Well, the title of this post was the 5th and final question in my Creative Writing paper. I had to write an original story revolving around this title. Now, you've to know something about me. I hate writing in exams. I keep my answers short. Very short, in fact. Whilst people complain about taking only four extra sheets in addition to the 18-sheet booklet that they already have, I rejoice after filling up 12 sheets with crap that no one cares about. Also, I love looking at the ceiling during exams. Somehow, the answers just drop into my head. This is, however, time-consuming and suspicion-inducing. So, I had about 5 minutes left to complete a 5 mark question. No time to look at the ceiling. And then I thought about my trip to Delhi-Jaipur-Fatehpur Sikri-Gurgaon and I decided to write the following original story...of course, I toned down the language in the paper :)
Jaipur was hot. It was hot, stuffy, and full of people. And forts. Every fort was a stone's throw away from another fort. And as it turns out, I couldn't care less for forts. I don't see the difference in the architecture of a fort built in 1800 and a fort built in 1810!
And the tour guides were just irritating. They claimed to take us "phree of coast" and give us "ejclujive tour" of the forts. While they gave us facts that were too unbelievable to be facts, we stood around drinking water, juice, kulfi(it melted)..pretty much anything to keep ourselves hydrated. By the end of the second day, we were too tired to lift a finger.
So on our drive back to the hotel, it was with great difficulty that we decided to see one more fort. And that, my friends, was one of the best decisions ever. When I walked into the fort, it noticed that it was empty, with the exception of a jolly old man sitting in a corner. He told me to look around; he didn't insist on giving me a tour. I liked him for that :)
I noticed a wide staircase and started climbing it. The walls were lined with faded paintings, but there was something so beautiful about the paintings. The paintings were so lonely, but so very expressive.
As I reached to top of the staircase, I saw a circular room. The walls were almost reduced to rubble. But they left a window that stretched on for half of the room's perimeter. And as I looked out of the window, I saw something that I'd never seen in Jaipur before. The dwindling streets, the quaint houses, the colourful shops - it was such a breathtaking view. I felt like I was in Utopia. I was glad that I decided to visit that fort. If I hadn't I wouldn't have believed that Jaipur was truly a beautiful city :)
