Standing sentinel over the desert, Jaisalmer Fort with its ninety-nine bastions is a giant sandcastle rising out of the surrounding sandstone sea like an Atlantis rising from the ocean…

This massive fort was built in the 1500s on the backs of the camel trains that paid protection money to gain safe passage across this stretch of barren Thar desert en-route to Afghanistan. This part of India was then, and in many ways still is, the Wild West where, in addition to running protection rackets, the Rajput rulers filled their coffers by rustling cattle. It’s a pity someone doesn’t rustle these strays off the city’s streets today……