The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

13. The illusions

Not as arid as the western parts of the land of the rulers, the eponymous desert state had the road between Neemrana and Jaipur riddled with mini hills and mounds, abandoned havelis and forsaken palaces. Greenery was discernible all around as the car sped past along the well-maintained highway.

Rudra was mesmerized by the scenery as he peeked out of the windshield, not paying any attention to the chatter and giggling inside the car. He had never been to Rajasthan before, but every turn and each haveli seemed too close to his heart, as familiar as Shravani was to him. The homey feeling intensified in the pit of his stomach when they inched closer to Jaipur and the long fortification of Amer Fort became visible. It stretched on for miles upon miles on the outskirts of the capital city, and his heart clenched in pain for reasons unknown to him.

"What is this feeling?" he mumbled, raking his hand over his chest.

"Feels like we are going home," Shravani murmured right behind him. "That's what the feeling is all about, Rudra."

Puzzled, he craned his neck to take a good look at her. Seated right behind him, she was peering out of the windows with a glint in her eye while she disregarded the game of charades the rest were playing on the two sets of the backseat. He was certain he had not spoken above a whisper, but she had caught on alright and even replied back with a comment of her own. His narrowed gaze went to the lofty walls of the medieval fort as his mind went on an overdrive with respect to his girlfriend's over-sensitive hearing. No matter how sensitive it is, is it at all possible to hear a low mutter over the raucous roar of a car moving against the winds at over a hundred kilometers per hour?

***

They reached Pink City soon enough. The entire township in the older parts of the city was fashioned out of amaranthine sandstone that gave the township its popular tag. The blend of the old and the new, the antiquated and the modern reflected well in how the buildings and structures designed to resemble Rajputana architecture had billboards and placards in English and Hindi while blingy advertisements flashed on the LED screens hung from the erstwhile watch towers.

The most striking feature visible smack dab in the middle of the city was the facade of being a haveli while being merely a wall to fool the attackers—the Hawa Mahal. Surbhi was the most excited when clicking pictures and shooting videos in front of the intricate design of the structure while Ishita and Ayush scrunched their noses and pouted their lips in order to create a reel.

The clique checked into a hotel in the city and went sightseeing to Amer Fort on the outskirts. The stone fortifications that encompassed the city stretched on for miles, and the marvelous Rajputana architecture mingling with Mughal style had them entrapped. Constructed over the gradient of a hill of the Aravali range, the fort was built in four steps, the topmost being the royal quarters while the commoners occupied the lower stories in the rugged terrain. With a wide courtyard on every step, the red sandstone and marble edifices were regal in every sense of the term. Numerous temples decorated every turn and corner of the fort while the lake lying beyond the boundaries created wafts of cool breeze to lower the scorching temperatures in the olden days.

The ornate entrance through Suraj Pol led them to the first courtyard on the lower level, which served as a conduit to the main palace grounds. Multiple frescoes embellishing the walls and entrances across the fort had heads turn due to the intricacy of the artwork, and as they steadily went up the slopes of the mound, the impressions of royalty magnified. The Diwan-i-Aam—chamber of commoners—on the second level was where the monarchs listened to the issues of the public. The third courtyard beyond the mosaic and sculptures-inscribed entryways led to the chambers of the kings while the topmost tier had the residences of the queens and the concubines.