February 17, 2025

The Forts of Past, Present, and Future

3 forts in 3 days. For the Golden Triangle tour, we made sure we got to see the Red Fort in Delhi, the Agra Fort in Agra, and the Amber Fort in Jaipur. To my welcome surprise, each of these ancient monuments only got progressively cooler. The Red Fort in Delhi was impressive, huge imposing walls with a rich history and beautiful green spaces littered throughout the area. We learned about a king who made secret tunnels to visit his three queens so that the queens wouldn’t know who he favored more. If you ask me, it sounds like he had communication issues. I liked it, but what I was really looking forward to was the Agra Fort.

Before we had arrived there, we were told by our tour guide that only roughly a quarter of the fort was assessable to the public, with the rest being maintained and used by the military. With that in mind, I had thought it might be a short, simple tour. I was happy to be proven wrong. The Agra Fort was huge, with a huge ramp that leads up to the main courtyard and winding paths that lead to different parts of the fort. When I was young, I use to play a video game, Age of Empires 3, that was about ancient civilizations fighting. One of them was India during the time of the Mughal Empire and the Agra Fort was a building you could make to make your civilization stronger. So being able to see the Agra Fort first in a video game, then to real life, I was awestruck! I remember jokingly exclaiming to a colleague, “I can’t believe they remade the Agra Fort from Age of Empires into real life!” The Agra Fort was so much bigger and grander than any video game could replicate and seeing that made me realize how I couldn’t even imagine the amount of work that was put into making the fort. From the materials, to acquiring the labor, to planning it out, there was a million pieces moving at once and we are here to witness the final results.

Finally, the Amber Fort in Jaipur. We got to ride in open-roof jeeps, able to stand up and feel the wind in our hair while we ride. We saw people riding elephants to the top of the fort, I couldn’t imagine how much I would be charged for an elephant ride. When we arrived in the fort itself, there were dozens of twisting, winding, corridors that some lead to nowhere, while other paths opened to breathtaking sights of the mountains and lakes. Most of GCIL might have gotten lost in those tunnels if it wasn’t for the security guards posted around guiding us out. Seeing the Amber Fort struck me in a contemplative mood. It made me wonder how many thousands of hours went into constructing just the hallways connecting this place. How about the materials, the labor, the failures and successes in building this place? Even the logistics of trying to supply soldiers stationed here without modern technology boggled my mind.
Walking in the Red Fort, Agra Fort, and the Amber Fort made me consider how we walk in the footsteps of those who came before us, and we glimpse the results of their work while perhaps being only able to imagine a fraction of the effort that went into it. This thought process made me consider that I should extend this same thinking to Bengaluru. We witness the rich history of this city and the work of those who came before us, whether in the form of previous GCIL students or other actors. How do we pay our respects to that? Do we consciously recognize that effort? While I continue work on my own GCIL project, I will always consider what work has been done to allow us to come to this point, and what work can still be done. \

By,
Chanwit