My Independent Day (no services) in Deogarh

3 nights - definitely 1 night too long in Deogarh. Don’t get me wrong, the Dev Shree is definitely a unique experience, but an expensive one to pay for the privilege of being house guest of part of the regional royal family. You are treated as “one of the family”, but after awhile I felt like they should pay me as I got to hear all the local gossip, often in the local dialect (no, I don’t understand it, so was effectively left out of a conversation that would have been boring. I was also privileged to hear about the problems of crop harvesting (ok, some of this was interesting) and servants who just don’t do what you tell them to. Unfortunately, I was there when a favorite uncle passed away suddenly. This would be a tragedy at any time and I would have preferred to withdraw and let the family grieve. There was no where for me to go and the dinner set up is family style, so I had to eat with them. It was extremely awkward to say the least. At least it got me out of an evening Jeep ride, but I didn’t get to see the local palace or battlefield because it was saved for the evening ride (see below as to what I did today). The food was marvelous, but dinner was delayed until about 9pm, another Argentinian dinner hour.

Another interesting note is that I’m not sure how much the “incidentals” are costing me - I guess more on that tomorrow when I check out. Breakfast is included, but that’s it. There is no where else to eat and I felt forced to have lunch each day (I succumbed on Tuesday because it was my favorite menu). Don’t get me wrong - the food was wonderful - I just don’t know how much extra I’m racking up. Is the evening Jeep ride 2 days ago extra? How much was the acupressure massage I felt forced to take to cost? All shall be revealed and am feeling rather vulnerable at the moment. *end of rant*

On my independent day it was decided I would do 3 things: go to the local Hindu cave temple, to the Anjana Fort and get the acupressure massage. I would have my faithful servant Mukesh (spelled incorrectly yesterday) as my guide and massage therapist.

The Cave Temple - #3 of 4 things to do in Deogarh according to TripAdvisor:

In the very small village of Anjana and across the road from the town's stepwell, there is a small, Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, situated in a low-slung cave that is also home to fruit bats. The story goes it’s about 1000 years old and the very first yoga was practiced here over a thousand years ago, before then being introduced in northern Rishikesh. The cave may be 2,000 years old, but who knows. Just below the steps leading up to its entrance someone painted on the whitewashed wall in both Hindi and English, ”avoid alcohol and eat vegetarian”. It is very hot again, and the temple is at the top of a flight of steps. At the top you remove shoes before entering. I didn’t see the warning in Trip Advisor about the bat guano until after I visited, but I don’t remember seeing any and I only saw 2 small fruit bats, so maybe they cleaned up their act after tourist complaints. The shrine itself is well-tended, has colorful garlands of flowers festooned around the picture of Lord Shiva, as well as other offerings. if you venture a bit further into the cave, just beyond the tiny shrine, you can see the back wall of the cave and I saw 2 tiny fruit bats hanging out here. Some of the items in the shrines were ”natural” vs man-made. Looking at the snake and baby bull sculptures I found it hard to believe these were not also sculpted by someone, but miracles happen. (On some level this cave reminded me of certain Catholic Churches, the cavern, the statues…. Now I’m truly going to hell). Across from the temple is another MC Escher type of structure which is the local well/bathing area. To give context, it is like the pool in the movie “marigold hotel” where Dev Patel is talking with his girlfriend. The water level was VERY low and VERY green with the ubiquitous trash at the bottom, so I hope no one is bathing in or drinking it.

Anjana Fort

#4 of 4 things to do in Deogarh, according to Trip Advisor (the other 2 things involved waterfalls and you won’t see them this time of year - too dry). This fort, situated about 5km from the cave and on a hillock overlooking the flat valley below, was built by the local ruling family as a place to pray and to cool down. It is also in the tiny, VERY sparsely populated village of Anjana, and there is a barely-visible roadway leading up from the village to its broken, trash strewn, steps and very high defensive walls. The fort itself belongs to the local ruling Singh family (family of the owners, and my hosts, of Dev Shree), the House of Mewar. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the Deogarh Mahal or the battlefield which are said to be quite something, but I guess that’s for another time if it’s meant to be.

The fort is abandoned with crumbling steps, weed-choked spaces, boarded up doorways, and trash all around. Part of the Fort was destroyed by lightning, but there is still an intact area with a sitting bull statue in front. All at once there was a sound and a big flock of pidgeons flew off and around the top of the temple, like something out of a movie. One of the birds was a short toed snake eagle. Bizarre name but big brown bird!On the way back to the hotel, we came across school letting out. It was amazing to see how many students had mopeds in this rural, and rather poor, area.