On the way to Agra- December 20, 2005

Visit to see Praveen's Aunt, Uncle and Cousin (Valeamma, Valeache, Jayanthi Chache, and PakashChetten and Rohon) in Bangalore.

Greg w/ Driver Praveen.

I am currently on the way to Agra, the drive from Jaipur is about 4 hours and it has been an interesting trip. We had a pretty bumpy ride for part of the way. There must have been at least an hour of potholes and I was in the lucky seat- the back of an SUV. I got a bit thrown around from one side to the other. The driving is insane, particularly in Agra. There are tons of bikes, carts pulled by oxen and camels, pedestrians and cars all in the same street going different ways and the only rule is look out for yourself. It is quite frightening. We hired a car and our driver did a great job keeping us alive. I asked if he has ever run anyone over before and he said, “Thanks to God, I haven’t.”

We arrived in Delhi on Saturday and rushed off to the international airport to pick up two of my best friends, Greg and Angela. We were very fortunate to find each other because we never were able to exchange any kind of contact information so we were just crossing our fingers that everything would work out okay, and it did. Surprisingly, even a 20 hour flight had not depleted Angela of her energy. Praveen checked her back to see if there was some kind of battery that was keeping her going. She has an amazingly undeletable source of energy. Our driver, (also called Praveen) took us back to a very luxurious house owned by a friend of ours in the states. The place was incredible and the people were beyond hospitable.

The following day we cruised through GK market and looked for a Lehenga (a north Indian style dress with a separate top) for myself and possibly one for Angela. The prices continue to baffle me completely. I have decided that the whole marriage push in the Indian society is actually an attempt to keep their economy going. I couldn’t find any even halfway decent looking Lehengas for less than $300us! What the #$%@. I have heard from my Indian girlfriends back in the states that this is the case, but I guess it just didn’t sink in until my credit card was being charged. By the time all the accessories and everything is finished I will have spent close to $1000, in Indian alone, on wedding attire. I guess it could be worse in the US. Anyway, after settling for a Lehenga that I felt was overpriced and I wasn’t passionate about, I was happy to be finished with the main shopping. If I never shop again until I die I wouldn’t care. Okay so maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I find shopping stressful when you have a timeline that you have to buy for and you can’t wait to get what you truly want.

I will say I had been really looking forward to having something custom tailored so I bought some extra material to match the skirt to my Lehenga and had it made. Because we were short on time, it was delivered to me with out being able to check it, they did an awful job, and I was completely disappointed.

We drove through Old Delhi, which seemed pretty crazy. There were people, camels and cattle everywhere in the street. It seemed like a fun place to get lost in, but we couldn’t find any parking anywhere. We had the driver drop us at The Red Fort, which was built sometime in the 1600s….anyway that was about it in dehli. Shopping took ¾ of the day, yet again.

Off to Jaipur we went. We stopped off at a place called Amber Fort which use to protect the city. It seems there are tons of fortresses here in Northern India. Most of them date back to the 16 or 1700’s. It seems that there was plenty of money to spend back then on some pretty elaborate architecture. We decided the best form of transportation to the top of the fort (which sits on a hill) was by elephant! Mom was, of course, not sure if she wanted to ride on the Elephant but opted in after all. I was hopping to dance on top of an elephant at my wedding but I have now realized that it just is not possible. When you sit on the elephant you shake back and forth as if you are on a very rocky boat- during a storm. I just can’t see dancing during a hurricane. So that dream has been laid to rest.

In Japure we wanted to do some shopping and check out the “pink” city, which is actually terracotta. Now I know what the problem was in that Sari shop when I kept asking for blue and they would bring me yellow or green. In the US we must work off a different color chart. Jaipur seemed nice. It was very busy but the shopping seemed great. We arrived so late that we couldn’t do very much at all. It would have been great to spend another day there getting lost in the crowds of people. Jaipur is known for its textiles and a big market that sells everything. I managed to find some really fancy bed sheets that I bargained down a few thousand rupees. I normally don’t like bargaining too much but I have found it a good source of some fun here in India. It really does make a difference if you speak the language and when I bargained it has always been in English.

We had dinner at this really cool place called Chokki Dhani. It was a traditional Rajasthan style meal. I guess it was suppose to be the same kind of food that they eat in the villages. The food was fabulous. The waiters again, thought that Praveen was the guide, which we all found amusing. The place was quite quaint, with little lights and performances everywhere. They had everything from little kid dancers to camel rides to a Ferris wheel with out a motor.

On the way to Agra we passed some 10-15 people who had captured a black bear, tied it up and pulled out all their teeth. They were making them stand up and do tricks for the drivers passing by. I read something about it being illegal, but you would never know it on this road. The bears looked famished and sad. I tried to take a picture but I didn’t want to give the guy any money and encourage this practice so I missed it.

Just out side of Agra is a deserted city called Fatehpur Sikri. It was pretty cool. Apparently this king built it about 600 years ago and then after living there for 14 years the water dried up so everyone left the town. Emperor Akbar (the guy who built it) seems pretty interesting. He was Muslim but had a Christian wife, a Muslim wife and a Hindu wife. Oh, and about 300 other girl friends. The guy was totally into talks on religion and managed to incorporate much of the Muslim, Hindu and Christian architectural styles and symbols into each building.

The Taj Mahal was really beautiful. The thing that makes it so breath taking is really the enormous size of the structure. It is so huge! I was surprised that once you get inside there is a very small, dimly lit room with the fake tombs of the king who built it and the wife he built it for and that is it. The place is huge but our guide says there are no other rooms to see. I think there must be some secret really special rooms in there, right? There is a bunch of precious and semiprecious inlayed stones, but you can’t see the ones inside because it is too dark. If I went again, I’d bring a flash light. The summitry is truly spectacular. The whole thing is symmetric and everything including the three buildings that surround it use the same symmetry.