Trip to India - Entry 7 - Taj Mahal and Agra

The sun is setting in a haze of gray, which changes the otherwise plain sky to a purple/pink mist as the day disappears. It was a long day, and I, being utterly exhausted and not wanting to get sick at the beginning of the trip, have decided not to make it longer.

This morning, the phone rang at 2am. That is early by any standard, but given that we’d all gotten to bed no earlier than 10:30pm the night before, we were all slightly zombified on the bus ride to Agra after the initial calorie rush from breakfast.

Highlights from the bus trip:

-Madhu had not yet called his mother. Every single one of us had made the effort to let our mothers know we had arrived safely… and Madhu’s mother lives in Delhi. This required poking fun, there was simply no way around it

-Primate references – Vikas mentioned clubs in New Delhi in which men danced with each other, presumably to impress each other. This, of course, reminded me of Bonobos (look them up, they’re fascinating) and the male Bonobo proclivity for – literal – penis fencing. I personally find that a much more honest approach than the way we humans approach the issue. Then Madhu mentioned the monkey at our bathroom break stop was female, and you had to be careful if you were female, because she would get jealous if you got to close to her male handler and slap you. So I guess there are a lot of things we can learn from our primate cousins about humility.

-Nifty Travelmasti gifts – a pen and a set of coasters

-The amount of garbage you see on the sides of the roads is appalling. I don’t mean, the highway patrol girl scouts of whomever need to come out – I mean, literal piles of garbage. I think that even seeing the humans digging around in these piles wasn’t nearly as pukifying as seeing the white cows which roam everywhere delicately picking through the trash.

-Traditional dress in India allows women to freely let their belly fat hang out! I love this! I wish that I were comfortable enough with my body and my own belly fat to wear an outfit like the ones I saw today – a short silk top, long bottoms, and a beautiful flowing scarf that covers only your middle while the sides of your tummy show for all the world to see.

The Taj Mahal was definitely impressive – once we finally got there. All the jokes you’ve ever heard about Indian roads and traffic? They’re all true, and then some. I saw a variety of beasts of burden dragging carts, bicycles in various states of repair and style, mopeds, motorcycles, tuk-tuks both motorized and non motorized, small cars, nice cars, trucks of all shapes and sizes, buses, and pedestrians. It is a madhouse.

A few years ago, people started to notice that the Taj Mahal was beginning to turn slightly yellow. This was determined to be due to pollution, and all factories within a certain radius were closed down, and to get close, one must ride in an electric car. We were also told that certain items weren’t allowed inside due to the practice of stealing the semi-precious stones from the walls. Seriously, what kind of jerk pries off semi-precious stones from the interior walls of the Taj Mahal??

The Taj Mahal is a lovely building, rivaling any of the truly amazing structures I’ve seen in Europe in beauty and symmetry. I think the marble inlay was the most impressive part of the decorative aspect of the building. The amount of effort it must have taken to create something like this is really quite mind boggling – and we were treated to a visit later to a marble inlay cottage factory to see how it was made, which made it even more impressive.

Although we had left so early, it was still amazingly hot outside. All of us were at least pushing the seriously uncomfortable level on the misery scale, and some of us were edging on towards ‘acting like a toddler’ on this scale. By the time we finally made it across the large piazza to the Taj Mahal itself, I was hearing bees in my head and was concerned over my ability to keep my breakfast down. Luckily for me, there was a step to sit on inside. The last thing one needs is to be the idiot American who pukes and/or passes out in the Taj Mahal. Lauren also ended up sitting on the floor next to me, feeling quite similar, as I fanned us with the fan the nice army man with the giant scary gun had given me when I sat down with the gray face and shallow breath.

When we finally got back outside, Lauren, Elizabeth, myself and Sarah (all of us quite pale) were mobbed in various places by other tourists wanting pictures with us. This I don’t mind so much, as long as no one is trying to steal my stuff or give me lice.

The trip back was even longer than the trip there due to the traffic. I have also realized that I should have brought my coat…. JUST for the air conditioning in the bus. I was so cold I had goose bumps – the same day I almost passed out from the heat in the Taj Mahal. Someone should turn down the A/C when you have to pack a coat.

So now, I’m done for the day. I’m quite happy to be preparing to make friends with my pillow again – and an awesome pillow it is! If I had no shame, I would stuff it in my suitcase.