Agra-Cadabra!

As we had feared, Agra lived up to its reputation of being oven-hot and a bit dirtier than the other towns we've seen, although at this point we've become a bit immune to the dirt factor and accept as normal life a river of waste water running on either side of the street and large landfills every few blocks being picked through by young boys looking for recyclable bottles. The heat proved a bit harder to live with - once we arrived via air-conditioned train at about 10pm, the overwhelming heat hit us in the face like a burning coal. It was absolutely shocking, and slowed us down considerably during the daylight hours. However, we weren't to be distracted from the reason for our being in Agra in the first place...

Taj Mahal Day!

The next morning we arose at 5am to catch sunrise at the Taj, which happens to showcase the marble at its most beautiful while also being the coolest and least crowded time to walk around - all according to our guidebook but luckily it all turned out to be true. I know we've all heard the words that describe the Taj Mahal: glowing, beautiful, romantic, majestic, peaceful, blah blah blah, but I must say it's all accurate and the building can't really be captured in words. It's everything you've heard about, and did not disappoint in the slightest. The fact that its backstory involves true love and loss is basically a dramatic bonus, but the building itself is just a marvel. The color is such pure white, and the gardens that precede it are completely lovely, while setting the viewer a ways back from the Taj in order to give the best view. It's all very well planned, astonishingly symmetrical, and so quiet and calming. Up close, the Taj is covered with delicate carving and marble inlay, while the tomb inside is surrounded by an intricately carved octagonal marble screen, which we learned was done from a single block of marble. The kind of work that must have gone into the place with little room for error is mind boggling.

We spent a little while taking in all the beauty, and once we decided we'd had our fill headed back to the hostel to catch up on much needed sleep and cool air. Once awake we headed to a reputable marble inlay shop to see the Taj Mahal process up close. The workshop itself was quite simple but it was incredible to see this process done completely by hand - each tiny stone is cut to its specified shape, while the identical shape is carved into the very hard Indian marble until the two fit perfectly with an imperceptible dab of glue. I loved seeing an ancient art still practiced with such gorgeous results - the shop was filled with masterpieces, most of which were not for sale but are truly breathtaking. Many tabletops featured over 100 flowers, each composed of over 50 individual stones, aside from all the borders and latticework. We enjoyed looking at the myriad vases, boxes, and tabletops that were for sale and then headed out into the cruel heat of the afternoon.

Taking advantage of our only day in Agra, we went straight to the Agra Fort, which was a bit bigger and fancier than the two forts we saw in Jaipur and a bit more imposing owing to the angry red color of the sandstone. The fortified palace was built by three generations of Moghul rulers, each of whom destroyed and replaced a bit of his father's work so that the fort is a mix of architecture and taste. It was easy to spot the changes made by Shah Jahan (builder of the Tah Mahal), for those sections glowed with white marble rather than red stone. More excitingly, there were a lot more monkeys!

The next day took us to Delhi via our first late train on the Indian Rail - we had been so impressed! This time we waited all afternoon at the Agra station in worse heat than I ever experienced at Cross Country workout in Abilene, leaving us pretty sweaty and gross by the time our train arrived 3 hours late. Still, once we arrived in Delhi (where it's maybe 3 degrees cooler!), we quickly found a hostel and gratefully cleaned up pretty quickly.

Delhi reminds us of Mumbai, obviously since both are giant cities with millions of people. Delhi seems to be more segregated and sectioned off - Mumbai has a real mix of people in the streets, while Delhi is divided into Old Delhi (dirty, crowded, poor), New Delhi (leafy, wealthy, businesslike), and the middle, which is quite clean and green, and less crowded than the other two. One discovery has been the Metro system, which works surprisingly well and is really clean and nice, while costing about $0.16 per ride (and incidentally, "Mind the Gap" is also on rotation here)! However, we still have used rickshaws to get around most of the time, as the Metro isn't too extensive and walking to a station in the heat is unthinkable.

In Delhi we have tried to be industrious tourists despite the relentless sun, and I feel we've mostly succeeded. Our first day was spent touring Humayun's Tomb, another striking Moghul building that many people equate to the Taj Mahal, except composed of red sandstone. It does have a similar shape and is set back from a long garden, and the carving is very impressive, but it doesn't quite match up to its cousin in Agra. Still, it was beautiful to see.

From there we visited the Gandhi Smitri, the home where Gandhi spent his final months and was eventually assassinated. The museum was really touching and very educational, indicative of my not knowing much about Gandhi to begin with. There were placards lining the walls with a detailed biography and many importants quotations of his, as well as a display of his 11 earthly possessions at the time of his death, the location of which is marked with an eternal flame. We were impressed with the respectful display, and I am now quite interested in reading more about his life and works.

Our long, hot afternoon was capped with a visit to the India Gate monument and a trudge up the road to see the capital the British built in Delhi during their rule, composed of a number of large, stately buildings in a very unsurprisingly British style.

We were a bit less ambitious the next day, wresting ourselves from the air conditioned hotel room to explore a bit more of Old Delhi, a maze of market-lined streets that smelled so strongly of hot chili peppers and curry spices that our eyes teared up.

We reached the famed Red Fort, but felt a bit fort-ed out after having seen three huge ones already, so we opted for the equally enormous Jama Masjid Mosque instead, only to find it closed for prayer time. After a few gallons of water and a brief nap, we headed back to the mosque just in time for it to be closed for prayer again, but begged our way into a quick picture-taking tour around before being rushed out.

The rest of our day was rounded out by visits to the quirky Charity Bird Hospital, where they specialize, clearly, in treating wild birds and rabbits and exist solely on donations, which they request rather forcefully.

As we're on our way out of Delhi tonight, we haven't had too much time to run around but did manage a trip to the National Museum this morning. It's a bit dingy and disorganized, as we've come to expect, but the displays of Buddhist and Hindu art, miniature paintings, and Harappan settlements (from almost 4,000 BC!) were really well done and kept our interest for a long time.

Some of our highlights in India have been our conversations with the locals. Everyone asks us where we're from (to our reply: "Obama!" said with a smile) and whether we're traveling as friends (to our reply: "Where is the baby?!"), but we've had more in-depth interaction with a few. A teenaged guy who worked at our Jaipur hostel asked me whether ours was a "love marriage" or arranged marriage, and when I told him it was a love marriage, he was so shocked and seemingly happily surprised. Then he worked his way through the marriages of both our families, asking which type each was. When I replied with love marriage every time, he showed increasing disbelief. I wonder what kind of marriage lies ahead for him.

In Delhi one of our rickshaw drivers was a very friendly Sikh man with impeccable English who liked to talk about marriage, sex, and children, a lot. He had strong opinions about the number of children a couple should have and the importance of birth control once that number has been reached (he has plans for a vasectomy next year, in case you're curious.). At one stop light a very unconvincing Indian transvestite (the first we'd seen) approached the cab for money, and once we'd waved him/her off, our cabbie said very frankly, "That is not a man and not a woman. Is in the middle," which I found very simple and kind of funny.

The children have all been really sweet, the not-so-shy ones running up and saying hello, and grinning when I say hello back with a smile. One group of girls asked my name, and once I'd exchanged a few lines and started to walk away one piped up with, "You're so nice!" When I said, "You're nice, too!" a chorus of "Thank you thank you!" followed us up the hill. I wonder how much exposure to Westerners the kids in smaller cities have, but most of them seem genuinely excited to meet us. We've posed with Indian families in dozens of their photos, something that I got used to in Beijing with Emily, but which caught Ben extremely off guard.

India and the Indians are still being kind to us, and we look forward to more in Amritsar!