Agrably the most interesting day yet

May 24 2011

                I am writing this on the 25^th because I was too tired to do anything when we got back last night.

                This was our big trip to Agra. Located about 200 km south of New Delhi. We woke up to a jolt from the front desk informing us our cab was here. Rushing around to get together we got outside to find it was the same taxi driver as the one that took us from the air port to the hotel the first night, Jesse! Jesse was all smiles as usual as we departed on our four hour drive to Agra. We stopped at a “rest stop” about 1 hour 45 mins into the trip. Jesse went with the other taxi drivers as we cautiously attempted to use the restrooms. After being hassled by random Indians in the bathroom turning on the water and giving us napkins in exchange for rupees, we checked out the “restaurant”. It ended up being a souvenir store having a vague resemblance to large general stores out in the country of USA. There were painted silk to hand bags to Pringles, all “handmade, very good quality”. I was skeptical but more interested in perusing this store than that of waiting outside in the sun for Jesse.  Then we were off to Agra, stopping first of course at the Taj Mahal.

                The Taj mahal was unlike anything I had ever seen. We picked up our tour guide at a bus station and were off. He was a man of great studiousness and greatly dyed hair, dyed partly red and constantly combing it over. 

Gate to the Taj

You know, casually being awesome

This is the picture that the office will be seeing. Dad get on that

The Taj Mahal was full of people but apparently much less than normal as it was a tues and during the hot season. The white marble was exquisite and translucent in the light. It was the brightest part of the area. Moving from place to place around and inside this magnificent palace, our tour guide was very influential and gave us a wide array of interesting information in which I remember the important parts. Each of the walls was decorated using a single type of the worlds hardest marble (hardness of 7, see dad I did absorb some information from this trip) and decorated with a multitude of different semi precious stones and gems. Each decorated marble segment had carved out sections in which the perfectly shaped stone piece was placed and glued in using what we later found to be secret recipe glue, The locals compared it to the coca cola recipe. You know, American equivalent to the secrets of the Taj. After taking some choice photos, pointing out to everyone in a 3 mile radius that we are such tourists, we were taken to the center where the descendents  of the families who originally carved the marble were working to restore some of the pieces from looters who had removed the stones over the years. They also were making some new art. We were given a show on how each piece of stone was cut, how it was placed and how they engraved the marble.

They say that the people who do this only can for for 20 years as there hands become unsensitized and they lose their sight

We also joined in on some of the fun. 

I felt their hardships

Taking photos and Kelly was given a few stones to be used as “beauty marks” or Bindi  made of lapis lazuli. He informed Kelly that even though it is known to show a women is married that is usually the case only for red stones. Our waiter at the restaurant thought otherwise, marriage jokes followed

Kelly: Happily married women. Charli less happy about the situation

We then were taken into the real reason we were brought here, the store… After being given another show by our fabulous host Charli on how great his marble was and the exquisite and unique qualities of the art, it was actually believable. The art was really made by locals who had learned the trade and the quality was true!

The intricate nature of this marble plate could be yours for only 200,000 rupees. thats only $4500 american. I got 8

We perused the store for about an hour looking at the magnificent inlay work done on everything from marble elephants with 20 stones to whole tables with thousands. He told us how some things took 15 -30 months to make, including some small plates and marble pieces with intricate stone work too perfect and stunning for words. 

Charli, he loved us. "You stay at my house" "Bring your father, he spend money"

These pieces were very expensive. We stuck to the less expensive items. I did end up purchasing some items and am Damn Well Glad I Did. They weren’t cheap but their beauty was unique and refinement extraordinary enough to persuade me to spend a few rupees.

                We were then off to the agra fort. The Agra fort,  an immense fort made of red sandstone on the bank of the Yamuna river had a shocking resemblance to the red fort in Dehli. We decided that if you’ve seen one red fort you have seen them all and crossed red fort off our list as well. The Agra fort, which still holds thousands of people and military personnel, was amazing frankly due to its immense size.  I took great liking to this fort. It was built by a Muslim emperor and was decorated to well incorporate many of the religious practices of the people in the city. There was artwork with both monotheistic and polytheistic representations. From Jewish starts to Hindu swastikas. Yes Hindu swastikas, it was not originally a symbols of Nazis you ignorant people reading my blog. Seeing all of these religions come together so long ago gives me hope that maybe history will repeat itself slightly, but I digress. So we had not eaten all day at this point as we missed breakfast so they took us to a restaurant and promised a hygienic and clean eating experience. So we ended up at Riao restaurant; it held up to its promise. Asking what was good and splitting an order of Murg Botiwala: “chicken cut in small pieces simmered in a thick gravy”, we greatly enjoyed the meal. We ordered naan (bread) and garlic naan (garlic bread…) and a bowl of rice and went to town on the food saving none to spoil. It was very good and filling just what I needed. 

Nom Nom Nom, and then 20 mintues later there was nothing

Or so I thought… ever get really dehydrated, go to a restaurant, order and drink an entire liter of water before beginning to eat that then gorging on spicy oily Indian food? For your sake I hope not. The last stop was filled with groans and exhaustion as I waited for the tour to be over. Luckily immodium was unnecessary but it took several hour for our food to digest and give us our second wind of the day. Side note : we have also learned, that the bathroom system is very different here…  toilet paper is now a valued commodity and not available in most areas…

                Our last area, of which I recall the least as I spent the entire time wondering if reversed removal of the contents of my stomach would be the better option, was the Fatehpur Sikri ( I had to just look that up). Though we were nauseous and tired it was a pretty interesting place. The area inside the place walls was filled with gardens and extensive patio area made of red sandstone. This like all the other things in agra was built by one of the members of the ruling mughals from Uzbekistan (I think…). It like the other temples was very multireligion and secular. However one of the members of the family that seized control destroyed many of the statues and carvings of humans or animals as they are not allowed in strict Muslim religion. The emperors bed room had a secret passage to allow all of his private concubines and slaves to come to his bedroom without anyone knowing. If we know now, people probably knew then. He needed some way to deal with his three wives, all of different religions.  Out in the square was a table in which they played a high stakes gambling game using women in brightly colored dresses and placeholders. Like human Roulette.

"Woman to C3, I said WOMAN TO C3" "You win 8 more women" horay!

We left the palace and spent a good 30 minutes discussing politics and American versus china power with our tour guide who often slipped in the idea that it was the slow season and this is his only job…. It was like buying a used car. Very interesting and helpful guide though. One of the best I have ever had. Like a history book wrapped in a Britishlike Indian accent. This was the end of our tour set and we began the more interesting part of our day, the four hour drive back. 

Perfectly combed hair.

                The first 2 hours of this drive were very exciting. Through the country roads we got a better idea of Indian culture than any of the tourist spots had shown us. Jesse was kind enough to slow down to let us take pictures of camels, peacocks and for some reason naked children that Kelly was exstatic about. It would take forever to explain what we saw though I do posses the eloquent and logophilic nature to describe the depth of the drive.So i will just put those pictures at the end of the blog. 

Young love and goats

 Best Friends: "Hey dude check out that tire."

Green Delhi Clean Delhi: Indias hardest working garbageman

The best cow is a clean cow

Yes, that is a woman drying and packing cow poop in order to burn or make buildings out of it.

Mehhrrr

After two hours we stopped for some coffee and checked out the menu of the local mcdonalds with its vegi burgers and mcpaneer sandwiches on the dollar menu. We left and it got dark. Kelly passed out in the back where I hung out with Jesse in the front. At one point all the trucks began pulling to the side of the road and stopping. Everyone got out of their cars, People were everywhere and we could not move. There seemed to me a whole nightlife world in the middle of the road rivaling that of day time in the city. People were selling things listening to load music, singing and running around. Children hanging out with friends and a whole cultural world I had not expected was opening outside my window. I just stared as it was too dark to take pictures and took in the power and energy of the world around our car. Kelly slept. As amazing as it was, I wish I would have slept a bit as well.