Both Gina and I were mesmerized by the fabulous palaces and forts, with their art works, weapons, dungeons, living quarters and of course, the gracious people we met in India.

For us, travel is a matter of compromise. Time is a factor. We spend limited time at one place in order to leave time for another.

We agreed to almost a week in Rajastan that included visiting the great fortified cities of Jaipur, Ajmer and Udaipur. We would have liked it to be more. I had been there before with a whole world to tour. It was unlikely that we would be back.

It was a good time to be traveling in India. The rain had ended and the countryside was green. The crops were ripe, the cattle were fat and the people were busy.

The palaces and forts of Rajastan are incredible in their dimensions and complexity. As we neared Jaipur, it was evident that it was no ordinary place. Huge forts and temples dominated the hilltops and were incredible in their complexities. Massive walls, towers, sculptured marble halls, man-made lakes had survived through centuries. Now they are a popular tourist attraction while the people there live at a subsistence level.

Two great Indian epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, abound with great deeds. Rajput warriors in saffron robes fought and died rather than run or surrender. Soldiers carried special knives to cut off their tongues if captured so as not to be made to talk. The women fought with the men. At Chittorgarh, called the cradle of Rajput courage, 13,000 women led by the queen mother threw themselves into a massive funeral pyre when the city fell to the Moguls

Source: Enterprise-Record