Guides

 

Guides

NOTE: NO PHOTOS IN THIS BLOG; ALL PICTURES ARE ADVERTISEMENTS.

Genre - Fiction

Sub-genre - Road-trip

Length of blog - 2400 words

Chapter One: In-between Rock Caves and Hard Fort.

                Jay and Lakeisha had taken off for the weekend. This time too, an early Friday evening getaway had made them reach their destination by dinnertime. They checked-in to their pre-booked hotel room and went off to bed. Their tummies full, cuddling led to a make-out session.

                Next morning, they were at Ellora Caves, which was around 15-minute drive, north from their hotel. They parked and had breakfast followed by exploration of the caves. And by lunch had circled back to the parking-lot.

                “That was fast”, Lakeisha said.

                “Yeah the similarity of the caves did help”, Jay said.

                “I liked how the group of Southeast-Asians were actually praying in one of the Buddhist temples”, Lakeisha continued, “By the way, look what I found in the garden at the entrance.”

                She held a throwaway water bottle to Jay’s face.

                “A cherry tomato”, Jay continued, “I’m sure the well-kept garden did not have a vegetable patch. It probably fell out of a foreigner’s tiffin.”

                “We’ll be sure once it grows in our garden”, Lakeisha said.

                Jay had mounted some pots on one vertical wall of their apartment's balcony, under Lakeisha’s guidance.

                “Do you need a guide?”, a stranger who had approached them said.

                They both shook their heads in unison.

                “How about some guide books – here is one of Khajuraho”, the stranger said.

                He held forward a picturesque book of sculptures which were in various stages of copulation.

                “Hey, do we look like perverts”, Jay said.

                This made the guide lose interest in them.

                “I think yesterday night’s episode, can categorize us as perverts”, Lakeisha said.

                “That guy doesn’t need to know that”, Jay continued, “Plus don’t we keep away from guides.”

                It had been a passing topic which led to a tacit decision between them to ‘explore’ more and use tour-guides less.

                They had lunch at an eatery close to their hotel, followed by a quick refreshing nap.

                “Where next?”, Lakiesha said, “Do we have the stamina to climb a fort?”

                “Let’s take baby steps and see where we land up”, Jay said.

                Daulatabad fort was again a 15 minute drive southwards from their hotel.

                “Honey, you are going in the wrong direction”, Lakeisha said”, Daulatabad fort is in the opposite direction.

                “Yes, a short detour to see Aurangzeb’s grave”, Jay said.

                In half an hours’ time they were back on track - heading towards Daulatabad fort.

A grave next to his teacher was Aurangzeb’s burial wishes; hence the humble grave, in a common graveyard of a shanty town.

“What a tiny place and those tour-guides were shoving photos of the grave in our hands.”, Lakiesha said.

“Yeah, it’s their livelihood. It’s a small place, yeah, so everything looks gloomy. I too felt a little bad and tipped the parking attendant well”, Jay said.

Their attention turned towards a structure atop a hill. Soon they were greeted by a compound wall on their right. A parking-lot appeared.

 

Chapter two: The hard to capture fort.

 

“So, what’s the plan? Do we enter, daylight will be gone soon?”, Lakeisha said.

“Yes, we enter, and the strategy of this visit is, that we go right up to the top of the fort first” Jay said.

He had paid the entrance fee and was moving into the fort. They paid little attention to the huge doorway, elongated entrance, followed by a courtyard.

“Once we get to the top, we will get an idea of the fort’s layout and surroundings,” Jay continued”, “A view from the top.”

Jay winked.

                “Aha and we can catch the sunset as well”, Lakeisha said.

                The sun was hidden behind the fort. The fort’s shadow covered the courtyard in a warm evening except for the singular tower, which still caught the sunrays halfway up. The tower was not open for public viewing and the stairs were blocked.

                “For safety reasons, I guess”, Jay said.

                The tower did not match the surroundings. The rest of the courtyard was littered with rooms of various needs-of-past. A few amateur painters were trying to capture the fort in their painting with their easels.

                “Oh! So that is how to capture a fort nowadays”, Jay said.

The courtyard landed onto the foothill of the fort, which they climbed. A small bridge rose into the innards of the fort.

                “Wow, a moat”, Lakeisha said.

                They entered the dark viscera of the hill.

                Paths wound upwards, they held each other’s hands and stepped forward into the bleak light of their cellphone’s inbuilt flash. A few wrong turns, and weird curves later they reached a clearing. At the other end of the clearing, another door, another flight of stairs and finally they reached a bright open livable space four floors up. It had a verandah with short border walls due to which it felt like a bungalow.

                “This would look plush when decorated”, Lakeisha said.

                A few tourists loitered around. The view was unobstructed all around, except for the sunset in the west. Lakeisha saw Jay on a higher plinth. She saw the stairs leading there and followed him. On reaching up, Jay was nowhere to be seen.

                “Jay”, she said.

                A couple of calls and still Jay did not reply. She realized she was almost at the summit; the plinth overlooked the spacious quarters below and encircled it. The huge verandah had no cover. The only way on top was to circle around the roof of this floor from the outside of the hill.

Lakeisha stepped out and saw the tiny rooftops of a village in the south. She looked closer to the bottom of the hill and saw a few more ruins. She looked towards the west and saw her husband waving out to her. A short climb and she was now seeing the sunset.

The summit had a couple of caves.

“Smoking zone”, Jay said.

They spent a few moments there before Lakeisha said.

“Once the sun goes down the way down would be even more difficult.”

They retraced their steps towards the living quarters. They seemed to be the only people there. Jay walked towards the east verandah parapet.

“Look at the size of that cannon”, Jay said, as he pointed downwards.

Lakeisha saw the huge cannon on a cylindrical building.

“Remember how when we sketch a fort, we draw these cylindrical structures at all the four corners?” Lakeisha said.

“It’s 16 foot in length, the cannon”, a stranger next to them said, “Come this way.”

He led them towards the north, and they circled downwards along the path which led towards the cannon. At the base of the cannon he stopped. Lakeisha overtook both of them and climbed the few stairs to the flat circular top which held the cannon.

                “This cannon can fire all around almost 360 degrees except exactly behind”, the stranger said.

                “It would take many men to turn the cannon to aim it”, Jay said.

                “Look at the panoramic view”, Lakeisha said.

                She did a short twirl, her ghagra-top obediently followed.

                “This hill was thus chosen by…” the stranger’s voice trailed off as he walked down the steps with Jay.

                Lakeisha knuckled the wrought iron cannon, which did not flinch. She followed the duo back down the steps. She saw them standing over a hollow pit, in discussion.

                “Look at this”, Jay continued, “Once the cannon was aimed, all the men cleared the area, except for one who would light the fuse. He would light the fuse and run down the stairs and dunk his face into this pit- which would be filled with water.”

                Jay actioned it all.

                He did a running action down the stairs, half bent to show the pool dunk, covered both his ears with both palms and his mouth was puffed to act out the breath-holding part.

                “To save his eardrums from the huge sound this cannon made”, Jay said releasing his breath.

Lakeisha looked at the now dry pit. It was waste height and was cut out of the rock, the size of a large, deep wash basin.

                They walked back up the path towards the living area. While curving the north edge and Lakeisha walked off the path to check out the mountain wall - it was steep.

                “We can see the moat below”, she said.

                Jay followed her.

                “Yes, there is only one entrance over the moat, the other three sides are steep cliffs. And the moat used to be filled with crocodiles and poisonous snakes”, the stranger said aloud.

                “Who is this crocodile guy?”, Lakesha asked Jay under her breath.

                “Heh, a guide I suppose”, Jay continued, “Lets go with the flow.”

                As they passed the quarters the stranger said, “It’s my duty to usher all the guests out at closing time. I had finished up here when you two came down from the caves at the top.”

                “We were catching the sunset”, Lakeisha said.

                “Let’s continue to exit, I’ll give you a tour on the way out”, the man continued, “The caves at the very top are second century BC. And these are the living quarters. As we go down the stairs, we can be sure that this is where the last stand would be taken before reaching the living quarters above.”

                They reached the small verandah on the lower floor. Jay and Lakeisha started to head towards the other end which had a similar opening to exit.

                “On this floor was the last battleground, “the guide said.

 “As you can see this side falls into the steep moat. So the fort-holders knew they had to push their opponents down that-a-way.”

Jay and Lakeisha looked around the single-room sized space. They turned towards exit.

“Look here”, The guide said. He was set on showing them the fort in detail.

Jay was almost halfway through the doorway, when he saw the guide’s hand through a small opening near the door. He bent and put his head in the decent sized hole.

“A person could fit through the hole”, Lakeisha said.

“But they wouldn’t survive”, the guide said.

His hands made a swinging motion from above his head.

“The attackers head would be chopped off as he would try to enter or look from the hole beside the doorway.”

“There would’ve been a door then”, Jay said.

He had hopped back to where the guide was and was inspecting the hole from the verandah.

                “It’s the perfect height for the executioner”, Jay said. He too did the head chopping movement.

                “And then the head would be kicked into the chute there”, the guide said.

                Another opening in the wall – this one the size of a door- it was next to the hole in the wall. A similar setup was on the opposite wall which they had just come down from.

                “Hey, these openings in the wall are open dummy doors. An unknown person would be bound to walk or run into them, only to find themselves falling down a chute”, Jay said.

                He and Lakeisha walked back to the other wall and saw the similar three holes, first the doorway to stairs, followed by a hole in the wall, and third the dummy door to death.

                “I was wondering why there would be a chute, when another step left would anyways send the enemy down the cliff”, Lakeisha continued, “its all there to deceive the enemy into thinking he is entering a doorway.

                Lakeisha answered her own question. They were all moving in the wrong direction, upwards.

                “Let’s go downwards”, the guide said.

                They exited the last stance floor. Onto the dark alleyway.

                “Stay on the right”, they were guided down a short slow slope. A small opening in the wall gave a dim glow. The spy hole gave a view of the dim courtyard below.

                As the ground flattened, the guide said, “Stay left.”

                They again felt the rock wall on their left. It was pitch-black now. A few paces, and they could see the sunset glow in a westward opening. The guide stood in their way.

                “Don’t go towards the light, it’s a sure fall”, he said.        

                Jay and Lakeisha froze. Both holding each other to not to let the other move.

                “On our right towards the courtyard is the correct way to exit.

                Someone’s mobile flashlight shown towards the right. Both waited for the guide to move first.

                “We came hugging the left wall, and if we hug the right wall, we will keep going in circles”, the guide continued, “It’s a loop – make the enemy charge at their own men in the blackness. This area is always pitch dark.”

                Jay and Lakeisha made a loop in the dark. They noticed the right-wall had a small slit of an opening to reach the slope upwards.

“This could easily be missed”, Jay said. He shone his mobile flashlight up the slit in the wall.

“Let’s move down”, the guide said.

                They exited over the bridge.

                “The original entrance is via there”, the guide pointed downwards towards an opening on a lower level.

                “And a bridge connected from there”, he continued to point towards the opposite wall of the moat.

                The lower level lay in ruins, probably because of the multiple tries at forced entry. The bridge that they all stood on was a metal one, put up there by the ASI.

                Past the bridge down a gentle slope, they found themselves in the courtyard. The guide described the various dilapidated buildings as granary, temple, mosque, barracks, stables, etc. They all looked the same in their dull state. No daylight remained as they crossed the singular tower.

                “The tower was built by the one of the wannabe-conquerors, who laid siege and wanted to see the ongoings in the fort’s living space four-floors up”, the guide said.

                They were at the main gate now.

                The corridor and the insides of the room which housed the main gate – all had hiding spaces for an imminent ambush, the guide explained. The way to parking-lot curved left – so that the enemy would be slowed down. The huge main gate which was spiked and curved inwards too - so that elephants couldn’t charge straight into them to break them down.

                “That was wonderful!”, Lakeisha said.

                She turned around to see Jay palm the guide a big note.

                “That was Sachin, he works for the Archeological Survey of India”. 

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