This time for my adventure, me and a couple of my friends decided to take a trip into the past, ancient architectures to be precise and what better way to feed this craving with historic forts in India lingering with heritage. I was lucky enough to travel again and looking at the COVID-19 situation I had a doubt that there would be another lockdown so we decided to make the best of this trip. We decided to visit not 1, not 2 but a total of 7 forts near the Tricity, but on one condition that we’d not look at the pictures of these monuments before visiting them.
We were up early in the morning and ready to roll, our meeting point was Tricity Plaza and according to our trusty guide ‘’Google Maps’’ first fort was around 20 kms away from us and it was the Ramgarh Fort.
I was thrilled, excited and all but once we reached there, none of us were ready to see what had happened to the fort. It was turned into a luxurious hotel with a gigantic garden. Although, I was a bit disappointed as only the ancient thing about this place was the architecture but I was happy to know that it holds the record for the ‘Tallest Wooden Door’ in Limca book of records. Of course, we were not planning to stay so we moved on.
Next on we travelled to the second fort which was Raipur Rani Fort. Now that’s what I’d like to call ancient. This fort clearly represents a different era and lifestyle, old bricks laid in a fashion that’s extinct in the modern society. We spent some time here soaking in the ambience and then we carried on.
The day was passing quickly and the final location for this day was The Burj Fort. I had read about this place prior to our visit and I was eager to see what it looked like. In my mind I had imagined it to be a defense fort, also it took us a while to reach there. However, it was astounding to look at, it almost appeared as a royal palace but at the same time I was sad because no one was taking care of it and it was almost dilapidated. We quickly climbed up to it’s second floor, thankfully the stairs held our weight well and were starstruck by the magnificent view of the entire Panchkula and Jhajjar river. After taking in the view for some time we decided to call it a day and continue our adventure tomorrow.
The new day dawned and we were ready as ever.
It was already past midday at this point, and we ventured on for our next destination, Morni Fort. Just like the previous location it was epic, giant walls to protect from enemy attacks and thick bricks layered formation. It had four watchtowers and given it’s history of war it makes a lot of sense, to look in depth I’d recommend this article Overall, we spent a little too much time in here just living in the past and I don’t blame anyone for that, as it is easy to forget passing of time in these relics of a monument.
And it was time to head to Manimajra Fort. Apparently, none of us bothered to look at what fort was where and it turned out it was just 8 Kms away from us. Anyways, this property is under court trial and not many people visit this place as it looks like a ruin and even it’s past is convoluted. Even after that, it manages to have such a vibe that it just attracts people like me. It almost looks like a sand castle but with bricks and it stands true to it’s name of the Fort.
Next up on our list was Manauli Fort. After seeing the state of the previous fort I was optimistic to see what the next location had to offer and I was blank to say the least. Laid before us was a barren land with this decrepitated fort, it almost appears as if it belonged to a different civilization. I admit it was amazing to see it that way but I still wish somebody would take care of it. It is one gigantic fort with watchtowers, what seems to be gardens, and beautiful or once beautiful fountains. Now it’s just an abandoned history, home to banyan trees and shrubs.
Finally, it was time to head to our final destination and we didn’t realize it was in Himachal Pradesh but we were determined to make it. This place was Banasar Fort. As there are no roads leading up to the fort we had to traverse through pine trees and climb up to this crumbling piece of history, almost in ruins. I guess it was a trend that day for us to find abandoned forts. By the looks of it, it felt it was a watchtower and though all forts are made for defense this one felt more rigid than others. We spent some time there, looked around the mountains for a while and decided to head home and call this journey completed.
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