Amrita Lakhani Chapter 1 – Return to the Haveli The late afternoon sun draped the Rajasthani landscape in molten gold as Meera Rathore’s jeep rolled through the dusty road leading to her ancestral village. The air was thick with the scent of dry earth and marigold garlands strung outside small houses in preparation for an upcoming festival. For Meera, a heritage researcher who had spent years in Jaipur’s archives and museums, this trip was meant to be purely academic — an opportunity to document traditional kathputli puppet-making in its most authentic form. Yet, as the outline of the Rathore haveli…