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Girl in the Meadow Field
Should buy a telephoto lens. Namaste World!
How is everyone doing? It is 2325h in Singapore. Night is cool. Day is humid. The world's getting twisted, but we're getting by, alhamdulillah.
I desperately need to continue talking about my adventures. It is only mid-week but the week has been crazy so far. Alhamdulillah, I got the best adventure Middle East blog for my 'Discover Iran 2008' post. Do check it out if you are interested. Honestly, I never foresee that I was recognized for it. I started this travelblog for the sake of wanting to pen down my feelings and experiences. I didn't have any target audience in mind because I was writing only for me. In any case, I'm just thankful that I was recognized for this. 😊
So previously, we were at Jaipur, the Pink City. I think I did mention that the walls were terracotta, and not really pink as in baby pink or hot pink for that matter. If not, I would not have left Jaipur because j'adore pink!
Today we are taking a trip to Agra. I was excited to go to Agra because it has been my lifelong dream to visit the Taj Mahal. I know
Diwan Khana-I-'Am
The Public Hall. The King would give out his decree in front of the general public here. and am aware that a visit to India would not be complete without a trip to Agra, which effectively translates to the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately, I did not spend that much time in Agra, visiting only the must-visit places like the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort and the place where it is famous for its inlays. I will explain in a bit, fret not.
En route from Jaipur to Agra, I passed by lots of mustard fields. I must say, it is yellow and beautiful, and definitely a refreshing change from the dull plains that I saw for the first many miles. I managed to snap a photo of a young girl hiding inside the mustard fields. Unfortunately, I do not have telephoto lens (I shall buy that once I start working, insyaAllah) to capture the emotions of the girl, but you could see her, from a distance. Initially, someone (a man) waved at the girl but she just stared at him. I am guessing that she is terrified, haha! Maybe her mum told her not to say hi to strangers. Fortunately though, as a token of appreciation for allowing me to take her photo, I smiled
Fatehpur Sikri
The exterior of the splendour that lies within and waved at her (I actually wanted to shake her hand but she was in the middle of the field and I don't see myself walking among mustard flowers hehe), and she returned that gesture. And continued staring at me. Haha. Adorable indeed. I'll see if I can hunt that picture down. Definitely one of the best shots that I've taken on the entire trip. Oh by the way, if you are wondering, I brought two cameras for this trip. Canon EOS 50D as well as the Canon G11.
Also, en route, I stopped by Fatehpur Sikri. Now, before I had even gotten down from the bus that I was in, the people (mainly boys and men) gathered round the entrance of the bus. In any normal circumstances, kids would refuse to come down and people would be intimidated. I had my reservations at first, I must admit. However, I thought, "What the heck. I came to India to experience different things. Why should I not go down? What's the worst that can happen?" With that (brave) thought in mind, I steeled myself and took the steps down the bus. Of course, I wasn't wrong. They tried selling me
Fatehpur Sikri Courtyard
Not the entire expanse of the courtyard bangles, pointed at my camera, asked me questions. To which I kept smiling and did answer the question regarding my country of origins. Oh did you know, I had a new name in India. I called myself Imaan. I've always loved that name. If I can't call myself Imaan in Singapore, then I must call myself Imaan when I am on holiday. It makes perfect sense. 😊
The thing that fascinates me when I was on the walk towards the jeep that would bring us to Fatehpur Sikri (don't be confused now. I took the bus on the highway, and it stopped at a parking area. Then I had to go down, walk for about 10 minutes to the place where the jeeps were parked. Then only would we arrive at Fatehpur Sikri after the 15 minute jeep ride) were the sheeps that crossed our paths every now and then. It's really quite awesome to get up close and personal with these animals on a daily basis. The closest I can do that in Singapore would be at the zoo, but the animals are too tame to even get up close with humans. So to experience it all in
Fatehpur Sikri - Main Building
Most splendid out of all the buildings India was an eye-opening experience, definitely. Along the way, I was 'escorted' by the shopkeepers, reminding me that "My shop is number 63. Do pay a visit, ok? See only. No need to buy." Hahah. I felt intimidated, yes. But I was slightly amused. It's all a new concept to me.
Moving on. Seriously I digress too much, I hate myself. Fatehpur Sikri was beautiful. It was actually a place made up of many many many buildings. I think the name was King Akbar, who had 3 wives - Muslim, Christian and Hindi. He's Muslim, by the way. Oh if you are interested, watch
Jodhaa Akbar. It's a bollywood production. I have yet to watch it yet, so I'm not sure if it would be historically (in)accurate. I think the name of the Muslim wife was Sultana. I like that name. Sultana had the smallest palace out of all the three palaces built for each wife. I think her palace is more of like a small room, perhaps the size of my room. However, to make up for it, King Akbar made her palace the most intrinsically decorated, with all the carvings on the walls. The palace for the
Fatehpur Sikri - Pool
A man actually wanted us to pay him to watch him jump into this pool. Sick. Hindi wife was uber huge! It weaved in and out like a maze. She got a huge palace because out of the three wives, she was the first to bear him a son. So in that sense, she is rather precious to him. As for the Christian wife, she got a palace in the shape of a cross. You can see the stories drawn on the ceilings and walls. In any case, when I was in the Christian wife's palace, I met a group of French tourists. I started talking to them with the minimal French that I learnt from school. They were from Lyon. Anyway, you can see the buildings for the different functions, and I saw the bed that King Akbar would lie on. It's actually very high. Somewhat as high as the princess and the pea bed. As in you would need a tall ladder to climb the bed.
From Fatehpur Sikri, it was another 2 hour bus ride to Agra. If I can recall correctly, it was 80-odd km left to cover. Arrived in Agra at around 1500h, straightened our backs and caught the bus to the Taj Mahal before it closes at
Taj Mahal
A great symbol of love sunset, which was around 1745h. Saw camels along the way. I didn't know that camels exist outside of the desert! Yea the camels were running, how cool is that, eh? Again, lots of vendors approached us. And the Taj Mahal itself was crowded with people! Most of them are local tourists. Perhaps they come from all parts of India. I thought, okay, I'm at the Taj Mahal. But that was before I saw the building itself. I made that thought as soon as I entered the sensor at the entrance. But when I'm standing just opposite the Taj Mahal, it was truly breathtaking. I mean, no words can actually describe how I really feel at that point in time. It is like I am standing opposite a timeless monument of love. One of the wonders of the world. A majestic beauty. And how the humans are small in comparison to the mammoth size of the Taj Mahal. I could only stare. I know it is rude to stare, but I can't help it!
About 30 minutes before the Taj Mahal closes for the day, I ran to the entrance. I desperately wanted to get inside the building to see
Taj Mahal - up close
Check out the marble! how majestic and big it would be. I mean, a grand exterior would be complemented by an equally grand interior, right? Wrong. I admit, I was a bit disappointed to see that the interior was really small. It could fit in at most 50 people. Without people standing on each other, of course. However, the good thing about going to visit the tombs near closing time is that people were already making their way towards the exit. Hence, it was good because I was the last one. Literally. It was eerily silent. You can almost feel the presence of Mumtaz Mahal in that room. The tour guide who was with me did the adzhan for Maghrib at one corner, and it echoed throughout the entire room. He showed me a couple of inlay works, the line of symmetry, etc. And all the while, the security guys were hounding on us, asking us to leave the place immediately. I was a bit disappointed by the behaviour of these security guards. I tried explaining that I came all the way from a distant land, and they would be cruel to deny extended access to me. But, they took no crap. I guess
they are paid to do it. But still, I wished that I was able to spend a longer time in there and admire the beauty of what's around me.
After that, made my way to the place where they showed us how the inlay work was done on the marble. It took skilled craftsmen to do it. They were doing the designs manually, and I am guessing that it must hurt to actually do this on a daily basis. You sort of have to have strong fingers to withstand doing this job. That's cos you are rubbing your fingers against a hard and rough object, and there's a hell lot of friction going on there. Went down to the basement of the shop, and I saw this huge round marble table with small little inlay works done. They used mother of pearl, lapis lazuli, turqoise and an assortment of other precious stones. And guess what? The table costs USD6000, which you would then multiply it by 1.5 to get the price in SGD. Which is hefty, because even carpets don't cost as much. I mean, if I was rich, I would probably have gotten the table, but
Marble Inlays
You gotta have strong fingers that can withstand pain for this! then again, I'm not sure if it is worth it. Haha. I don't even want to speak about freight issues. 😊 But otherwise, a truly enriching experience at the shop, that by the time we left the shop, it was already 1930h and it was very dark, signalling that it was time to head back to the hotel.
The next day, I woke up bright and early, and guess what? I was at the same breakfast area as the Malaysian VIPs. And how do you know that they are VIPs? Well, because firstly, I happened to talk to one of the younger VIPs (I'm guessing he is the VIP's son). It seems that he thought I was from Malaysia because I am Malay. Well sorry to disappoint, but technically, I'm your neighbour from the neighbouring country hahaha... A really friendly person. I thought that he was one of those visitors, but it was only about 30 minutes later that I found out that he is the VIP's son. That's cos the Malaysian tour guide asked me where I was from, how long I was going to be in India, and the places that I intend to visit.
Apparently, we share the same itinerary, but a vast difference in cost. I pay at least SGD1000 cheaper. And we stay at the same hotels and visit the same places. So you tell me, who's smarter? Hehe.. I was just joking of course, but I was silently celebrating my winning at being 'cleverer' than those VIPs.
After a very fulfilling breakfast (in which I managed to stuff in some delicious blueberry ice cream, a mango pannacotta, boiled eggs, butter rice, naan, chocolate mousse and a couple of creamy cakes), I headed towards Agra Fort. Oh by the way, I eat a lot when I'm travelling. It's a psychological thing. I don't know. I get hungry easily, whereas in Singapore, you would see me eating small portions or even it may hover on the point that I am too lazy to eat. I guess I need all the energy that I can get. Furthermore, I was staying at a 5-star hotel in Agra, so might as well make my bucks worth.
Agra Fort was, hmm, red. It was drizzling when we got there. And lots of mud on the ground. But they had these wooden gates that
Agra Fort
Name of the gate which we entered from marked the entrance of the place. It was so classic! I bet they have a drawbridge. Okay, perhaps a modified version, but they definitely had it! Ventured in the compounds of the fort, and when I was walking through the long cobbled walk up the fort, there were walls with holes on either sides. The tour guide told me that during the war times in those days, the soldiers would hide behind these walls and when the enemies come charging, they would pour hot boiling oil down the walls and it would splash out on the enemies. Pretty ingenious, I must say.
Went in further to the compounds of the fort, and we saw the place where Shah Jahan did his house arrest. Apparently, he had built the Taj Mahal using the public's money, and his son was furious when he learnt of it. Hence, in order to stop Shah Jahan from building a replica of the Taj Mahal using black marble, he commanded his father to do his house arrest. Shah Jahan was a pretty smart man. He knew that he had vision problems, so he chose a balcony where just across the lake, you could see the
Taj Mahal. He wanted to constantly keep himself close to his wife, you see. He also detached the diamond from his crown and used it to reflect the Taj Mahal so that he would be able to see it better. Now this is what you would call 'undying love'.
A great time spent in Agra, especially the date with the Taj Mahal and all that. Maybe when I make a second trip to Agra sometime in the (not so) distant future, I will spend an entire day at the Taj Mahal. And revel in its beauty. 😊)
Okay, stay tuned for more updates! We'll talk about Delhi and Kashmir soon!
Take care World!
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