Apparently I was too sick and congested to realize I kind of re-wrote the last September post on October 1. That’s ok, because there was more to the adventure.
Before I got this cold (I got it last Tuesday in India), Dave took me to see the Taj Mahal. Ravi drove us the 2+ hours to Agra, through mostly rural farmland, past highway workers decked in colorful and shimmering saris, with large bags resting on their backs, looped over their foreheads. They were cleaning up the median strips and the sides of one of India’s newest highways. There were fewer cows and buffalo out there, but they were there. Every so often there was a hut or a shrine dotting the landscape. The shrines were usually red or pink or some brilliant color and seemed alone amid the trees and tall grass.
As we got closer to Agra, the concrete buildings of every design with characteristic Persian doorways and brilliant, if worn, colors, increased in number, along with the people. The road which took us toward the Taj Mahal was lined with vendors selling their wares on blankets. And finally, across the Yamuna River, there it was…the shining white Taj Mahal.
We pulled into the ‘parking lot’ (an unpaved place where cars were parked and numerous camels lined up with their carts, waiting for fares). All eyes, again, were on my white skin, and the tchotchke sellers came from everywhere with Taj Mahal keychains, program books, some with offers for photography, and one, named Mohammed, who offered to take us through one of the seven wonders of the world.
We hopped into a very rickety cart behind one of the biggest camels I’d ever seen. If I hadn’t noticed the huge cloth diaper he was wearing (or, smelled it), the driver was sure to mention that it was a man-made diaper. I nodded, guessing that yes, there was probably not a camel-diaper factory there in India…or anywhere, for that matter. We all kept our balance in the cart as it edged toward the entrance of the site, then climbed down and went through a long, walled walkway…Dave went in the ‘Indian’ one and I went into the ‘tourist’ one. Dave told me I was charged more because of my skin color. I didn’t have any feeling about that, but proceeded through the women’s metal detector, with a pat-down by one of the female police there.
We met Mohammed after getting our tickets and stood under a huge tree. The heat was absolutely searing, and I tried to listen while blocking my eyes (no way was I going to wear sunglasses to see this!) while scores of Indians looked me up and down. I was kind of amused at that, and just smiled at them. They smiled back. I love Indians. Mohammed photographed me in front of the first building–the entrance to the grounds, and prepared me (Dave had already been there) for the first view of the Taj Mahal. We went up the stairs and Mohammed photographed me with the opening of the red-stoned building in the background, then told me to move further into it, but not to look just yet. The other end of the building made a pretty frame around the brilliant white building which was the center of everyone’s attention. Then, he said, turn around.
It was like looking at a princess castle. The grounds were meticulously kept. The grass was closely clipped, and the Taj Mahal was about as beautiful as a man-made building could be. We took pictures in front of the reflecting pool, as everyone else was doing, and Mohammed pulled us to the side to explain more about the mausoleum, built by the Shah at the time for his beloved wife, Mumtaz, who had died in childbirth. He told of the amount of labor, money and time the building took (web resources can go into much more detail than I can here). We moved in front of the mausoleum and dove onto a bench that endless families were trying to sit on for their own photos, and finally Mohammed took us up the steps to explain where the priceless stones in the walls came from.
I will post photos in the next section, and continue this part, but for now, breathless is the only word I can think of. Partly because of the heat, partly because of the technique he explained of how the stonecutters placed every leafy filigree flower, leaf and vine into the crystal marble walls of the place…and partly because someone built this building because he loved someone else so much! Wow. The camel ride was really cool too.
Christine's India 
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