Chai for Christmas

I woke up today at 5:15 am…without an alarm. Darn you, jetlag! Oh well, it ended up paying off. I was up early enough to get ready and pack my bags all by 6:45 (when we were scheduled to leave for the Taj Mahal). Everyone showed up on time! A repeat of yesterday’s tardiness could have cost us a great morning, so I’m glad no one let us down.

We left early enough that there was minimal traffic, and we arrived at the Taj right as the sun was rising. I kinda wish we’d left a little bit earlier, cause I would have loved more of a time cushion for pictures of the sunrise. At least we made it through security quickly - again, the girls had their own line and little curtained booths so that no one could see you get your security check…why do they do that? Is it offensive to be checked maybe? As if they’re somehow accusing you of being sketchy? Odd…

We finally made it through the main gate to the monument. The fog had lifted a bit from the night before, so the view was beautiful. Postcards don’t do this place justice. The incredible detail on everything, from the entrance gate to the gardens to the monument itself simply cannot be captured in a photo (but believe me I tried).


I took so many pictures! Every angle of the place was photo worthy, down to the water drains. They were so intricate, with little six sided stars for openings. We just loved it and I’m sure we could have wandered around taking pictures for several hours. We had several other places to be, however, so we snapped as many as we could and met back up at the gate.

So, you know how I mentioned that no one let us down this morning by being late? Well, that didn’t last. We had a group member show up nearly 45 minutes after the designated meeting time. Our schedule was so packed today that a delay that large could cost us an entire activity…like breakfast! It almost happened. They closed the buffet at 10 am, we made it back at 9:55ish. Too close for comfort in my opinion. Do you have any idea how crabby I would have been if we’d had to go the rest of the afternoon food and coffee-less? It would have been bad. Especially since we weren’t getting lunch until late that day. Ugh, I was annoyed.

No matter, we made it back, had breakfast, and headed back out for our second monument of the day - Agra Fort. That place is huge! And, since it’s built out of red sandstone, the color added to the hugeness to make it even more impressive. It was a beautiful place, quite neat to visit, but I have to admit I liked the Taj better (probably only because it’s a little more girly and romantic - I mean come on, has anyone given YOU a which marble palace lately? Didn‘t think so). Oh, almost forgot to mention, we saw MONKEYS! Itsy bitsy ones, too. They were just relaxing, munching on grain under a tree, waiting for all the crazy tourists to ooh and ahh and snap their pictures. We fell for it, hook-line-and-sinker.


We made it back to the bus, despite getting attacked by a thousand hawkers (that’s gonna take some getting used to), and headed out for our third and final monument of the day. We made a stop on the way at a roadside pharmacy and sweet shop (which we had to cross a street to get to…I’ve never been so afraid of crossing a street in my life). Dr. Anand picked up some candied pumpkin at the shop, apparently Agra is famous for it. It wasn’t my favorite (a little too sweet for my taste), but it was good.

The drive to Fatehpur Sikri was different from yesterday’s trek in that it was mostly through village land. The streets were covered in trash (apparently the waste management system here is not very functional), there are animals everywhere, and the sides of the roads are lined with collections of cow dung cakes. We saw some of the women “collecting” them - they mix cow dung and mud together into small disks, then let them dry in the sun. Once they’ve hardened, they’re used as fuel for cooking.

The idea of that being someone’s job, something that they go do everyday for hours, was really hard for me to grasp. I know I’m spoiled by where I live and how I’ve grown up, and in my world it’s a foreign concept, but it’s still gross and hard to believe. They don’t seem to mind it, though. That’s something I’ve noticed. Even the people in the grips of poverty have lives. They make due, they get along, and they seem content. It’s just their lives, plain and simple, and they’re living them for all they can. It makes me feel quite selfish for getting so annoyed at the little inconvinences in my life - like the dishwasher not getting my plates clean or Walmart being out of my brand of hairspray. Really?!? I get annoyed at those things? What on earth is wrong with me? I’m living like a queen compared to a majority of the people in this country and I don’t appreciate it at all. It’s quite pathetic really.

Okay, off that soapbox and on to Fatehpur Sikri. This last monument was a complex and palace built by Akbar (the guy with the tomb from yesterday) back during the Mughal Empire. We kinda buzzed through it because we were short on time (and if we didn’t get on the road to Jaipur at a certain time, our trip would take several hours more than planned). Buzzed through or not, we still got a good dose of history from it. We also learned that Akbar really liked his Hindu wife, liked his Christian wife okay, but wasn’t a huge fan of his Muslim wife. Okay, we may not know that for sure, but the vast differences in the sizes of their accommodations seems to hint so. The Hindu wife got an entire courtyard and tons of rooms, the Christian wife got a building with about four rooms in it, but the Muslim wife got a multi-purpose one room building. Poor thing. As for his area, the bed was pretty neat - it was elevated to prevent nighttime attacks and they were able to flood the floor in the summers to keep the room cool (nifty idea).


Once pictures had been taken and potty breaks had, we headed out for Jaipur. The first part of the drive was fairly predictable: lots of traffic, lots of honking, lots of trash, lots of run-down looking buildings (also, I miss grass. Where are they hiding their vegetation?), but the predictability did not last long. Some protesters had taken up residence on the road that we were supposed to take, so we ended up taking a detour through some teensy tiny villages. It may have been the most beautiful part of the trip yet. It’s not that the scenery was all that nice, but the experience was incredible.

Imagine with me that you have lived your entire life in a small Indian village that is totally bypassed by the interstate system. You exist, day by day, with minimal electricity, no running water, and very little contact with the rest of the world. Now, imagine that one day, a caravan of cars, trucks, and busses appears on the dirt road outside your house. How would you react? If you answered, grab your entire family and run to the edge of the road and watch everyone drive by, then you would be correct. In each village we passed, EVERYONE was poised on the edge of the road, staring at the funny little parade we’d accidentally stepped into. I should point out that unlike American charter busses, our bus did not have tinted windows - you could see straight in. So, go back to that scenario we just visited and add that the people in one of these vehicles are white, blue eyed, and blonde headed. Now how do you react? I wonder what was going through their heads when they saw us. We noticed, very quickly, that simply smiling down at them resulted in huge grins. When we paired those simple smiles with enthusiastic waving, the results would have made your heart explode. It’s amazing what a wave can do. We had children jumping up and down, waving back so hard I was afraid their arms would fall off. They ran along with the bus and shouted what was probably the only English they knew - loud, beautiful choruses of “Hi, Hi, Hello!”

We had a BLAST! We opened windows and stuck our heads out and waved until our hands hurt. I have never seen so many people get so excited by a single wave. It was incredible. Most would smile and wave at the bus as we passed, and when we returned the gesture, they’d punch their friends and point as if to say “Did you see that? They waved back!!” We made it our goal to get at least all of the children to smile. In India, smiling and laughter is reserved for times when it is really merited. In the States, we smile to be friendly, we laugh a joke to be polite, we wave at strangers. Here, that type of behavior is seen as frivolous unless the situation fits. It was hard, but we were able to get most of the villagers, even the men (the toughest crowd) to at least smile back. My heart has never been so touched - and to think, it was all because of a detour. Maybe we should take detours more often. It took us three extra hours to go the few kilometers that the protesters had blocked off, and we missed lunch but it was far more than worth it.

We did finally make it back to the highway and stopped at another of those roadside restaruants for dinner. The menu was quite similar to the first and there was a small gift shop attached…which I’m pretty sure makes those restaurants the Cracker Barrels of India. We had a yummy dinner, picked up a tag along tourist who followed our bus to the hotel in Jaipur (they were apparently super lost), and finished the drive to Jaipur (I slept the whole way). We have another full day tomorrow, so I’m off to bed. Don’t wanna miss those elephant rides!

Our first morning in India! It looks a little more like “India” in the daylight. After last night, breakfast came quite early. It was worth it, though. We had fresh fruit, chicken sausage, and a breakfast bread called pani (I think…). No coffee, but they did have tea (so I’ll take what I can get). North India is apparently more of a “tea” area, while south India prefers coffee. I’m getting the feeling I’ll get along better in south India. We’ll see.

After breakfast, several of us collected money and exchanged dollars for rupees. That was an interesting experience - he took copies of our passports and gave us receipts out of a carbon copy book. Not the most advanced method of banking…

Next up was a visit to the mall. It wasn’t at all what I expected it would be. It was big, and modern, and clean with all sorts of nice stores - very much like the malls we have at home. I think that is what surprised me. The drive there was most definitely not “home” but then, out of nowhere, there’s this building that looks like it jumped out of suburban America.


One major difference greeted us right at the entrance - security check. We couldn’t go in without having our bags checked and letting them wave a wand up and down us. The really big surprise? The man who opened the door for me motioned me forward towards what looked like a changing room behind him. A lady security guard walked out and waved me in. SHE then checked me. Apparently, the men don’t check the women and vice versa. I guess, looking back, I should have expected that, but it still felt a little odd. I mean, back home, a security check is a security check (well, unless you’re getting patted down, but this was just a wand). Different mindset, I guess.

A huge Christmas tree greeted us in the lobby. That was kinda nice - a reminder of home. Only the bottom half was fully decorated, though. The top was a bit sparse, as if they couldn’t reach up that far. Our first stop was Reliance - a clothing store. Reliance is the company that was depicted in Guru, one of the movies we watched in class. We were a bit early, but one of the workers, sensing (correctly) that we would spend money, let us in anyway. The shop was set up very similarly to those we have in the states - different sections were focused on different “genres” of clothes and there were several mannequins dotting the store displaying some of the outfits. We did notice that the women’s’ section was about 80% traditional Indian style, 20% Western while the men’s section was the opposite - mostly Western. There was also an area where you could select fabrics and have things custom made (we should have that option back home!) After browsing for a bit, I found a beautiful kurta set. It’s a rose colored fabric with a sheer overlay woven with gold thread and some really pretty embellishments across the top. It came with green pants and a scarf. I’m not sure yet where I’ll wear it, but I LOVE it. AND it was on sale!

Big Bazaar (kinda like an Indian version of Walmart) was our next stop. We needed to pick up a few provisions for the trip - toilet paper, snacks, shampoo, a hair dryer (you know, the important stuff). We walked into the men’s clothing section, and at first glance, it looked a LOT like a Walmart, even the shelving was similar. The similarities kinda ended there. The women’s clothes were, like at Reliance, mostly traditional style. Past the clothing section was a series of seemingly mismatched clusters of things - dishes, electronics, chocolate, plastic boxes. There wasn’t any particular order to the sections, they just seemed to be stuck in at random, making it difficult to figure out where to find things we needed.

We finally found the toiletries and began our search for the list of things we needed. FYI, shopping is trickier when the prices aren’t stuck on the shelf under the product (the prices are normally listed ON the product itself). I’m apparently much more reliant on prices to help me choose than I thought I was. I really had a hard time picking out things when I didn’t know which cost what. Snacks were even harder to shop for. The food section seemed all jumbled, and there were a LOT of cookies. And chips. Granola bars, not so much. We finally found those in the international section.

There were still a few things we couldn’t find, but the salespeople were very attentive (and everywhere!), so they helped us. Turns out, hair dryers are stored with the computer mice. Make sense, right? Also, Big Bazaar does NOT carry umbrellas…hmmm…

After shopping, we all met back at the huge tree. And by all, I mean most. We had a few stragglers. I’m not a fan of people not being punctual, so I’m hoping this does not become a trend.

The rest of the day was a really, really long drive. We left Delhi for Agra after we finished up at the mall. It didn’t take us long to find the traffic that didn’t seem to exist late last night. There were SO MANY PEOPLE! There’s really no way to describe exactly what we drove through in words, so I’ve included a handy diagram: (which I'll add tomorrow cause I'm super tired right now)

Also, you can’t get the full experience without a background soundtrack of incessant honking. They keep telling us we’ll get used to it…

As you can see from the diagram, traffic is INSANE. It’s as if lines are painted on the road for decorative purposes only and the concept of “your side of the road” is totally lost on everyone. There are “vehicles” (I hesistate to use even that word to describe the types of objects we saw amidst all this traffic) of every shape, size, color…breed. You’ve got trucks (painted up like parade floats), auto rickshaws (the Indian version of a taxi, but with only three wheels), cars, tractors, horse drawn carts, motorcycles, bicycles…cows (no, not with riders, just kinda hanging out). Part of me was very entertained by the circus happening on the road, the other part was terrified. I was torn between keeping my eyes open so that I didn’t miss anything and covering my face so that I didn’t see us run over one of the meandering cows.

The traffic wasn’t the only eye opening part of the drive. I started noticing little settlements dotted all over. It’s apparently common practice to set up a tent (or several tents) just about anywhere. I asked Dr. Anand about it and he said that people accept the practice here and that it has resulted in crime not being directly correlated with poverty or slums. That makes sense seeing as it would cut down on resentment or resorting to rule breaking in order to survive. It was sometimes heartbreaking to see, however.

We stopped for lunch at this little roadside restaurant. We got to sit outside, which was lovely, and there was even some “entertainment” (snake charmers that I stayed far away from). Lunch was great, but, from what we’ve heard, a bit overpriced. I don’t think any of us minded - the food was good and it was a sunny break from the bus.

The rest of the ride is a bit of a blur. I slipped in and out of sleep once it got dusky, so I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to what was happening outside. We did stop and see our first monument of the trip - Akbar’s tomb. That was neat ‘cause our group did a presentation on the Mughal Empire, so I totally knew who he was!

A little bit later we made it to the hotel - the really, really nice hotel. We checked in and rested up for just a bit, then a small group of us went for dinner at Only Restaurant (a cute little place just down the street). We were all pretty up for it until we got there, sat down, and were still, then the tired set in. We ate, had coffee, and walked back. That was a semi-nerve-wracking walk - I’m pretty sure I almost got hit several times. Once back at the hotel, Honey was watching some Indian soap operas. Interestingly, these shows (which were on several channels) all seem to revolve around an event rather than people. You know how in the States, people follow soaps for the characters? Well, all of these episodes, on each channel we tried, centered on an engagement ceremony, leading us to wonder whether it was the characters or the concept that people follow these shows for. I didn’t watch for long - it’s been a long day and a shower was required, followed now by bed. Taj Mahal tomorrow!