this entry must begin with a description of the journey - a 4 hour car ride with a kind, non-english speaking driver with a lead foot. i think maybe a safer car ride would have been in the indy 500 because at least there i would have been strapped in! (here backseat riders do not need to wear a seat belt by law, so most of the cabs just hide the belts inside the seat.) i can see that they are very good at what they do, but that doesn't always calm the mind as you inch between cargo trucks and autorickshaws at 100 kilometers/hour. literally INCHES. the journey began at 6am, and i tried to drift asleep between the honking and slamming on the brakes.
anyway, after a exciting journey, we arrived in agra. first stop - THE taj mahal. it's amazing to consider something so huge, complex and beautiful being built in the 1600s. i won't bore you with the history of the monument (wikipedia can do that for you), but basically it's a memorial of a mughal emporer to his favorite wife. both the emporer and his wife are entombed there. the building is almost entirely made of white marble, with precious gemstones enlaid to make designs. to the left of the taj is a mosque and to the right, a matching guesthouse. both of these buildings are made of red sandstone (when i write sandstone, i can hear my guide's accent in my head: san-ne-stone). the surrounding gardens are surprisingly tranquil, considering the amount of visitors the place gets. thankfully, there was a slight breeze to cool the over 90 degree temps - the place is so open to the sun, it gets pretty hot. my guide told me that it gets to over 120 degrees in july and august. here is a picture of the beautiful place (which i'm told is even more beautiful in moonlight and sunrise).
and my guide...little deepa. he was quite endearing, with his memorized scripts. i found that his english was actually better with conversation than with his memorization, which was funny. the only problem with deepa...was when he tried to force me on the local shops where he would make a commission. i lose my patience pretty quickly when shopkeepers use the hard sell - i don't want your gemstones, alright?! don't get me wrong, they are beautiful...but my house payment is due today. i know that when they see the western girl with her own driver, the assumption is that i must have loads of cash. and i'm sure comparitively i do. but that doesn't mean i can afford their stuff. not to mention the hawkers throwing things in my face and refusing to hear my "no" (or my more forceful "nahi!" when necessary). anyway, enough of that, because the visit really was incredible.
then onto the red fort, across the river. the fort was built around the same time, by the same empire. it's completely red sandstone (hence the "red" fort), and gives great views of the taj from far away. there are many rooms and passages, all with a brief explanation from the guide (this is where the harem for the emporer danced, this is where the kings met to conference, this is where the queen took a bath, etc.) i was a dorky tourist and got most excited about the monkeys running around, ha!
the final visit of the day was to sikandra, the tomb of akbar the great. another beautiful building (picture below), though this one was not adorned inside. the tomb itself is in an empty room, and the tomb was pure marble. the gardens at sikandra were filled with some sort of elk prancing about. combine that with the sound of palm trees and sun, and the place was wonderfully serene.
too bad the car ride home could not maintain the serenity of this finish to the day. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment