About five minutes away is the fort of Nahargarh. It probably has the best view of the lot. It’s constructed on the very edge of the cliff, on the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles), part of the Aravalli hills. Incidentally, the Cheel ka Teela also houses Jaigarh Fort and Amer Palace. When you stand on the rampart and look down, the fort overlooks the original Pink City, and you also enjoy a spectacular view of the Man Sagar Lake. We also stopped by on the bank of the Man Sagar Lake on our way back from the triple fort visit. Plump in the middle of the lake is Jal Mahal. Although we couldn’t travel to the Jal Mahal itself because we didn’t want to leave the Santa Fe behind, and despite its many handy features, it isn’t capable of making the jump from car to motor boat, or any kind of boat for that matter. We did manage to take in the Jal Mahal’s splendour from afar, though.
Our next stop was to be the capital, New Delhi, and getting there meant we had to take the NH 8. Everything was going smoothly until we reached Manesar. Once there, the ongoing bridge construction meant the entire highway traffic was funnelled, causing a major hold-up. Things only got worse the closer we got to New Delhi, because Gurgaon was an absolute bumper-to-bumper clog up. After inching forward at an agonisingly slow pace, the road finally started to open up again. In the distance, I could see a sandstone and marble monolith cutting a sharp silhouette in the skyline – the Qutub Minar. This could only mean one thing, New Delhi: we had arrived.
