Nov 24-28 - DELHI/AGRA

Nov 24 - To continue our full cultural experience in India, Manjit, Kim, and I took a train from Mehsana to Delhi. It was an AC Sleeper Car with blue vinyl seats/bench-beds. It was a long and bumpy ride of 18hours with desert-like scenery and small shanty towns lining the tracks. There was a Western toilet which was basically your everyday toilet but with a hole so that your excrement went directly down on the tracks. Then there was a little pitcher that you filled with water to flush after yourself. We brought toilet paper with us (this was not usually supplied at any toilets except hotels and some eating establishments) and we laughed at the fact that after using the loo, that there were little pink TP sheets marking our territory. Gross…but funny.



Nov 25 - We arrived in Delhi around 5am having had very little sleep. Manjit had arranged for us to stay with some distant relation and his family. Charinjit met us at the station and drove us to his home just outside Delhi. It was being renovated so the place smelled of sawdust and dampness. Kim and I immediately crashed and Manjit did the family thing and had some brekkie. When we were up and cleaned, we took off to see some famous sites of Delhi.



Our first stop was the Lotus Temple of the Bahá’í religion. It is somewhat similar to the Opera House with its crazy white petal-like roof. It has a piercing blue pool surrounding it at its lower level, just like a lotus floating in a pond. The inside was a massive auditorium and extremely peaceful. We sat for a while and took it all in. Then we walked the grounds and went to the visitor center for a movie on the temple and the religion. This religion actually has a representative spot in the UN. It has very interesting ideals and is somewhat political in its practice. Kim has been thinking of various thesis topics and after leaving there we discussed the possibility of Bahá’í as religion influencing politics, etc.



Next up was Akshardam Temple. It is the largest temple in the world and man was it ever beautiful and huge and just too much to take in on just a few short hours. The temple itself was gorgeous, but the surrounding grounds and buildings were just as nice. We went through a couple exhibits, sadly all of it was in Hindi including the movie and history of the Hindu religion, so we didn’t understand much unless Manjit or Charanjit translated. We do know that chicken eggs think we ate their mothers before they were born. Sick, sad, and twisted – but there was a whole section on vegetarianism including what the animals would say if they could speak and tell us not to eat them. (Side note – Kim and I needed meat so badly that we ate McDonald’s that night!! Still no beef, but a McChicken did quite nicely.)



We made two more stops as the sun went down. First was to Connaught Place – an underground shopping center where we picked up a few souvenirs and then India Gate, which looks like the Arch d’Triumphe. Then it was home for rest and packing for Agra.



Nov 26 – The driver arrived to take us to Agra and what was to be just a trip for us gals turned into the whole family: Charinjit, his wife and two kids and his brother Tony. So 8 of us plus driver fit into this car – 3 in front, 3 in the middle, and 3 on the bench seats with the luggage in back. We made our way to Agra with a short stop at Pizza Hut for lunch…yes, Pizza Hut and it was good too until Charinjit tossed the 3 boxes out the window when we were done. Kim and I were just going crazy with all this trash being thrown out the window and lining the streets.



We arrived at the Taj Mahal mid afternoon and parked in the lot and got a ride to the front gates where Kim and I had to pay 750R for entrance (500R for Agra visitors’ tax and 250R for actual entrance) and the nationals paid 50R. Despite the $15 entrance, it was totally worth it. I had said I wouldn’t really feel like I was in India until I had seen the Taj Mahal and wow did it ever live up to expectations. It was amazing. The architecture; the symmetry; the love of this man for his wife that he would build such a huge memorial/mausoleum for her… It took 22 years for it to be built with its semi-precious stones inlaid in white marble. The craftsmanship is something to marvel at… it’s just amazing the work put into this place.



After leaving the Taj Mahal, we had to figure out a place to stay and eat. Because it was no longer just the 3 of us, but rather 8 of us, the family made a decision to go to a temple to stay for the night. Kim and I immediately started to feel out of place staying at a temple. We felt that we had the money to stay some place else and therefore should not take charity (and on top of that, we needed a hot shower and a soft bed because we had been without sleep for two days). The family realized that we were uncomfortable and other options were discussed – most of which were to the affect that “Agra is not a safe place and we should all stay together…” We weren’t sure what to do, but they took us to a couple hotels to look. Kim and I just started quietly laughing every time we were shown a room in a guest house. We finally found a place and because we went from staying at a place for $5 to $50, we offered to pay the difference because it was OUR needs that needed to be met. Of course, later that night I was kicking myself for being such a complete snot. Manjit assured both Kim and me that she was much happier staying at this hotel as well and that rest of the fam was treating this as a real vacation for them. We had an amazing dinner at the hotel and hot showers and a decent night’s sleep including AC. I can rough it for a while, but sometimes I just need a creature comfort break to recharge me. And Kim and I had gotten there and knew we’d have no sleep the next day on the train home. So we shrugged it off and decided to stop feeling bad.



Nov 27 – Kim and I started our day with some breakfast and had a lovely chat with two English couples. Then our group headed to the Red Fort. It housed the man who built the Taj Mahal when he was under house arrest… and the Taj could be seen from every window in his room. It was much too polluted to see it clearly in the distance, but among the white smoggy haze, one could make out the outline of the building. We visited a few other places of interest in the area, but I can’t remember the names. We did have a really interesting experience in a temple, though. We bought these little packets stuffed with a piece of fabric, dried flowers, sugar pieces and three strings. You walk in a line to the temple, unfold the scarf-like fabric on a grave (I think?) and sprinkle the flowers on it as a blessing (this fabric would later be given to the poor); then you tie the three strings on the wall and make a wish for each; and after you exit, you eat the little sugar balls – usually given at the end of a temple service as you leave. We made a stop for dinner and then made our way back to Delhi to catch our train back to Mehsana.



Nov 28 – We arrived back in Mehsana around 4pm and Manjit’s brother picked us up. We did laundry and packed all our stuff to head east to see Krishna in Hyderabad.