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Published: November 10th 2008
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Road to Agra
I rode through the unreal daily dramas of India. My trip to Delhi and India so far has been fantastic so far. I haven't really been life changedly altered or anything like that, but this place is unreal. It defies explanation. Let attempt to describe my journey to Agra yesterday and what I saw along the way.
I woke up early at 6:30am, which actually wasn't too bad for me because I am still on Japanese time, so it seemed like a reasonable 10am. I set off with my driver in the early morning bound for Agra and the Taj Mahal. The drive takes over four hours, but I didn't mind because what I saw out the window was like something out of a surreal dream.
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What you see on the road to Agra is Life. You see people living, and not like life in suburban America, but people really living.
Taj Mahal
The gleaming white serenity of the Taj Mahal was in sharp contrast to the poverty I had just seen. Eating, laughing, moving, dying, struggling, staring, smiling. There are people everywhere. There is no stretch on that more than 200 km stretch of road where there aren't people. They move about in these bright colors, purple, pink, orange floating around them. They converge on each other as they go about their daily routine.
A motorbike crashed into an auto-rickshaw and an old woman topples to the ground in agony. Her sapphire blue clad relatives pick her up off the street with pain and emotion in their eyes. Down the road a cow ambles by, while another sacred cow munches garbage. Our car stops, the driver gets out, a monkey on a leash pounds on my window. Women with their babies tap on my window. I stare ahead. What else can you do amidst such true life drama.
And yet the crowd still swirls. Now matter how far we drive they are always there. A mother draped in beautiful purple crouches on the squalid pavement. A naked baby hangs have in her arms. His naked legs just lounge and lurch on the ground. The mother just blankly stares off into the chaotic swirl, her piercing black eyes not betraying
The Taj
The more I looked at it the more I couldn't turn away. an ounce of a emotion. She is not asking for anything. She is not paying attention to anybody, even her child. The sun begins to set in a cruel red on the steamy plains of Uttar Pradesh. Where will these people sleep? But I drive on safe in the knowledge that my hotel's fluffy white pillows me. How did it get to be like this?
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I don't know if that come close to describing it, because I fear that mere words could not possibly do justice to what I saw. However, the original purpose of the day was see the Taj Mahal. I see the Taj I did. When we finally got to Agra I met the guy who would show me his town and the Taj. The two of us hopped into an auto-rickshaw. We made our way through the throngs
White Marble
Every ounce of this building is infused with grief and love. of Agra and then just like we were there before one of the Wonders of the World.
When I first beheld the Taj Mahal I was a little underwhelmed, well at least I wasn't overwhelmed or gob-smacked. But then I began to a closer look. It did look like it was painted on a canvas of blue sky. A funny thing happened. I couldn't in fact take my eyes off it. I was being enchanted and mesmerized by it. I wandered through the Garden with my guide telling me the history of the great building. But all I could do was stare and marvel at this huge piece of marble perfection, glistening withe, sitting among green gardens overlooking a flowing river.
The Taj Mahal was built as an outgrowth of grief and a lovesick heart. The ruler's beloved wife had died while he was away and one of her dying wishes was to have a monument built never to be surpassed in remembrance of her. Upon hearing this the brokenhearted ruler locked himself way and when he finally came out dedicated his next 22 years to building the Taj Mahal for his lost wife. You see the only
Agra Fort
The red stone is actually what is more commonly found in the lands around the Taj Mahal. way he could continue to show love for her was to pour his heart and soul in this building of unsurpassable beauty.
I learned of another tale of love in Modern India that day. My guide was 30 and his girlfriend was 20. Their families grew up next to each other. They cannot marry though because she is a Sikh and he is not. I think perhaps he is muslim. Their families don't know of their relationship. So many nights the girl will sneak into his family's compound after the lights have been turned out and they sit there together the darkness , talk and kiss. I'm telling you dude India is different.
After the Taj we made plans to go to the Agra Fort, which was further along the river. But before we did we went to lunch in a local restaurant in town. I had a delicious lunch of murgh sag and a banana lassi. When I finished I went outside and sat on a wall. As I waited for my guide to come out a woman in black approached with a baby in her arms. She was mumbling with her hand out asking for money.
Uttar Pradesh
The Taj is in the distance, but where will humanity sleep tonight? As with all beggars in India I could not look into her eyes. Knowing that if I did my heart would break.
Today is another day and I am off to walk around Delhi, and into Old Delhi to get my bearing. Life awaits. Happy Diwali.
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