for the performance nor does the sun change his performance. He just disappears the same way everyday. Yet, it’s worth to watch.
Endless thoughts 