A fort

There's a fort I've visited twice. It's a large pleasant one. Unlike the Ferozeshah Kotla and Tughlaqabad fort, it's not deserted, housing only sad poverty. It is not like the Red Fort either: teeming with politics and commerce. People don't come to this one to click pictures of themselves and the ruins. It is a 'ruins' alright, but a living breathing one. 

The weather here is always pleasant; it is never sunny but always bright enough; it's like the beginning of a storm, but without the dust whirls. It's always like a spring morning - or spring evening, spring evening would suit better, yes. It is like that even at noon, even at night. 

The fort is built in mud red and blood brown colours. There are huge mounds of mud that one has to climb up and jostle down in order to get through the gateways, such that you could touch the centre of the arch when you're at the top of the mound. The fort is a large place, maybe not as much as the Tughlaqabad fort, but larger than the Ferozeshah Kotla.

But you can never tire yourself out there, you can climb up and jostle down all day long, brushing your fingers and palms against the centre of the arches. But you'll still be as fresh as at the start of your sojourn, emerging from the momentary darkness of the gateways with bright laughing faces. 

People live there. They're only visitors with balloons and frisbees and picnic baskets and bedsheets spread on the grass cover of the fort grounds. But they look so happy they look like they're home. Or probably they want to make it their home. 

When I've woken up, I have mental determinations to find and visit this fort. But somehow, I couldn't recall the way to it. But then I consoled myself. I've been to the fort twice. Someday I'm bound to stumble upon the right path and find the fort. Because I've heard, "If it happens twice, it can happen for a third time." The next time I find it, I'll take other people to accompany me. I'm very bad with directions, maybe they will remember the way to the fort. Or... Maybe... The next time I find the way to the fort, I'll live there and never come back.