From the Himalayas to the Sea: Castles in the Sand

Extraordinary news this morning: Anna Hazare has won! Who is Anna Hazare? Many people have started referring to him as a kind of second Ghandi. He looks a bit like Ghandi, skinny, with white hair and dark skin and a warm smile. One of our drivers even described him as cute. Looks aside, he is on an important mission to end corruption in India. According to wikileaks, and pretty much anyone you ask about Anna (as well as the local newspapers) the government officials have embezzled billions of rupees out of India and deposited them in Swiss banks. To fight against this graft, seventy-four year old Anna fasted for twelve days demanding an amendment to the Indian constitution that would subject all government officials, including the prime minister to investigation and prosecution by the Central Bureau of Investigation. (For reference, the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides “sovereign” immunity to our government officials.) The “Lokhpal” bill proposed by Anna went through U.S style senate negotiations with much huffing and puffing and a total failure to compromise or act until it became clear that a failure to act would lead to the death of Anna and in the popular opinion rioting, fires and general revolt. In fact, one guide estimated that 80 percent of the country supported Anna’s reforms.

Click to expand for a panorama of Amber Fort

The rooftop party terrace,
complete with dancing girl platform

After visiting palaces where we were told that elephants carried the rulers to the gates and flowers were dropped from above while music played we had a chance to make the same type of arrival at the Amber Fort of Rajasthan. Twisting through the mountains we came upon the town of Amber Fort and there true to its name the extensive palace with its twelve kilometers of red sandstone wall looked like something out of a fairytale or perhaps. . . Game of Thrones!

We pulled up to a cue of elephants and then climbed aboard. As we jostled up the stone road to the palace gate the panorama of Amber Fort and Amber Town unrolled along the massive ramparts and a flute player followed along behind us. We entered the fort on elephant back to the beating of drums. The Amber Fort sparks a kind of romance that is tough to describe. Perhaps it is conjured by the precarious mountainside on which the fort is set or the hundreds of chambers and rooms or the beautiful gardens and artificial lake. Our guide did a wonderful job bringing the palace to life describing the entertaining of royal guests in the mirror house and moonlight dancing and wine on the top of the palace. He showed us the identical bedrooms of the twelve wives, carefully matched to avoid provoking jelousy and the intricately worked and painted gate where the Maharhani (queen) was required to throw rosepetals on her returning husband.

The king's secret escape route from

the roof of Amber Palace

to the gardens below

The beauty of the place was amplified by the exquisite detail in the painting, the stone work, the landscaping and even the bright colored domes along the palace walls. The room that displayed this best was the mirror hall. One of a kind, here in the mountains and around the world, the mirror hall had hundreds of convex mirror tiles along the ceiling, the walls and arches and niches for lamps.

A window looking out on the
walls and cisterns of Amber Fort

The guide explained that a single oil lamp could light the expansive room, which would be floored with carpets from Kashmir and hung with embroidered silk curtains from Benares and roofed with a crust of semi precious jewels. Wine would be liberally poured and hookah smoked and the color of the room would change depending on the hues of the fabrics adorning the hall. In short, the Fort, like a good novel, freed your imagination and gave rise to endless tales of chivalry and debauchery and intrigue high in the mountains guarding the way to the Thar desert that stretches to frontier of Pakistan.

The gardens of Amber Fort

At this point we feel it is only fair to note that we are bad at blogging and in the midst of a six hour drive to Jodhpur and there are many holy cows in the road. The trip so far has been wonderful and there has been so much to see its tough to know where to start, what to leave out and which photos of hundreds to post on the “little” blog. One thing we know for sure is that we miss having as travel companions you Bill, Joe and Sam because each day we see something that makes us think of you. Today marks two weeks on this side of the world, the halfway point of our trip. Stay tuned!