We had booked an auto for the whole day but once we reached at the Kati Ghati Gate, we decided to walk on foot and bade goodbye to our auto guy.
This is where we left in our last blog post.
The name of the landmark was 'kati pahadi' which loosely translates into 'a broken mountain.' And it was a different world altogether on the other side. The populace diminishing, roads merging into forests and disappearing all of a sudden.
Moving Beyond Kati Pahadi
It was a gradual descent in the beginning and the road passed through a thick, desolate forest. The road had disappeared to make way for boulders and dirt. There were a few houses enroute, scattered populace and most of the houses were old buildings, probably remnants of by gone era which were now inhabited by these people. Few houses must have been sprawling villas back in the day but not anymore.
Look at the building in the background. Must have been an important structure in its heydays. Now looks like an abandoned structure biding its time.
After crossing this habitation, we could see one dilapidated structure ahead us that looked like an old fort. It turned out to be a museum cum hunting lodge, that was built in the year 1700. That made it almost 300 years old structure. Earlier there used to be a well-maintained museum here but by the looks of it, it seemed that there was no caretaker anymore. There is a lake touching the walls of this building and one could see the water body cutting through the forest in the background. Makes sense to have a hunting lodge near the jungle.
Although we did not see any wildlife, but we did come across a snake swimming in the water.
The Ramnagar Palce cum Hunting Lodge at Chanderi
The silent waters of lake did entice me to take a plunge and swim across but the sight of that snake made me apprehensive. Now, we were desperately looking for someone who could take us for a boat ride. There was an abandoned boat lying around and before we could think of any mischief, the boatman arrived and asked us if we needed a ride. It was great fun riding in the boat, but the sun was unbearably hot and then we decided to call it a day.
Now was the time to head back and we were desperately missing our auto guy that we had turned back. However, overcast cloud did provide us with some relief. We met people working in their fields and they were worried about rains while we desperately wanted it to rain.
Such are the ways of life, one man's blessing is another man's curse.
