Neemrana Fort Palace

We are given a room in the old harem quarters..it is pretty, set between the courtyard and the modern addition and with a small efficient bathroom in which to wash off the layers of dust. The Fort is magnificent at night, dripping with vines, cracked and worn with age and set far above the highway there is a momentary peacefulness as a sliver of moon cruises across the silk soft sky..words of poetry and the silent notes of ancient love songs hang in the air until shattered by the commencement of the village festivities below..entering the ninth day of a festival that culminates in Diwali the excruciating pain of Rama, exiled, is megaphoned into the night through a shrieking public address system that drives the sound into the ancient walls of the fort with more success than many previous invaders...
It's night we have arrived and our hosts await us in the village.