Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

When built 500 years ago, the Jaisalmer Fort protected its citizens. Today, many live outside the walls, though a whopping quarter of the city still lives inside, where hovels and cubicles serve as residences and businesses, independently owned. An unfolding tragedy lies in the outdated plumbing, used by an industrious population. As a result, water drainage is eroding the foundation. While efforts have been made to salvage the structure, individual proprietorship complicates any solution. When and will the fort crumble from below? Will people who know no other life but inside the fort be shuttled to another location? Plumbing systems grow old, as does everything else in life. When I think of this fort and the people inside, sleeping, cooking, giving birth and dying, I hope that a remedy can be found while the walls still remain upright.