Jodhpur

 Jodhpur's Fort remained untaken, even after many different sieges

 Anti-elephant armoured door

 Royal bed chamber, just one of many truly ornate interior rooms

 The bluep painted billdings seen from the batlements

 Truly impregnable outer walls

 Sedan chair, just one of the huge number of items held within the Fort museum

 The new palace, built in 1939 by an English arthitect. It has 365 rooms and makes Buckingham Palace look shoddy

 Attractive display of hand-woven and hand-printed scarves

 Some of the taxi drivers I used to have a chai with in the early morning, near to my guest house.

Jodhpurs got their name after a visit to England by the Maharajah and his polo team in the 1890's. His design of trouser for riding was much admired and copied, the horsey set adopted it, now it is a sort of derigeur uniform.

It is known as the blue city,  large housing areas are painted In a lovely indigo.The colour signifies the home of a Brahmin.  A sea of blue greets one from altitude. There is an old city, which is a tangle of winding, colourful streets, scented by Incence blossoms and pee, as well as leather from shoes and slipper makers. Sights and sounds change continually as I made my way around. A10-mile long wall  with huge gates surround the area. Think of it as a former trading route for opium, sandalwood dates and copper. 

The city is dominated by Meherangarg Fort which overshadows the city and is situated on a 400 foot hill of rock.  Cannonball scarring can be seen on the outer wall from unsuccessful sieges. One of its huge wooden gates has huge metal spikes embedded in it to deter elephants from battering it down. A series of courtyards and palaces are within it's walls, for the harem and entertaining. The present Maharajh is a pal of Charles. Old canons give a sense of history. The Fort and the new palace are visual reminders of the opulent splendour in which their museums display guns and weapons, also examples of arts, crafts, jewellery, metal work, etc with  paintings of the turbaned and armoured elite. Photographs of many tigers shot for entertainment and to prove manhood.

The seediness and dust of the city is endearing, and a contrast to those in power. Walking. Along the with with the colour, noise and it's lack of development. Sand blows in continually from the Thar Desert to its west. It can be felt on the skin and between my teeth.