We left Agra via local bus (which was actually much nicer than anyone had expected - no chickens or goats to our disappointment!) and made our way on a 5 hour journey to the city of Bassi. (Luckily my stomach issues held on ok for the long bus ride!) Once we arrived in Bassi, two jeeps waited for us to transport us to the small village of Madhogarh. Bassi doesn't tend to see many tourists, so we watched many heads turn as we drove past!
We made our way through a small village and up a cobblestone road to the top of a hill with a gorgeous view over the village below. The jeeps came to a stop in front of the large entrance of a fort/palace and we looked up in amazement as we were told we had arrived at our accommodation for the night!
Waiting at the front of the door were men and women in traditional Rajput clothing to greet us with Namaste and to welcome us with the tika (or bindi) on our foreheads.
We all entered the old palace in absolute amazement and made our way to a small courtyard with tables where we were given our room assignments. Our room was huge, with beautiful columns and frescoes, and the walls were lined with photos of Rajput royalty. After a delightful buffet lunch in the courtyard, we had some downtime before heading out to the village for a walk around.
Intrepid is the only group that comes and stays here so the villagers get very excited when the foreigners come around. Intrepid will print off the photos we take and give them to the villagers, so they are incredibly keen to have their photo taken. As we ventured out to the village we started to have kids run up and ask for a photo (none were asking for money or anything, only to have their photo taken. And of course they would get very excited when you showed it to them on the screen).
We walked into a building to watch the local women making different types of textiles with various machines. We then sampled some pakoras made fresh in front of us by a man on the street (though I was told not to have any because of my stomach!)
When we walked back out through the village, there was loud music blaring from behind a large sheet. We walked through and were quickly dragged out to dance with the locals (I forced Dave out first!) We found out later they were having a wedding announcement party. (We had figured they were putting on a show just for us, but in fact they weren't but were just happy to include us when we walked by!) Since weddings tend to include the whole village, instead of sending out thousands of invitations they just throw a big party and announce the bride and groom and their wedding date to everyone.
We left the party and made our way past more kids wanting their photos taken, and then past some girls making bangles, where a bunch of the girls bought some.
We made our way back up to the fort and up to the very top where chairs had been placed out on the area that used to house the canons (and the drink selection was laid out too)! Our Rajputs were there and ready to serve while we watched the sun go down. Once the sun tucked behind the hills, Shakti introduced Sunny, the owner of the fort and the current Thakur of the area. Thakurs were basically the landlords of the area (and local representative of the King) until independence. Once independence, the land was given to the villagers and the title is now still passed down but is now more of an honorary title.
Sunny's ancestors built the fort 300 years prior and it was used in a victory in a famous battle! They decided to turn the fort into a boutique hotel eight years ago in order to make money to use for repairs and restoration as the fort was starting to wear away. He now lives on a farm nearby with his family. (There are many palaces and forts all over Rajasthan that are privately owned and just left in ruins because it's too expensive to restore them all so we thought turning it into a hotel and allowing others a chance to experience it and the village was a great idea).
Sunny telling us about his family and the fort
After sunset we went back to the courtyard for dinner, and I was told to go into a side room for a surprise. I walked in and two of the other girls were already there with a local woman who was starting to dress them in local clothes. We all took turns getting beautified, and went back out to find all the men with turbans!
Musicians were playing local instruments and we were dragged out to dance around! Twice in one day Dave was forced to dance!
We sat down and had a wonderful candlelit meal under the practically full moon and all remarked on what a magical day it had been!
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