Most visitors to Petra from Amman stop over for a quick look at the castle in Kerak. We ended up staying for four days at Al Dhimma, a small dusty town perched on a mountain ridge a short drive away from the Kerak castle. Moufadi the bedouin charmer who managed the rather ambitiously named “resort”, that we stayed in entertained us with cups of hot shai (arabic tea) and would sneakily offer me the potent kahwa (cardamom infused arabic coffee) for breakfast and odd hours. Apparently there wasn’t enough coffee to share with the other traveller’s who were here only for a night’s stopover, so I had to have my coffee in secret.

Olive trees, stray dogs and a corinthian column probably pillaged casually from the nearby roman ruins of Al Rabba, all provide the perfect backdrop to observe life in Jordan beyond the regular sights. We buy fresh mutton from a local butcher who prostrates in prayer for the holy azaan for a good ten minutes before getting up to serve his customers. Fruits and vegetables are so cheap around the markets , that for the first time in Jordan I start using the lesser denomination coins. We have the best shawarma ever, watch cars with cool gangster style Saddam hussein stickers and generally have a good relaxing time.

Arjun plays with stones and creates a pile that he claims is a pickup truck. Moufadi, the bedouin is interested and remarks that Arjun plays like a bedouin kid.

We start off one bright and sunny day towards the Kerak castle. A crusader castle built on a hill hurriedly in the 12th century by the Christians, it was taken by the Muslims after a successful siege. More recently in 2016 it was the scene for an ISIS terrorist attack. Seeking shelter in the dungeons after storming the gates, the terrorists were finally sent to their maker after a protracted gun battle. Locals showed up their kalashnikovs to help the Jordanian police and a few hapless tourists were accidental hostages.

We don’t dwell too much on these grim events and wander around the fallen bricks and crumbling walls. The rough stone arches are quite a sight, still holding up, somehow held together with the hurriedly slapped together mortar. There are narrow tunnels and dungeons that line the passageways. Medieval soldiers engaging in medieval stuff is the theme. We click a few pictures. There’s even a sheep skull and ribs in one of the cells to add color.

The real surprise comes a month later, when I am taking a closer look at the pictures. It turns out that we photographed a few of the supernatural residents of the castle. Yes we have photographic evidence of good old fashioned ghosts. I am stupendously excited. Dhanya is convinced too. I contact my friend who has a Phd in photonics and get our sighting certified supernatural. We are in the land of the high prophets and it stands to reason that the lesser djinns should not want to be left behind.