Holi remains my favourite festival although things have changed so much especially in cities like Delhi. Houses are small; friends and relatives live at distant places, so real fun of celebrating Holi just goes away. Holi has to be wet, a bit wild and full of coloured waters. Few lucky ones who have farm houses with swimming pools can afford to celebrate this type of Holi.  Holi reminds me of my childhood days when Amma used to make traditional Gujia and so many other sweets. On Holi day our home fridge was always full of Sookha (Dry) Meat and fish. Schedule was to go out play Holi, come back have meat or Fish with Poories and go out again till you are completely black or blue. There was no pressure for washing off colours and it usually took about a fortnight to come back to normal colours. Alcohol and bhang (Indian hemp) started much later in Medical College days.

I love photographing various festivals in India but Holi being so colourful is an obvious favourite.

It is celebrated all over India but there is something special to it in North India. Holi celebrations in Brij near Mathura provide all these essentials for getting some lovely colourful pictures. Brij Holi is famous for its legendry association to the stories of “Radha & Krishna” & Lathmaar Holi is very unique in this area. Legend is that Krishna was very conscious about his dark complexion especially in relation to Radha who was very fair. Krishna & his friends of Nand Gaon (Krishna’s village) decided to paint Radha & her friends black & blue. Somehow the news was leaked & ladies of Barsana (Radha’s village) beat them up with Laathies (wooden Sticks). Next day people from Barsana visited Nand Gaon & they were given the same treatment. These traditions have followed since then.  Nowadays these guys are well cushioned & have a shield to protect them & ladies do not intend to hurt them. The main attraction is colouring….both water & powder (Gulal), music & songs in the local dialect which is very interesting & the dancing is full energy, totally uninhibited. These festivities usually start a week ahead of the actual Holi day. In Vrindavan instead of colours people shower flower petals on each other. Celebrations continue for about 10 days

I had the privilege of visiting Brij thrice. Festivities here have become very famous & hoards of photographers from all over India descent in Barsana & Nandgaon to catch the action. Not only Indian but photographers from all over the world can be seen clicking the action. Electronic media is also seen in full strength. The lanes & by lanes are full of millions of people although these small towns are very poorly equipped to handle this onslaught. It is almost a situation of stampede with every possibility of casualties. Water colours of all varieties & colour powder (Gulal) are extensively used. Photographers have a real tough time. There is plenty of dust, water & muck all over the area. It is a tough task to protect the camera equipment. Most of the photographers are seen with their cameras covered with plastics & special camera raincoats.  With coloured powder & dust in the eyes, water all around & slippery hands it is very difficult to handle the focussing & adjusting the camera. There is much of pushing & jostling to get that perfect shot.  Floors & pathways are very slippery & there are all the chances of getting a broken bone. Number of photographers coming to this area is increasing very fast & it is almost impossible to get a frame without some body’s camera or head popping in. These enthusiastic photographers are often seen to obstruct the local ceremonies & often attack any photographable object like a pack of wolves. It becomes a situation like paparazzi around Lady Diana. Photographing Brij Holi is tough & dangerous yet an attractive, colourful & wild challenge. 

Unfortunately visitors especially if fair skinned or fair sex are specifically targeted with anything to colour them. Ladies particularly have a tough time because of the selective attack. Many intoxicated locals & youngsters from nearby places can be seen targeting the ladies, taking advantage of the festivity mood & the spirit of “Bura na mano Holi hai”. Nandgaon is about 130 kilometres from Delhi on Agra highway. The events are organized by UP tourism & exact dates can be seen on their website. It is convenient to make Vrindavan as the base camp.

 Holi is a free for all carnival of colours & traditional food such as Gujia, mathri & malpuas.

 I am sharing some of the pictures taken during last few years.

On a day before the main Holi day (Dulhandi) people collect & stock up wooden sticks for the bonfire at major crossings, parks & other community places & burn the pyre; signifying the burning of Holika. It is symbolic victory of good over evil. The story is that Prahlad, son of a cruel king Hirnakashyap was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu while his father had declared himself as God. Hirnakashyap was very annoyed with his son so he asked his sister Holika to sit in the pyre with Prahlad. Holika had a gift given by God that she will not get burned. Vishnu made sure that Prahlad escaped unhurt from the fire while Holika was burned to death. Vishnu appeared in the form Narsimha & killed the devil Hirnakashyap. When the pyre cools down devotees smear their head with pyre ashes & start celebrating with colours, dance & music.

Kerala State calls itself as “God’s own country”, a tag line used by state tourism. It is beautiful; there is abundance of nature’s gifts, amazing eastern highlands, rugged and cool mountain terrains, western lowlands and coastal plains. It has thick forest cover, plenty of flowering and medicinal plants, beautiful backwaters and brackwaters, diverse flora and fauna, rich history and culture. God’s own country is the tag line used by Kerala tourism. It was used originally for Wicklow Mountains in Ireland and later for Australia, New Zealand and few other countries. Unfortunately nowadays it is more in news for political violence, hacking opponent’s heads and limbs, forcible religious conversions and even entry of religious terror groups like ISIS.  This tag line should surely be changed now.

It is believed that the word Kerala is derived from the word “Kera” which is coconut in Malayalam, as it is the land where coconut is found in abundance. It is also probable that the name is derived from Cheralam; the land of most famous ruling dynasty of Kerala “The Cheras”, between 1^st and 5^th century AD. It is also believed that Kerala was recovered from sea by sage “Parasuram” the 6^th avatar of Vishnu, hence called “Parasurama kshetram”. Cheras were one of the four kingdoms of southern India in the time of Ashoka; others being Chola, Pandya and Satiyaputra.  Kerala spices were famous from time immemorial and attracted traders from Babylonia, Egypt Greeks and Romans in 3^rd and 2^nd BCE.  It is believed that Christianity reached Kerala in AD 52 with the arrival of Saint Thomas, one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. Judaism reached Kerala in 10^th century BC during the time of Solomon. Islam was introduced early and Cheraman Jumuáh Masjid in Thrissur is believed to be the first mosque in India built in 629 AD. The story is quite interesting as the legend says Cheraman Perumal (Chera king) witnessed a miracle “splitting of moon” performed by Islamic Prophet Muhammad. In conversation with Arab merchants, king learnt about Muhammad and travelled to Arabia to meet the Prophet and gifted him ginger pickles. Greatly impressed by Prophet Muhammad he converted to Islam. King sent a companion back to Kerala and converted the Buddhist temple to mosque. Although more than fifty percent of population is believed to be Hindu followed by Muslims and Christians yet state affairs are dominated by political parties related to Church and Mosque.  

My area of interest was Calicut or Kozhikode in North Kerala. It is usually not in the common tourist itinerary which usually starts from Ernakulum and ends at Trivandrum passing through hills of Munnar, forests of Periyar reserves, backwaters of Alappuzha and Kollam ending at the beaches of Trivandrum.  Europeans discovered India first landing at Kozhikode in 1498; but somehow Indian tourists do not visit the place much. Even many of my Keralite co-workers in hospital hardly have any idea of the place. English called it Calicut which is derived from Kalikat, the Malayalam word for local Mappila community. Kozhikode comes from Koliykode which itself is derived from Koyilkotai meaning a fortified palace (Koyil – palace, Kotai- fortified). Kozhi in Malayalam also means rooster so a cheeky name of Calicut is The Cock Fort. City of Spices was synonymous with Kozhikode in its earlier period.

Zamorins ruled the area in 12^th century A.D. and offered full freedom and security for trade. Last Cheraman Perumal was Rama Varma Kulasekhara. His governor Mana Vikrama became the Zamorin later. It traded mainly in black pepper and cardamom with Arabs, Jews, and Chinese. Marco Polo visited the area in 1293-1294. Ibn Battuta (A.D. 1342-47) described it as a preferred port for traders.  It was known as city of truth due to honesty and fair trade, while many other ports were famous for piracy and plunder. Chinese sailor Ma Huan (1403 AD) has described the opulence of the city and has mentioned about 20 to 30 mosques built by benevolent Zamorin to cater the needs of Muslim traders. Vasco de Gama opened the trade route for Europeans by landing at Kappad beach on May 20, 1498. There is some confusion regarding the place of landing of Vasco de Gama as he probably landed at Panthalayini near Kollam in Kozhikode district because there was no proper port at Calicut and it doesn’t have it even now. Government has even installed a memorial stone at Kappad beach. With the arrival of Portuguese peace of Calicut was very much disturbed resulting in frequents fights between Europeans and Arabs. Vasco de Gama returned again in 1502 and attacked Zamorin killing the Muslims in Calicut.  He also made friends with the king of Kochi rival to Zamorins. There were periods of peace but hostilities again erupted when Portuguese tried to assassinate Zamorin. Portuguese built a fort in Chaliyam (at river Bypore), a nearby village and established superiority on Indian waters, kept on harassing Zamorin and the fort appeared like a pistol on Zamorin’s head. Zamorin defeated Portuguese and recaptured the fort in 1571. There were reconciliation and Zamorin donated land to build a church. Dutch arrived in the scene in 1663 and completely threw out Portuguese. In 1766 Hyder Ali captured Calicut. Zamorin dispatched his family members to Ponnani, blew up his palace and committed self immolation.  In 1783 tyrant Tipu Sultan captured Kozhikode and persecuted Hindu population, destroying temples and authorising forcible conversions to Islam. Calicut was attacked by Nairs under Raja Ravi Varma. Third Mysore War (1790-1792) resulted in rule by Britishers and Zamorin family were reduced to pensioners. Kerala became one of the states of Indian union on 1 November, 1956. 

This amazing Kozhikode history was enough to generate interest in this North Kerala city. We reached Calicut from Coimbatore after paying obeisance to Adiyogi Shiva. Our driver was a bit tricky. There was language problem but more than that he appeared very lazy. I wanted to take some sunset pictures before checking in our hotel. He had other ideas and drove very slowly finishing his day after leaving us at hotel. Fortunately hotel staff was helpful and provided us their car to go to Kozhikode beach. Unfortunately it was a weekend and all the roads to beach were chocked. Somehow with some brisk walking carrying my Camera load we reached the beach. Sun didn’t wait for us and had disappeared in Arabian Sea. Beach was overcrowded with locals and was very dirty. There was not much to do with bad light, frustrated and cursing our driver we were on our way back to hotel.   There was a procession on the road with some drummers drumming and dancing, ladies carrying Diyas and few people dressed as Gods and Goddesses.  Language handicapped diver just said “Saar, some Devi Puja”. We immediately got down and it was a pleasant surprise. People were dressed as Lord Shiva, Parvati, Saraswati and Murugan. Language was a barrier but Camera lens dissolved that barrier and they were happy to be photographed. Next day morning appeared a better organised day as we had Mr. K. Mohan, a very experienced guide with us.

Day started with Beypore fishing market. Fishermen were back with their catch and were busy packaging it. There was a huge ice crusher being used to pack fishes for transfer to fish markets. Fishes of all sizes, Prawns small and giant, Mussels, Lobsters and Crabs; everything was there. Many Egrets and Crows were hovering around for some leftovers. Very near to fish market is the workshop of famous boat makers of Beypore. It is an age old art, probably the biggest handicraft work making “Uru”, the Dhows made out of Teak wood. This art passed through generations has survived the modern ship building yards. There are no formal blue prints, drawings or sketches; it is all in the mind of craftsmen who entrust the daily work to assistants maintaining the secrecy. Wood is now imported from Malaysia and the buyers are mainly rich Arabs.  Waterproof frames are made here; engines and customisation is done elsewhere. Arabs and royalty of Middle East use it as luxury yachts. It is expected that Soccer World Cup 2022 in Qatar will bring in many more orders for Urus.  Not far is Beypore beach with a 1 kilometre long pier (Beypore pulimuttu) in the Arabian Sea. On left side of pier is brackwaters with many fishing vessels parked and on the right side is beach which is poorly maintained and is full of garbage and unorganized stalls. Thikkodi light house can be seen on the left side of pier. This place is overcrowded on weekends. Lighthouse is open to public only for couple of hours in evening and gives a good view especially at sunset time.

Our next stop over was Kuttichira which is predominantly a Koya Muslim area. The most interesting place here is Mishkal Mosque.   On first appearance it doesn’t look like a mosque, resembling more to a Hindu or Buddhist temple. This impressive wooden structure was built by Yemeni trader Nakhoda Mishkal in 1510. It is painted blue, white and aquamarine covered by typical sloping tiled roofs and is supported by wooden pillars. Originally it was a five story structure but part of it was destroyed by Portuguese.  There is strong unmistakable influence of Chinese and South India architecture. Mosque overlooks a huge pond Kuttichira. Houses in the area are old traditional joint family large houses (Tharavadus), often with 40 bedrooms; adding new room (maniyara- wedlock room) after every marriage. There is matriarchal system and the girl lives in mother’s house. Husbands are allowed only in the night to complete their assigned work and a closed window indicates the presence of husband. Children are taken care of by other relatives. These properties are in the name of women as traditionally men were mostly out of towBeypore beach Pier (Beypore pulimuttu)n being traders and sailors. Muchundi mosque (Kuttichira Jummah Masjid) nearby is one of the oldest building here. It is believed that it was the residence of the earlier king and gifted to Muslims by Zamorin in 12^th century. It can accommodate about 5000 people for prayers.  These mosques are without the traditional dome and minarets and Indo-Chinese influence can easily be seen. The new mosque in the area is a modern structure with a dome and minarets.  The road along the pond has offices of Congress party, Communist party and the Muslim league. There are many bakeries in the area making classical banana chips and other sweets; one looked something like Karachi Halwa.  The seashore on beach road is well kept, tiled and beautified with carved stone structures. Just around the colony is Gujaratis street with many Gujarati and Jain traders living there.

The Mother of God Church (Matri Dei Cathedral) locally called as Valliyapalli is a 1513 AD structure built by Portuguese on a place given by Zamorin. It is built in Neo-Roman Gothic architecture designed by Italian architects. Awesome carved doors, curvaceous arches and windows, colonnades and pillars make it an alluring piece of art. Altar is stunning with statues of Jesus on cross, Joseph, Mary and Jesus. A 200 years old portrait of St. Mary adorns the walls. Church was renovated in 1599, 1724 and again in 2008 and is Cathedral of the diocese of Kozhikode.  It is located near the beach and is surrounded by three schools.  Mother Teresa also adorns one of the walls.

  Tali temple or the Shiva Thalikkunu temple is the oldest Hindu temple, reputed to be older than Calicut city. It is believed that the Sanctum Sanctorum, a Shivling was established by Lord Parasuram. There are smaller temples of other deities inside. Non Hindu is not allowed inside and men have to wear just a dhoti to go inside. Women have to wear a Saree or a salwar Kameez. Temple was destroyed by tyrant Tipu Sultan in 1792 along with other Hindu temples and restored later. There is a temple pond along with another temple which was believed to be accessible by lower caste Hindu folk.  This is the family temple of Zamorins and royal family is now a managing trustee. There is a school nearby, also managed by Zamorin family.

Sweet Meat Street is a popular place in the heart of Kozhikode. In Malayalam it is called as Mittayi Theruvu. Initially British thought that it is a street for meat/flesh and they were relieved to see only Halwa and other sweets in the market. This is a popular market selling almost everything from handicrafts to snake boat toys. Vehicles are not allowed inside. Wide varieties of shakes and fruit drinks are very famous here. It dates back to the time when Zamorin invited Gujarati sweet makers and gave them shops just outside the palace. A bust of Malayalam author SK Pottekkatt   is placed at the entry of the SM Street and the walls on entry have beautiful art work depicting old Kerala culture.

Mananchira square is a large park in the centre of city to spend evenings in a silent relaxing space. There is a small park and large pond in the area. It was built as bathing pool by and for royal family by Zamorin Mana Vikram around 14^th century. Now pond is reserved only for the drinking water supply. There are shade trees, flowering trees, walkways, benches, statues of dinosaurs and a man in exercise position; a place to unwind and relax. There is an impressive modern building opposite it, housing the city library in it. Another old depilated building (Dutch tiles factory) still stands there and reminds of Dutch occupation.

In the city of so called Gods, there was complete strike on Saturday 23^rd February, 2019 as communist party workers had hacked and killed two Congress workers. All food joints were closed and our team leader Mr Mohan took us to a railway station canteen. That was an experience and a great story. We spent the very hot afternoon on the tree shades on the banks of brack waters. Tried to photograph few Kingfishers and Brahmni kites but results were not very fruitful. Lovely cool wind in the shades had a strong sedative effect and it was a decent rest.

We reached Kappad beach in the evening to see and enjoy the evening activities on beach and the sunset. This was a better maintained beach but communist party had defaced many of the rocks advertising their student bodies. It was a nice and enjoyable evening. Clicking some silhouettes with setting sun and capturing joyful activities of children, it was time to move back to hotel for some local food and a hard drink after a satisfying tiring day.  

December is generally a great time for our family. Weather is great and our home is blessed with the presence of full family; both daughters, son in law and above all the two devils: my grand children. Every moment spent with them remains a memory which brings in a smile in any situation. 2017 December we planned a trip outside Delhi. My granddaughter loves animals so we decided for not too far Tiger reserve of Sariska, which is 200 kilometres from Delhi, in Alwar district of Rajasthan.
It is believed that Pandavas of Hindu Epic Mahabharata spent their last few days of exile in this majestic forest. Set in Aravali range of mountains Sariska is dry deciduous forest with plenty of greenery along with rocky terrain and small cliffs. It was the hunting ground of royals of Alwar and their high society guests till 1955, when it was declared a wild life reserve. Sariska was incorporated in Project Tiger in 1978. It came in limelight when in 2004 it was reported that all tigers in the sanctuary have disappeared. There were no pug marks, no scratch marks on the trees and Langurs of the forest almost forgot their habit of giving Jungle calls exposing the presence of Royal Bengal tiger. Government of Rajasthan with wild life experts decided to relocate few Tigers from Ranthambor so as to rebuild the glory of this forest. The first aerial translocation was of a male tiger “Dara” on 28th June 2008 from Ranthambor. Two females were also transported during the same period and this ambitious project proved to be a success as now the count is about 15 – 17 tigers including 4 males and nine females along with few cubs. Most of these have the gene pool of Ranthambor Tigers especially of the famous tigress queen Machli. It is important to diversify this gene pool as inbreeding may be disastrous. 
Our travel consultant Malay booked us in a very exclusive hotel Vanaashraya resort which is an amazing tented accommodation with all modern facilities. It was a perfect place to have a great time with the family especially on our first day when we were the only guest in this beautiful property. Very humble staff pampered us like anything with incredibly great Rajasthani food and astonishing local folk music. It was a treat to the eyes to see my lovely granddaughter dancing to that beautiful music. 
We took two safaris to the jungle. Sariska was never in my bucket list because of the disappearance of the King Tiger earlier; but there is so much to a jungle than the tigers. No doubt they are the main point of interest but many more things can be equally attractive. Sambhar groups mud bathing, Langurs doing all their silly activities and the beautiful birds can all be very interesting. We did see Spotted Deer, Jackals, wild boars, army of Langurs, Blue bulls and Sambhars enjoying the mud baths. Unfortunately not many birds were there although the place is very near Bharatpur, which is a paradise for all types of birds. We spotted few Pea fowls, Bulbuls, Indian quails, spotted owls, Gray Partridge and few water birds. Then there were many angry birds the “Jungle Babblers”. The only big bird that we spotted was a Gray Francolin. Not seeing a tiger is always a bit disappointing but a jungle call by a Langur alerted us during the fag end of our jungle safari. What a surprise it was! One of the most beautiful creatures gave us a glimpse. It was a beautiful Leopard. Fascinating beauty was enjoying the setting sun at a distance oblivious to too many jeeps struggling to occupy the vantage position. It was amazingly camouflaged with the surrounding plants. Light was good and I was at a decent position to focus my camera to get a prized picture. As we were coming back, we all had big smiles on our faces and the best comment was from my granddaughter “Nana ji your friend Leopard was beautiful”. This made my trip. 

If we Google for the top haunted place in India, Bhangarh fort comes at number one position. Even the Archaeological Survey refrains from having an office here and sits at one kilometre distance. There is a sign outside the fort “No one is allowed to enter the premises post sunset and pre sunrise”. A Rajasthan Tourism department advertisement also promotes the spooky nature of this place. It is a totally uninhabited place and the nearest habitation is in village Gola Ka Bas, about 1 kilometre. Town was established by 16th century Amer king Bhagawant Das, who was one of the descendents of Jai Singh II (the founder of Jaipur city). This fort was built by Man Singh-I for his younger brother Madho singh-I and was named after their grandfather Bhan Singh. Man Singh-I was one of the main ministers (Navratn) in Mughal king Akbar’s cabinet. His younger sister Mariam-uz-Zamani (Jodha Bai) was married to Akbar who awarded him the title of “Mansab‘’ naming him as Man Singh and conferred him the title of Amir-ul-Umra. He also married his daughter Manbhawati Bai to Akbar’s son Salim, who later became Mughal ruler Jahangir. 
Bhangarh was in my bucket list since a long time and our family trip to Sariska provided me an opportunity to visit this unearthly place; as it is only 90 kilometres from Alwar and is about 2 hr drive on a decent road. There are many ghostly stories and experiences floating around so I was a bit iffy especially with our grand children with us. Fortunately we all are adventurous and fairly brave, so the trip was on. Best part was that none of us knew what to expect.
There are few legends and stories related to the creepiness of Bhangarh. Ratnavati, princess of Bhangarh was extremely beautiful and a tantrik (Black Magician) Singhia was enamoured with her. He planned to seduce her by casting a black magic on the oil used by princess. Princess knew a bit of black magic herself and immediately realised the trick. Oil with black magic was poured on the ground and it turned into a rock which crushed the tantrik. Before dying Singhia cursed Bhangarh and strange things started happening. Residents got scared and left in a single night leaving behind a ghost town. The other story is that while building the fort permission was sought from a saint Balu Nath living nearby. Only condition was that the shadow of the fort should never fall on the home of the monk. Unfortunately a fortification tower caused the ominous shadow on Balu Nath’s house. The chain of curses started and the fort was doomed within no time and people left the haunted fort. It is also believed that Mughals attacked the fort and killed everybody, leaving a ghost town. Another reason could be that great famine in 1800s finishing off the population.
There are many stories of the creepiness of the fort. Once few adventure seeking boys stayed back in the fort and were enjoying the party inside. They noticed a boy crying alone in a room. Room had no window or doors around it but was properly grilled so that no one enters. They tried talking to the child but he disappeared after laughing weirdly. What happened next is anybody’s guess! People have reported unexplained noises, bangle breaking, screaming and crying emerging out of fort. Some strange perfume emanating along with weird music with dancing ghostly shadows have been reported by few. Strange sensation and invisible hand slapping the face have been described by the local people. Despite these scary folklores which add to charm of the fort this is an architectural beauty. 
Car park is in the village and there was a walk of about 1 kilometre to the fort. There were lot many tourists around and seeing many noisy and chirpy school kids I was sure that any ghostly thing will not survive these boisterous little devils. There were many villagers probably for some Puja. Rajasthani village female folks are always real treat to photograph because of their colourful cloths and ever present smile. Then there were few tourists too and the place was looking like a picnic place rather than a home of other-worldly. 
Outside the rampart there is a structure of the same time probably a cenotaph of somebody important. Pathway lined with a roofless stone colonnade is the first encounter with the ruins. It is full of Monkeys, the Wild Toque Macaques. They are real nuisance and throng the colonnade as people feed them. This place was the market place in better times and was called as Johri Bazaar (Jeweller’s market) along with dancing girl’s quarters. Structures, arches, broken walls and gates cast some amazing shadows and angles giving some interesting ideas to make pictures. This pathway in night will surely look a bit spooky. In day time it is impressive and majestic. The entrance is through a huge arched gate and the pathway to fort is a slowly ascending stony slope. There are two extremely beautifully built temples as we walk towards the fort. Gopinath Temple has stunning elaborate carved structures in the walls as well as the roof. All the carved statues have a music instruments in their hands. Temple is simply gorgeous piece of architecture speaking volumes about the talented artisan of those times. Among the ruins one can see few dilapidated temple structures, havelis and small wells (Baori). On the left side we could see Someshwar Temple; a Shiva Temple with Nandi built on stone guarding the sanctum. There is a pond outside this temple which has a natural spring filling it. It was a pleasant surprise to see a Kingfisher enjoying the ghostly world. The fort was initially a seven story building but now it is a four story crumbling splendour with a broken roof top. On the right corner of third floor people do some quirky things. Amongst lot of smoke, fire and human bones there were people dancing and chanting some tantric words which I failed to understand. It is believed that the ghost comes on Tuesdays. Tourists generally avoid this area but in quest of a photograph I ventured inside. Surprisingly nothing happened and I came out looking for more. Few rooms are left totally isolated and standing there alone can be a bit spooky. Going to those isolated rooms on left flank of second and third floor could be interesting and may be a bit scary. I did go there but surely there is no story to tell. Most of the tourists go to the top floor to take selfies with the ruin fort area. Top floor is all broken and littered with broken columns, walls, gates and stones. It also gives an amazing view of the Bhangarh Fort ramparts. The entire landscape looks like a musical melody in stone. The cenotaph on top of the hill was probably a watch tower or may be of the evil magician. Possessed or jinxed or cursed, Bhangarh fort deserves a visit at least once. The scary stories are difficult to believe but now they are part of the folklore and they keep getting propagated. Real bad souls are those tourists who throw plastics packets everywhere and write their frustrations on the fort walls defacing them. ASI is also neglecting the place; toilets were dirty, smelly with broken gates, surely more horrifying than any ghost. Our guide denied seeing any paranormal activities although he suddenly disappeared after taking his money. It is a good place for Ghost Hunters, but needs some help by its keepers Archaeological Survey of India.
There was surely a divine sprit helping us as my 3 year old granddaughter climbed the fort on her own without asking for a “Godi” with the continuous story telling by her Mausi and a picture of her with my camera on every corner of the climb. It was the evidence that there were few holy spirits residing there in the fort. 
P.S. I was writing this travelogue in midnight when suddenly my mobile rang up. The caller tune is a bit ghostly and that was really spooky (hear Sci-Fi ringtone on Apple). 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton