Golden Fort in the Desert

The solitary train that plied between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer started its journey without any warning signal, so much so that I was about to miss the train. I was a regular at the Jodhpur station, and the platform had a large bell that sounded (gonged) before the departure of the trains. It was a cold December night and had I not been called by a fellow passenger, I would have been stranded on the platform itself.

This person happened to be a photographer who wanted to graduate into a hotelier. The people of Jaisalmer are very helpful and talk a lot about themselves, which others may find a bit odd. They go out of the way to help you and to keep you company in the evenings (if you are alone).

The sandstone fort is the main attraction, and as soon as you get down off the train, you get a view of it high on a hillock and looking golden with the sun rising up from behind it. Apart from the fort, the place is also famous for intricately carved large houses called havelis. The stone is chiselled very finely, and it should have taken years to make one house. People have been staying for generations in many of these havelis. The better carved ones are, of course, vacant and open for tourists to see. There are a lot of shops in the fort area that sell antiques, but I did not find any of the items noteworthy.

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This place is run by Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, a government enterprise. The hotel has rooms in addition to the log huts. Surprisingly, the rooms are more expensive than the log huts. I found the log huts to be a better option. They were on the open ground, with lots of space outside. The protection against the winter chill was lacking, but since they had provided warm blankets, I never felt frightened. There were live shows featuring local music and dance almost every night.