The Rise Of A Fortress

A Diana Penty discovers the hidden corners of Alila Fort Bishangrah, ANWESHA SANYAL explores how two strong female characters one a resurrected fortress, the other an actor-have stood the test of time and towered over the milieu with grandeur and humility.

 If the years of travel to Rajasthan’s fort hotels have taught me anything, it is that no matter how tangible the narrative is in the beginning, one can never quite comprehend the make of a fort. Walk into one armed with centuries of history, and you will still stand dazed, wondering how it was possible to build such high walls on a hill without modern technology, and how the structure has survived time, weather, and man.

Three hours from Delhi by car or one hour from the Jaipur airport—it was easy math, and I chose the former. We drove endlessly on a peak summer afternoon in search of Bishangarh’s new crown jewel, an Alila fort property, until Gurugram’s commercial hub faded away in the rear-view mirror, leaving the scorched highway, a landscape of unfinished flyovers, and a singular unflinching mirage leading the way.

A sudden detour led us into a village, then another, and as I chanted, “We’re almost there,” in my head, I got the first glimpse of it, still a good two miles away. Fort Bishangarh towered over a village, sitting on the edge of a granite hill with the Aravallis in the background. The village road melted into the fort’s entrance; the car crawled higher and higher, right to the doorstep of Alila Fort Bishangarh.