Departure and Arrivals

The departure started routinely , but the arrival turned out to be emotionally memorable .

A car whisked us to the airport for an internal flight , Mumbai to Jaipur in 1.5 hours …India is a big country ! A sudden change from the chaos of Mumbai streets to army discipline . A battalion of  the Indian army had taken over airport security , while the local police looked on bemused and now redundant . A armoured jeep with mounted machine gun greeted  traffic ; time to obey the instructions of the heavily armed soldiers in their camouflage fatigues. At the entrance the guard remained behind a steel shield . Should I be worried that the airport was expected to be under imminent attack ; or reassured that this was a case of excess precaution . 

Leaving Jaipur airport,  it  was suddenly clear that all that security was in the wrong place . Our party of  twelve wedding guests  accompanied by a few local guides were met by a phalanx of north India’s  paparazzi ; stationed between us and the cars. Continuous flash bulbs , jostling , pushing ; we finally made it to the relative safety of our transport, not without one photographer attempting to gain that special close up from within the car itself . But we were off , thankfully without being chased by motor bike mounted photo intrusion . We had just experienced what Princess Diana had had to continuously put up with : not pleasant .

I knew that the bride was a famous Bollywood actress, I was now appreciating just how so .

 The journey to our hotel  went without incident until we approached the village , which housed our very own fort . There was a rail line to cross , and of course we timed it to meet the 20.10 express from  Delhi . Sensibly ( this is India ) the barriers crossed the whole road , so we had to park up. The locals suspecting the arrival of celebrities turned out in force . This more friendly bunch of amateur photographers took numerous selfies with us as the background . For them , it was a picture with them in it that was the most important. The barriers opened , and we proceeded through the village inhabitants who had by then all turned into enthusiastic on-lookers.

Barwara fort sits majestically on a small hill , protected on one side by a river . Access through the battlements was via a 100m tunnel ; these were thick walls indeed. We were met as if royalty. A Punjabi quartet played regional  music, staff lined up to greet us  and flower petals ( rather than hot oil ) rained down from  the battlements . Terraced gardens rose up on all sides , complete with waterfalls and twinkling lights. An assault on all the senses. For that brief moment we made to feel as a  maharaja  welcomed home.  .