A weekend in Agra

Off on our 1st weekend getaway to Agra. Our train left New Delhi Station at about 17h30 on Friday and we arrived in Agra at about 20h00. Booking train tickets online took a few hours over a few days because the booking system is pretty complex but now we have a very good understanding of India Rail (Footnote...these are the kinds of things that I am doing when I do not do a blog for a day Ros!). The booking process probably should have prepared me for the station experience but here, words fail me. Pictures also don’t give a true reflection as they just can’t capture the heat, the crowding and the smells. Hectic! Our hotel in Agra was really nice. You can see some pics on this link: http://www.itcwelcomgroup.in/Hotels/itcmughal.aspx

For Doug’s birthday, I booked us both a massage in the Couples Therapy room (pictured in the link) and it was really awesome. I doubt I will ever find a spa that will match up to this. I was brought out of the reverie of my massage to the sweet sounds of Doug’s snoring! The therapist and I had a good chuckle.

Agra itself relies mostly on tourism and it is a poorer area than Delhi. Once out of the main town it is mostly rural. We spent our 1st day visiting Fatehpur Sikri which is a ruin of a walled city built by Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1571. The North of India changed hands several times between Local Hindu inhabitants, Muslim Sultans and Mughal Emporors. They were a restless bunch! Today the areas that the invaders came from are still volatile (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan). Mughals came from Turkestan/ Persia and were of the same origins as Ghengis Khan. Fatehpur Sikri was eventually deserted when their water source dried up. It is also a World Heritage Site. Emperor Akbar was a very popular ruler because he was religiously tolerant. He ruled from the age of 13. He had 3 wives; a Muslim, a Portuguese catholic and a hindu....so quite a brave guy! We enjoyed hearing about his antics so much that we went out and bought a DVD about his life! The trip out to Fatehpur Sikri is about 40km through mostly rural areas. Traffic was interesting. (Seperate transport blog to follow)

We saw several wedding parties. Hindu lower castes use these chariots that take the bride & groom to their festivities and are very decorative and colourful.

Sunday morning we were up bright & early for trip to the Taj Mahal. It is best viewed at Dawn and Dusk because the marble catches the light at these times making it change colour – a bit like mother of pearl. We were there at about 6h30am. It was only about 5 minutes from the hotel. The Taj Mahal is one of the Wonders of the World and it is really, really beautiful. This tomb was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (descendant of Akbar) in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz died in child labour giving birth to their 14th child!
The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia and over 1,000 elephants were used to transport building materials. The translucent white marble was brought from Rajasthan, the jasper from Punjab, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all, twenty eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble using a labour force of twenty thousand workers.

Later in the day we went to the Red Fort. This is a fort and various palaces built by Akbar in red sandstone before his move to Fatehpur Sikri. Subsequent rulers built on to the original building. Shah Jahan’s palace was built on in his favourite white marble. He later built the Taj Mahal and it can be viewed from his bedroom window at the Red Fort. Shah Jahan built a replica of the Red Fort in Delhi during his reign. Every evening at the one in Delhi, they have a light show and re-enact, in costume, scenes from that era). Just waiting for Tristan to get here before doing this.
Ate in a local establishment just before we boarded the train back...nervously waited for the onslaught of the dreaded Delhi Belly but ...so far, so good!

Qutb Minar

So...last blog covered a bit about the Hindu population...today off to see Qutb Minar and explore some of the Muslim culture in India. Qutb Minar is a minaret (A tall slender tower attached to a mosque which has one or more projecting balconies from which a muezzin summons the people to prayer.) and it is named after Qutb-ud-din Aibak who was the 1st Sultan of Delhi – ie he was the 1st Muslim ruler of Delhi. He started building it in 1193 just after defeating the last Hindu kingdom in Delhi. The minaret is 73m high and is really impressive. It was not finished in his lifetime. He started building the adjacent mosque at the same time. It was built on the foundations of a Hindu temple and on the gate there is an inscription that tells you it was built from the material of 27 demolished idolatrous temples. Columns from these temples can be seen inside the mosque. Only parts of the Mosque are still in place but it is now a World Heritage sight and quite a lot of restoration work is in progress. It was quite a hot day and because I was going to a mosque, I needed to wear long pants (legs and head need to be covered). Needless to say, beween my attire and the headphones I was wearing for tourist info, I was also part of the attraction and several locals wanted a pic with me
Later, dinner at our apartment cooked by Raj & David – they looked after us during our stay there. Could not even lift a hand to make a cup of coffee. Raj is the smiley one and he is from Nepal. David could not speak a word of English!

The National Museum - Day 5

Time for a bit of culture, so off to the National Museum. We stay in Gurgaon which is a new suburb of Delhi. Here is view from the bedroom window. It takes about 30 minutes to an hour to get in to town. More about transport on another day...still trying to get good pics.
People reached India from Africa about 40 000 years ago. They were hunter gatherers but by about 2600BC the 1st established city/Civilization had emerged called the Harappan Civilization. At that time they were about 25000 citizens (compare that with 2010...1.15 billion). They lived in stone houses sometimes 3 stories high , used bronze tools, had a writing system and even had jewelery (see pic of 5000 year old jewelery!)
The Harappans also manage to mould bronze statues. The ability to do this was lost with their decline and bronze statues were only recovered again some 3500 years later.
Here is a picture of the Harappan Bronze 'Dancing girl' which is one of the galleries most prized possessions.

Hinduism is one of the major belief sytems in India. It is relatively complicated but pretty fascinating. I have popped in a few pics and explanations of a few of the most popular Gods or Deities. First up is Shiva. He is 1 one the 5 primary forms of God. The God of Destruction and Rejuvenation. In images he is usually represented as immersed in deep meditation or he can manifest as Nataraja (The Lord of the Dance) in which case he is dancing the 'Tandava' on top of Maya (The demon of ignorance) Here he is in both forms. These are bronze statues dating back to the 13th century by the way.

Next up is Parvati, his sidekick. Parvati is the wife of Shiva and the mother of Ganesha. According to Hindu tradition, Shiva was once married to Sati. Tragically, Sati committed suicide by jumping into a fire, and Shiva could not be consoled. The distraught widower never wanted to marry again. However, years later, a young women named Parvati ("Daughter of the Mountain") committed herself to living an austere life of meditation to win over Shiva. She meditated in the Himalayas for years, not budging through driving rain, blistering heat, or elephant stampedes. But one day, she heard a child cry in suffering and she immediately sprang up to help. But it was Shiva, testing her resolve. She had failed the test, but he was so touched that she would give up what she desired most to help someone in need that he took Parvati as his wife. Interesting to note here is a funeral practice among some Hindu communities (called Sati after Shiva's 1st wife) in which a recently widowed woman would either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion sacrifice herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. This practice is now rare and outlawed in modern India but still happens occasionally.

And then there is the very popular (if market trinkets are anything to go by) Ganesha. The elephant-faced deity has intrigued thinking men all over the world, all through the ages even unto the present day. The sacred texts give a variety of stories narrating the sequence of Ganesha's birth, the most popular being the one mentioning that Ganesha was created by Goddess Parvati as a guardian to her privacy:

Incensed by the refusal of her husband to respect her privacy, to the extent of entering her private chambers even while she was having her bath, Parvati decided to settle matters once and for all. Before going for her bath the next time, she rubbed off the sandalwood paste on her body and out of it created the figure of a young boy. She infused life into the figure and told him he was her son and should guard the entrance while she bathed.

Soon after, Shiva came to see Parvati but the young boy blocked his way and would not let him in. Shiva, unaware that the boy was his son, became furious and fought with the boy whose head got severed from his body in the ensuing battle. Parvati, returning from her bath, saw her headless son and threatened in her rage to destroy the heavens and the earth, so great was her sorrow.

Shiva pacified her and instructed his followers to bring the head of the first living being they encounter. The first creature they encountered was an elephant. They cut off its head and placed it on the body of Parvati's son and breathed life into him. Overjoyed, Parvati embraced her son.

The son of Parvati was given the name Ganesha by Shiva. The word Ganesha is made up of gana (followers of Shiva) and isha (lord), thus Shiva appointed him the lord of his ganas.



And then off for a nice dinner with Doug at Pind Balluchi - a Punjabi establishment and all. We had absolutely no idea what we were ordering but had a great time and the food was divine. Crockery was all steel and bronze and the after meal sweets (pictured here) are a combination of herbs (aids digestion) and aniseed falvoured fudge (an aquired taste!)

Our 2nd Day in Dehli, India

Delhi is really big and has quite a hectic layout. Because most of the worlds retail clothing is made in either China or India, the clothing industry is huge here and in Delhi there are hundreds of different markets that you can shop at. At most of the markets you need to bargain to get good prices. For a fun day out, we booked a local tour guide to help us get around, get a feel for the different markets (actually get to the markets) and to bargain on our behalf so we could see how best to do it.

The 1st market close to the main Delhi Railway Station was really hectic to get to. It is a very congested area and there is also a lot of building going on. Delhi is hosting the Commonwealth Games in October so there is lots of upgrading going on. See pics of traffic and also of electricity theft and conditions.

Our guide, Tanya, is a fashion designer in Dehli and she was young, fun and vibey. We had a really good day out and got a couple of great bargains. I found one of the suppliers who supplies Lulu Belle with jewellery and bought some stuff from him. Bracelets that I saw there for R70 I bought for R5! She introduced us to Lassi - an Indian cooling drink. It is yogurt based and very yummy.

We also had our 1st Chuski! A Chuski is a ball of ice dipped in flavoured syrup. Some flavours available are Rose, Orange and Kala Khatta. Tanya insisted we try the Kala Khatta (truly authentic flavour of India). I have to say, it was pretty hectic -it is made with loads of lemon, salt, and masala spices among others. The greatest part of the Chuski though is how it is made. Our vendor was using a block of ice that he rubbed over a wood planer. As the planer shreds the ice, he compacts it into a ball with his fist and then pops a stick into it. Then he pours the syrup of your choice into a plastic cup and you dip you ice into your syrup. All this in 45 degree heat. Definately something to do again - in Orange Flavour!

One of the lowlights of the day was Tanya being pick pocketed by a young boy. He dug his hand into her bag and nicked her purse and phone but in his rush to get away, he dropped her phone and alerted other vendors. They chased and caught him and he was then well and truly beaten by the locals (including Tanya) who tells us that it is important to do this in an attempt to scare the youth from taking up crime. It was quite amazing to witness this 'local justice' unfold around us.

Finished off in a nice artsy, design area with a good meal and got home at aroung 8pm after a high energy, sensory-overloady kind of day!

Day 1 Delhi, India

After a nice midnight shopping session in Dubai (buzzing at Midnight) we arrived to a cooking Dehli at around 9am. Temperature clocked in today at 45 degrees! Makes December in Durbs feel like a picnic and dress code requires legs to be covered – shorts and skirts are not an option up North! Trip to the apartment not too bad but driving in Delhi not for the faint hearted.
Lane demarcation is purely decorative and hooters are used to make your presence known - so there is a constant buzz out there. Apartment a bit hectic so we will probably be moving next week but it is clean and the basics are there. Caught up on some sleep and then hit the shops. Had a good Indian lunch, experienced first Indian toilet (thank goodness for all that cycling) and went on a short trip on a bicycle rickshaw - think the poor skinny driver whacked up that price when he spotted the size of Doug!!

Came home to listen to the Bulls annihilate the Crusaders .

Now it’s time to catch up on some zzzz’s.