The story of hand prints

When you are doing a daily post challenge there is an invisible pressure to churn out new blog posts. The background thread in your mind has to be running full time to generate new ideas, or view  the day to day happenings with a blogger point of view, just like a photographer views a real picture with his photographic eye. There are some days when I write two posts together and schedule them over the days, while this post was written with a blank mind. And that’s when some of the lingering thoughts from your mind, pours out of its cocoon to fill the blog post.

One of the key takeaway from the Rajasthan trip we had in December was the Mehrangarh Fort. It was the most impressive fort for me. The entire Jodhpur view, huge walls, the intricate carvings on the stone with the bugle music and drums echoing through the corridors, and the winds blowing right on your face. The guide was helpful in showing only the main art museums and galleries and was rambling many names of the kings and wars happened at the fort. He left us on the way back when we declined his offer for visiting shops and he missed out some interesting points which I had found online.

While I was searching for reviews and travelogues for planning this trip, I had stumbled across many blogs. One of them had a post on this Jodhpur fort. It was a photo showing the handprints of the queens who performed sati ritual. And as we walked down out of the fort, I did notice them on one of the gates. Unfortunately, the camera was with RK who was already few steps ahead and hence I could not take the photo myself. Though some forum say they are symbolic, the mere fact that women like you and me underwent that ritual sent shivers down my spine. Our next stop was the Jaswant Thada which was the cremation ground in the olden days. The combined effect of the handprints and the logs of wood lying scattered around the rocky hills has left an imprint in my mind thinking how the grand lives led by the queens and kings came to an end.

Though I could not find that exact post which triggered this series of thoughts, I found another post describing the visit to Mehrangarh Fort which shares similar view on the old ritual.