Photo Challenge : Window

Mehrangarh Fort is one of the largest forts in India. It looms over the city of Jodhpur, in the state of Rajasthan. Jodhpur is a beautiful city with royal forts, beautiful lakes and gardens, bustling bazaars and a hearty appetite for delicious food. This city is also famously called the Blue City on account of a majority of houses in the older part of town being whitewashed in a blueish hue. The best ways to see proof of this are to either amble along the streets at ground level or hike up to the Mehrangarh Fort and enjoy a bird’s eye view from the ramparts. By the way, Jodhpur is Mr.A’s birthplace & childhood home, enough reason to be all the more special for me 🙂

This post, however, zooms in on a distinct attribute of many forts and palaces in India , a special kind of window that you see in the pictures, called the jharokha. It is a typical feature of Indo-Islamic architecture which is at once an enclosed balcony as well as a window. It served various purposes – beautifying the building facade with its intricate designs, pillars, and mini-roofs; providing a screen against the outer world through covered lattices; providing ventilation as well as shade against sun and rain.

P.S. I posted another picture clicked at the Fort in a previous entry to the Weekly Photo Challenge, when we talked about an ephemeral moment caught on camera.

Check out more from the Weekly Photo Challenge at Sunny District!