heartefacts

the collection of random artefacts at Albert Hall museum in Jaipur ranges from Japanese samurai doll, to Indian god head, through Greek philosopher bust.

the tourist guide

every fort, palace, mausoleum, temple, church and gompa in the country is best explored with a tourist guide. specimen in this picture with the flared pants, gave us a more colourful history of Ranthambore Fort than one tends to find in textbooks. in the early 13th century, Hamir Dev sheltered Muhammad Shah, a rogue general, formerly employed by Ala-ud-din Khijli. Khijli's begum was apparently "mating" wih Shah on the sly, when a tiger walked in on them. but the general was quickly up and killed the tiger with one fell swoop.

the begum was later "mating" with the sultan, when a mouse walked in and Khijli got all flustered. provoking the begum to remark, "here you are scared of one mouse, while your general kills tigers". Khijli immediately asked for the general's head, who promptly ran away to Ranthambore.

har har hazratbal

perched on one bank of Dal Lake, Hazratbal is Kashmir's holiest shrine. inside is a hair belonging to the prophet. outside is a bustling market with shopkeepers peddling meat, wicker baskets, breads and some suspicious looking sweet thing.

all my favourite trees

right at the top of anjanadri, hampi is one lonely tree. you'd think with all the monkeys around, there'd be more trees. 

where do old gods go to die?

apparently hereabouts, they never die. we're a country that would never throw away faded, peeling, broken, decaying gods. we only find a new resting place for them. preferably with a view.