My Last Evening in India

I'll be posting pics once I get back to Japan and have a chance to sort through them, but I thought I'd describe my trip first and then the photos will make more (or less sense). First things first: NEVER fly Air India. NEVER! Unless you have a lot of time on your hands and have a penchant for airport architecture. My flight to Delhi was delayed 8 hours making my arrival time 1am instead of 5pm. My flight to Bombay was also delayed by 1 1/2 hours - not a good track record. Not sure what will happen tomorrow as it is Indian Independence Day here and security will be pretty tight.

Anyway, here's the breakdown (I may do this in chunks as there is a lot to tell. So today is the Delhi/Agra part of my trip:

Days 1 & 2: Delhi/Agra: Saw a bit of Delhi by night (including the Red Fort where everyone is waiting for some horrible terrorist happening to occur tomorrow when the Prime Minister addresses the country)on the way to my accommodations in the diplomatic district where the youth hostel is - almost hit a cow on the way. Yes, this is the land of the original "Holy Cow" - they wander about the city streets and highways and are generally left alone and are about the only things traffic will stop for. I'd heard of this before, but I'd always imagined it in my mind as something much more rural: a dirt road with a cow in the way of the car. Instead, this cow was crossing the median from one part of the highway to the other.

After a good night's rest, I took a rather new lightrail system to a rather old bus to get to the charter bus going to Agra where the Taj Mahal is. I have never had to run and jump on a moving bus, but that is what is done here - bus drivers wait for no one. I was behind some guys and as they got on before me and the guy in front of me, the bus started moving. The guy ahead ran, grabbed the rail and hopped on so I did the same. Then I had to push through the crowd to pay the bus conductor; a nice, old Indian gentleman gave me his seat saying that as a visitor, I should be given preference. That was nice of him, wasn't it? Thanks, old New Delhi guy! He was just the first of many people who came across my path and helped me find my way.

Once I got to the right bus for Agra, I found it would take about 5 hours. This was told to me by the Indian doctor sitting next to me who was also taking a day trip to the Taj Mahal. This guy saved my life in Agra as I would never have known how to get to the Taj once I reached the city. The bus ride was super long and uncomfortable as my knees get to hurting a bit when sitting in a cramped bus seat. We stopped about 2/3 of the way there at a roadside rest stop which is nothing like a roadside rest stop in the US. Instead of a toilet, there was a wall with piled up garbage onto which I relieved myself (while breathing only through my mouth and wearing Tevas with no socks). I got some chips and a bottled orange soda (let me say here that I have made it through my trip without any substantial case of Delhi Belly as they call it) and then re-boarded the bus. When I got to Agra, the doctor suggested we get off the bus a little early as the driver was going to take us way out of the way. So he flagged down an auto-rickshaw (like an old, modified, smaller, faster version of a golf cart with a canvas hood)and we road it for a bit until the driver stopped and insisted on picking up two more travelers - otherwise he said he'd charge us double, so we paid, got out and looked for a cheaper mode of transport - this turned out to be a bicycle-rickshaw. This poor skinny dude biked us like three miles across town to get to the Taj. I gave him a good tip.

What is the Taj like? Well, when I post the pictures you will see a taste for yourself, but the pics are nothing like being there. It is quite possibly the most beautiful structure I have EVER seen in my life - perfectly balanced, glowing in all of its white marbled glory and surrounded by majestic gardens. It was built as a mausoleum after the death of this raj's (?) third wife - the only wife to provide him with a son. Then his son took over and imprisoned his father but gave him a room with a view so to speak - from the fort where he was kept under house arrest, he had a perfect view of the Taj. Agra is such a depressed town with a lot of extreme poverty and then this amazing structure is so unlike Agra that it is a bit like a dream - you'd think the Taj people would be able to use some of the proceeds (by the way, if you are Indian, you pay like $2.00 to get in, but if you are a foreigner, you have to fork over about $15.00 to get in - pretty normal here in most museums I went to) to revive this depressed town.

After the Taj, the Indian doctor suggested we take the train back to Delhi as it would shave off a few hours - this we did. Bike-rickshaw guy (the same one) met us outside and took us to the station). At one stop, two kids risked getting killed by the crazy traffic to try and sell me these twisty bracelets. Unfortunately, poverty is rife here in certain areas and it's heart-breaking to see. I felt stupid and helpless and exploited and exploiting and guilty and un-Christian and depressed for not responding with money. I was about to write that I didn't know what to do, but that's wrong, I did know I should help, but I'd read in several places to discourage begging otherwise, you'll be surrounded and it also perpetrates the behavior. I understand this, but I have money and the kid with half of his left foot missing doesn't. As you can guess, I didn't help and now I have to deal with my conscience (even that feels like a luxury).

Riding on the trains is an interesting experience in India, the cars are pretty old and the seats are wooden. Matt's butt does not like wooden seats - wooden seats are comfortable for about 5 minutes, after which, it's just torture. I was stared at for most of the trip by the people sitting in the seats across the aisle from me - one guy actually turned and just sat and looked at me for an hour, so I went to sleep.

The next day I went around Connaught Circle which is a cool area of Delhi with lots of shops and restaurants. I drank lassi (a yogurt drink) and ate lunch at my friend Suvir's restaurant Veda. It's super chic and gaudy and the spicy corn soup and butter naan I had was amazing. After looking around a bit, I went to the airport and awaited my flight. 15 minutes before boarding, we were told to change from gate 7 to gate 1. We all truged downstairs to gate one and were then told our flight was delayed 1 hour and 45 minutes, so I sat and tried to figure out the next leg of my journey. After waiting, we were all bussed out on the tarmack to our plane where we boarded. A man was sitting in my chair but said we could sit anywhere. So I did. I got to Mumbai in the middle of the night and took a pre-paid taxi to the hotel in central Mumbai (you have to get a pre-paid taxi in the airport otherwise you get swindled when you try and hail a cab yourself.

That's it for Delhi and Agra.

To be continued...