Jan 19th - Chittorgarh Fort

From Bundi I travelled back to Ajmer on the most crowded bus imaginable. One of the benefits of taking a 55 litre rucksack was supposed to be that it would be easier to carry stuff around in crowded spaces, as opposed to having say a 70 litre rucksack. That's true up to a point, but when the bus is as crowded as that, it doesn't really make a lot of difference! Luckily i'd struck up a conversation with some IT specialists who managed to help me off the bus, though how I managed to physically extricate myself with rucksack from that vehicle is a mystery. An elderly woman took exception to my bag/torso colliding with her, and launched into a bit of a verbal tirade, which I don't think involved asking after my well-being.

At Ajmer I then took a train, that was long delayed, to the town of Chittorgarh. By the time i'd got there,  it was pretty dark, and I managed to check into a place recommended to me by someone I'd met in Pushkar who travelled a lot around Rajasthan with his job.

It wasn't until the next day, when I took an auto-rickshaw to Chittorgarh fort, that I came to realise its enormity. I'd hired a guide as I was quite short of time, and we travelled to different areas to see the main features of it, and even then we ran out of time to see everything. It is the largest fort in all of Asia, and has a very bloody history in the story of the Rajput kings and their many wars with the Mughals. The Rajputs when faced with military defeat preferred death to surrender, and on 3 occasions in the 1500s they went to war facing certain death while their families committed mass suicide in the fort, bathing themselves in perfume, wearing their finest jewellery before burning themselves on a mass pyre. Its an incredible place and i wish i'd had more time there. There are fantastically intricate stone carvings on so many of the monuments.

However, I spent so much time at the fort that I managed to miss the train to Udaipur, but luckily managed to catch a bus instead. Its a journey of about 140 kilometers, and in Udaipur I stayed with a cousin, Neetu, who I'd never met before, and her husband, Basant. It was really lovely to meet with them, and in the early evening they took me to the Lake Palace, which was magnificent. The quality of the light at that time of the day in India gives a warm glow to everything, and the palace's reflection in the water was very special.

Chittorgarh Fort

Stone carvings at Chittorgarh Fort

Lake Palace at Udaipur