Chand Baoli, the mysterious stepwell of Rajasthan

Dedicated to the goddess of happiness, Chand Baoli remains spectacular in its desolation

For many people, detours offer some of the greatest joys of road trips. To me, however, the unending traffic on Indian roads usually takes away from the pleasure of impulsively turning off one’s path and adding hours to one’s journey. Yet, last month, when on the road from Delhi to Ranthambore, a tiny dot on Google Maps caught my eye. I simply had to go there, even though the detour would cost us a couple of hours at least. For in the now hazy realms of my childhood memories, there were stories upon stories of Chand Baoli, the mysterious stepwell