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Published: December 23rd 2005
At the Taj Mahal
Greg, Angela, me, Ruth, and Praveen.Thursday, Dec 22
Late last night we got back from a whirlwind trip to Delhi where we met up with Ruth’s friends from St. Louis, Greg and Angela. I say whirlwind because we saw so many places, people, and things that I don’t think there’s any way that even I can write about all of it. I’m not even sure what day we left here but I know that we spent the first night in Delhi, the second in Jaipur and the third in Delhi.
Our trip took us through Bangalore where Praveen has family. On the way to Delhi we had an 8 hour lay over which was planned and enjoyably spent eating, visiting, and shopping. On the way home we also had close to an 8 hour lay over, but this time it was unplanned. It was supposed to be short, only time for lunch, but as it turned out, our flight was delayed and we spent about 4 hours sitting about the airport “relaxing”. Yeah. We finally arrived “home” sometime last night and checked back into our hotel where we unpacked yet again…. At least enough to find the half full bottle of Indian rum, which, by the way, I am learning to appreciate. Drinking liquor in a more concentrated form than beer (my usual preference) has a great advantage, which is less trips to the “toilet”. And that is an advantage which has great value here. A side note: We are learning that contrary to past experience, airplane bathrooms are quite nice and we often find ourselves “saving up” for them.
As for our trip, the visit with Praveen’s family (aunt, uncle and cousins) in Bangalore was great. We have been welcomed with open arms wherever we go. I wish I was better with names, which mostly escape me no matter how many times I am told what they are. Ruth has it pretty easy because she can just call everyone older than her auntie and uncle. In fact she is supposed to call them that. Everyone (in the family) that is close to her own age is called sister or brother and she uses the Indian word for mother and father for Praveen’s parents. It’s a bit more difficult for me, as it seems since I am “old” I should use their names (if I could only remember them).
After the visit in Bangalore we got back on the plane for the remainder of the trip to Delhi where we were late arriving, but were met by the driver that friends of Praveen had sent to pick us up. We had to go to a different airport since Greg and Angela were arriving on an international flight (from Chicago) and we were only flying domestic and were a little nervous about finding them, but it was no problem. They were just standing around looking for white faces and easily spotted us. Loading all our luggage and our selves into the mini van was a bit more tricky, but it worked out fine. Actually, I came to like sitting in the back of the van with the bags,which with a little arranging could become a fairly comfortable napping area.
We arrived late at night (I’m thinking it was at least midnight) at the home of the parents of some of Praveen’s friends. It was a huge beautiful home with many bedrooms and they made us feel quite welcome and comfortable in all ways. The hospitality that we have felt here is so amazing. “Auntie” even had a snack waiting for us when we arrived.
The next day we went shopping to try and find a sari for Angela to wear to the wedding and something else for her to wear to the reception. Ruth also still needed something to wear to the reception and with the wedding happening only a few days away there was a lot of pressure. Ruth found something for herself, but it wasn’t until later, in another city, that Angela found hers. After shopping our driver, Praveen, (yes, TWO Praveen’s in one van) took us for a little site seeing around the city. In the evening we went to see the Red Fort, then back to a private “club” where we met up with “Auntie and Uncle” for drinks and dinner. We hit the sack late again that night.
The next morning we all got ourselves arranged in the van for our trip….first to Japour where we’d see the Amber Fort, a palace or two and some other things that right now escape me (only because my brain is only half functioning right now). We spent the night in a really cool hotel there that was built like a palace. In the evening, we dropped our bags there, then went to a “village” where we had a traditional Rajastan (the name of that state) dinner and saw some other entertaining things. When I say “village” it wasn’t a real villiage as in town, but rather sort of an amusement place.
Oh… I forgot to mention that we rode elephants up a long winding path to get to the entrance of the Amber Fort. (Or maybe it was one of the palaces, sorry, I can’t be specific right now, but one thing I am certain of is that it was an elephant.)
After a short night at the cool palace hotel, we had breakfast and were on the road again with Praveen #2 at the wheel. By the way, he was a great guy and a great driver. Ruth even got him to try and teach us some of the Northern Indian dances in preparation for her wedding. At one point she convinced him to try a sip of her tequila which he declared “nasty” (or some other Indian adjective that meant the same). He thought that Greg’s Captian Morgans was pretty good and suggested Indian Rum, saying it was the same, but he was wrong, it is NOT the same, but drinkable.
Okay…. So we are on the road again, heading towards Agra to see the Taj Mahal but first planning a little stop about ¾ of the way there to see another palace, actually a “city” that was built by an emperor and then abandoned after only 13 years because of the lack of available water supply. It was an amazing city with an equally amazing story and I plan to read more about this guy. He had three wives, one Hindu, one Moslem, and one Christian. He believed that all religions should be respected and treated equally so he incorporated symbols of all three into the massive ornate structures. His big problem was that none of his wives seemed to be able to give him a son. Finally, one of them, the Hindu wife conceived a son and it was no surprise that her part of the palace was by far the most impressive. (Each wife had a different home within the palace).
The road to Agra was pretty bad most of the way and it seemed to take forever to get there. We finally arrived around mid afternoon and Praveen, the driver, insisted that he knew the best place for Angela to find her wedding apparel so we stopped there and sure enough, he was right…. We were pretty hungry since we hadn’t eaten all day so we walked next door to the store to Pizza Hut! We didn’t want to go to the Taj with hunger pains and besides, they had beer.
We got to the Taj and hired a guide, which we have learned is a good way to get a bit of the facts behind the beauty and awe of what we are seeing. It was unreal, being there, having seen pictures of it many times, but the real thing is so much more than pictures can show. I had the same experience when I stood beside Niagara Falls a few years ago. One amazing thing about it that many people know, but I didn’t, is that all the design is done with inlaid semi-precious and precious stone. It looks like painting but it is not, it’s pieced into the marble.
We loaded ourselves back into the van for the 4 hour trip back to Delhi where we arrived again, close to midnight with plans of getting up around 5 am to be back in the van by 5:30 to arrive at the airport by 6 am. See what I mean about a “whirlwind” trip? There was so much to fit into such a short time, but we gave it our best. We said good bye to Praveen, the driver, who we’d grown a bit fond of, and got ready to do the airport routine and head to Bangalore. I already mentioned the unexpected long lay over and the final trip back to our hotel…so that is the brief summary. Your lucky that I don’t have time for the detailed version…. Haha…
Today is our “free” day, meaning that there are no planned ‘events” however we still need to get to the tailor to pick up the things we dropped off and drop off some new ones. There are also some more little wedding details to be taken care of but I can’t remember what they are.
Tomorrow evening there are parties, one for Praveen which seems to be a typical bachelor party. The other is for us “girls” where we will get the henna painted onto our hands and maybe feet, and who knows what else. There is a name for this but of course I don’t remember what it is. It’s traditional though.
Saturday evening is the reception, which is the biggest event of the wedding. More people will come to that than the wedding, which will be on Sunday (morning I think). Angela and I are part of the ceremony. I am praying that I don’t end up tripping over my sari and end up pulling the whole thing off, leaving me standing there in what is essentially a half slip and sports bra in front of all those people.
Right now our “iffy” hotel internet connection is not available to me so I’m writing this up and will post it later. My intention is to upload a bunch of photos as soon as I have the time AND the connection at the same time.
There are big chunks of the trip and lots of little chunks of “observations” that I have not been able to write about….. I’m on sensory overload.
Okay....so I got connected and got this posted but the photos will have to wait. Soon.... I hope.
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Cece
non-member comment
Enjoy!!! You'll soon be back in old Missouri.. Wish Ruth a wonderful wedding day and give her our love.