March 12-14

Taj trip…

I spent March 12-14th up in Northern India visiting Delhi and Agra. Agra is where the Taj Mahal is, the star of our trip. It was another really great experience, tough and demanding but a great experience. I know I say that everything is a great experience but they all are. The first day was exhausting…we met in the Union at 3am to depart the ship and head to the airport.Our flight was at 6am and we arrived in Delhi around 8:30am.I was the trip leader so I had the responsibility of all of the logistics of our trip and for 35 students. I've led many trips over the past several years but traveling in India adds a whole other level!

My students were really great…I couldn't have asked for a better group. We flew Kingfisher airlines which kind of reminds me of Virgin Atlantic, it's a super luxury airline owned by a beer company; Kingfisher Beer! Once we arrived in Delhi the first challenge was navigating the airport and finding our guide. The plan was to sightsee in Delhi in the morning but most people just slept on the bus because we never slept at night.O well. We did visit a historical sight which unfortunately I can't remember the name of at the moment…there was a very tall minaret. After visiting the ruins, and being taken to another one of those super expensive tourist trap carpet stores, we met up with some other SAS groups for lunch. The other bus leader told me the same thing happened to her with the carpet store. We both tried to tell our guides that we didn't want to stop there but didn't have much luck. After lunch we drove from Delhi to Agra which was a 5-hour bumpy noisy bus ride.

Maybe now is a good time to talk about traffic in India… It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever experienced!Try to imagine 3 lanes of a mostly sort of paved road filled with at least 7 vehicles across consisting at any given time of trucks, busses, taxis, cars, auto-rickshaws, and a motorbike with a whole family riding on it, then throw in a cow chilling out in the road, a bicycle rickshaw/schoolbus with children on the back and a guy riding an elephant.Now imagine they're all blowing their horns and a vehicle is coming at you in the other direction. It's insane.

We reached Agra in time to check in and have a late dinner.The hotel was very very nice. Apparently, just like everything else, there are extremes in India in hotel accommodations.You have your luxury 5-star hotels and then the next level down is pretty sketchy, probably not clean and certainly not air-conditioned. We were so exhausted and I had no problem falling asleep but had to wake up way too early!

On our 2nd day, we visited the Taj Mahal at sunrise and sunset, went to Fatepuhr Sikri, and the Agra Fort.Recently proclaimed one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal is truly a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very nice and the sky was overcast so we didn't have a colorful sunrise but that's ok. I'm glad that I did some reading and learned a little history of it.The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a final resting place and dedication of love for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth. As you stand there, and take it all in, the beauty of the design, the size of it, the purity, the story behind it, the aura of it all, it can take your breath away.I will also admit that I was a little jealous of the couples there able to breath in the history and feeling of timeless love with each other. I think about you always, but here is one place where I closed my eyes and longed to feel your hand together with mine.It blows my mind that one of the most spectacular structures in the world, built of solid white marble, is in Agra, India.Agra itself is a pretty small city, spread out and polluted, with no airport, and a level of poverty that I had never experienced before yet it is also one of the most historically rich regions.The other sites we visited were Fatepuhr Sikri, known as the deserted city, and the Agra Fort.Both of these sites are also the work of the Mughal Empire. Shah Jahan was imprisoned in the Agra Fort by his son who took over ruling because he basically bankrupted the empire after building the Taj Mahal. He could see the mausoleum from the window of his prison cell and was later buried in the Taj Mahal next to his wife.

While all of the other sites we visited in both Agra and Delhi were all very interesting, they started to seem to have the same story.Built by a Mughal emperor who needed to have his own mark and create a palace/city that was bigger and better than the last.It is amazing though how well preserved they all seem to be.What I found really interesting is that the rest of India is pretty dirty, polluted, filled with people, buildings are falling apart, and yet there is a concentration of immaculately preserved world heritage sites.

We returned to Delhi by train which was much nicer than the bus ride, it only took 2 and half hours and lacked the noise of the roadways.The train station was pretty intense.There had to be a least a hundred people living there, begging for food and money. Of course I have seen poverty and homeless, especially in NYC, and there are many social issues at home in the United States but I can not even begin to accurately convey the scene in this train station in Agra. I almost didn't want to look. It truly gives one a sense of appreciation for the privilege we have in developed nations.

After our morning sightseeing at the Red Fort and at Mahatma Ghandi's memorial, we returned to our hotel in Delhi.Another very nice hotel of course…Our guide left the group at 1pm but our flight wasn't until 8:30 and we didn't need to leave for the airport until 6pm so the students have the afternoon free.Many did venture out in to Delhi but none went too far. I stayed in the hotel because, as the trip leader, I couldn't risk getting stuck somewhere and not being there to ensure we all got to the airport.It was a nice time to rest and I splurged and got a pedicure at the hotel spa.It was probably the best pedicure I have ever had….worth every Rupee!!!No problems with our flight back to Chennai and we arrived late late back at the ship on Friday night.

March 15

Overslept! Went shopping back in Pondy Bazaar with Leigh Ellen and just took in my last few hours of India.

I finally got to ride in an AutoRickshaw!I was going to be really really upset if I didn't get to ride in an AutoRickshaw.

There are a few places I would like to see in India that I didn't get to….Varanasi and Mamallapuram are on the top of that list.Hopefully, the course of my life will bring me back to this fascinating place.

People had all kinds of reactions to India…some liked it and some didn't.I think our first problem is that we compare it to what we know… and if we do that, we'll never truly understand what it is.

A couple of things I am curious about… To start with a few at the tip of my tongue: the middle-class.I feel like we had very few opportunities to interact and really see a middle-class. I would like to know what the home of a middle-class family is like.Is there one?

Also…some of the world's best Engineers and Doctors are from India. Yet, from walking down the street, there appears to be no evidence that I could see of that.

Why is it culturally normal to just throw garbage in the street? Is it because they have needs that take priority over where people dispose of their garbage?

It made me very sad to see the number of disabled people with physical disabilities in the streets.

Most men wear western clothes, most women do not.Why is that?

Children….we saw lots of children on field trips to the historical sites we visited but we also saw just as many children in the streets, working and begging.

I had so many questions, so many observations, but I feel like they are fading already… nothing I can write will do my time there justice. India was intense and exciting and I can only hope that I return someday.