... is dying. B&E visits Jaisalmer’s golden bastion and finds an epic and a relic.
In the chilling cold of Delhi, in the middle of a busy
workday (watching others slog), the thought of a sunny Jaisalmer trip full of adventure and intriguing cultural revealing was rendering dreamy smirks on my face. The 22-hour long journey was tiresome on occasions when I watched the train halt at as many as 40 almost stranded stations and looked at a travel partner whose agenda seemed no less than setting a world record in sleeping the longest (as well as the loudest). But as soon as I stepped at the Jaisalmer station, energy gushed in. Looking at its low-ceiling construction with wonderfully designed pillars, I handed over myself to the royal city. As I turned around, the Punjabi Jat lad seemed to have done the same too, though in a manner typical to him, stretching out wide (and loud) at the very centre of the railway station, in full public view.
“The construction of the Jaisalmer Fort was started by the Rajput king, Maharawal Jaisal in 1156 A.D. atop the Meru mountain and the construction continued over generations,” said Chander Bhan, our man Friday for all things Jaisalmer. As we walked along, he continued, “It is the only fort in the world which has close to 5,000 persons living in it, along with 40 odd hotels and 15 restaurants.”
The magnificent fort is made in sandstone that fetches it a golden sheen. And, such is the beauty of the fort that it looks well maintained, even after 800 years of its construction. The high walled tawny fort of 99 bastions, shelters about 500 houses in the lanes that branch out further into other lanes full of houses. “People in the fort have been living for generations in eight mohallas (colonies) purely on the basis of a once rigid caste and class system. Some of the mohallas that have been popular since the olden days are those of the Brahmins, Sonars (goldsmith), Kshatriyas (soldiers), Hazuris (courtiers who were kings’ children from relationships outside marriage) and Mochis (cobblers),” the guide explained as if emitting out language from memorised contents in a viva voce.
While we walked through the lanes and bylanes, filled more with sellers than buyers, raving about the fort, its history and people who made it happen, we landed at 8th July, a restaurant chosen purely on the basis of its interesting name and little else.
It was a small rooftop joint where Rama Bhatia, a well spoken middle-aged lady took our order while our guide greeted her. Driven by habit and curiosity, we struck an informal rapport with Rama. She had been running the restaurant inside the fort with her husband (who named it after his birth date) for 10 years. Her husband, an old eloquent gentleman from the region who had seen the desert and the city evolve, joined us. Recollecting his memories, he started telling us how Jaisalmer, despite being Asia’s biggest district, wasn’t well known even in other parts of Rajasthan. It was only when the Indira Gandhi Canal was built in the year 1987 that a lot of changes took place. Tourism blossomed and the world’s only ‘living fort’ attracted thousands of people every year. He continued, “The population inside the fort has risen over the years and all are dependent on tourism either in entirety or in part.” With fear and anguish, he mentioned how due to water clogging and other sewage related problems, the ASI is insisting on the evacuation of the fort.
In the chilling cold of Delhi, in the middle of a busy
workday (watching others slog), the thought of a sunny Jaisalmer trip full of adventure and intriguing cultural revealing was rendering dreamy smirks on my face. The 22-hour long journey was tiresome on occasions when I watched the train halt at as many as 40 almost stranded stations and looked at a travel partner whose agenda seemed no less than setting a world record in sleeping the longest (as well as the loudest). But as soon as I stepped at the Jaisalmer station, energy gushed in. Looking at its low-ceiling construction with wonderfully designed pillars, I handed over myself to the royal city. As I turned around, the Punjabi Jat lad seemed to have done the same too, though in a manner typical to him, stretching out wide (and loud) at the very centre of the railway station, in full public view.“The construction of the Jaisalmer Fort was started by the Rajput king, Maharawal Jaisal in 1156 A.D. atop the Meru mountain and the construction continued over generations,” said Chander Bhan, our man Friday for all things Jaisalmer. As we walked along, he continued, “It is the only fort in the world which has close to 5,000 persons living in it, along with 40 odd hotels and 15 restaurants.”
The magnificent fort is made in sandstone that fetches it a golden sheen. And, such is the beauty of the fort that it looks well maintained, even after 800 years of its construction. The high walled tawny fort of 99 bastions, shelters about 500 houses in the lanes that branch out further into other lanes full of houses. “People in the fort have been living for generations in eight mohallas (colonies) purely on the basis of a once rigid caste and class system. Some of the mohallas that have been popular since the olden days are those of the Brahmins, Sonars (goldsmith), Kshatriyas (soldiers), Hazuris (courtiers who were kings’ children from relationships outside marriage) and Mochis (cobblers),” the guide explained as if emitting out language from memorised contents in a viva voce.
While we walked through the lanes and bylanes, filled more with sellers than buyers, raving about the fort, its history and people who made it happen, we landed at 8th July, a restaurant chosen purely on the basis of its interesting name and little else.
It was a small rooftop joint where Rama Bhatia, a well spoken middle-aged lady took our order while our guide greeted her. Driven by habit and curiosity, we struck an informal rapport with Rama. She had been running the restaurant inside the fort with her husband (who named it after his birth date) for 10 years. Her husband, an old eloquent gentleman from the region who had seen the desert and the city evolve, joined us. Recollecting his memories, he started telling us how Jaisalmer, despite being Asia’s biggest district, wasn’t well known even in other parts of Rajasthan. It was only when the Indira Gandhi Canal was built in the year 1987 that a lot of changes took place. Tourism blossomed and the world’s only ‘living fort’ attracted thousands of people every year. He continued, “The population inside the fort has risen over the years and all are dependent on tourism either in entirety or in part.” With fear and anguish, he mentioned how due to water clogging and other sewage related problems, the ASI is insisting on the evacuation of the fort.
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