18 of us spent last weekend in Pushkar, since it was on the way to Jaipur from Jodhpur. What an interesting city. It's a mecca for western hippie tourists, and at points I definitely felt like I was in Venice Beach rather than India. On Saturday afternoon a few of us walked around the lake, looking at the various ghats. We took our time, and it was nice and isolated away from the crowds of tourists - pilgrims or otherwise - that flock to Pushkar. We visited two temples afterwards. The first was for Vishnu if I remember correctly, and we definitely walked in on the priests smoking weed. When they realized we were there they came out of their little side room and told us it was "just incense." Sure. The next was a Brahma temple and was much bigger. We were told we had to leave our things outside, so we went in in shifts - two stayed and held shoes, bags, etc. while the other two went in.
There's a pretty significant Israeli influence in Pushkar, and that combined with all the hippies meant delicious, western food for us. For dinner that night my table of 6 devoured about 5 plates of hummus between us, and I had pesto pasta for dinner. Yum.
The next morning we all woke up for a 5:30 hike to the top of a temple to watch the sunrise. When we set out it was pretty dark, and we didn't exactly know where the trail started. Luckily, everyone we asked pointed us in the right direction. Along the way, this little puppy started walking next to us. And stayed. The whole way up the mountain. Eventually someone picked him up and carried him the last bit, but he was a trooper. After throwing around a few names we came up with Otis Redding. He was really shakey and wouldn't take any of the food or water we tried to feed him, so we think he was still being fed by his mother. There was chai on top of the mountain though, and he drank a little bit of that before sneezing it everywhere. Anyway, watching the sunrise was so beautiful. It was so nice to finally be moving and get some physical exercise. The path was pretty vertical, and was made of stone steps for parts of it too. There were tons of other tourists at the top, but it was still definitely one of my favorite things I've done so far. Afterwards we had a delicious breakfast (muesli with yogurt, honey, mixed fruit and real coffee), and spent the rest of the morning wandering around the stores before our bus to Ajmeer, where we got a train back to Jaipur. It left right on time and was much shorter than I expected it to be.
It was really nice to be back in Jaipur after about 10 days of travel. I unpacked my room more permanently too, so now it looks like I actually live there.
So that concludes last week's travel adventures. On Sunday some of us are going to a village called Laporiya to see their water harvesting system, then next week we're going to the Ranthambore tiger reserve, where we're going to be meeting with some NGO's and going on a tiger safari! I'm pumped. Then Udaipur for the weekend.
Now in this week's news...
I just took my Hindi midterm, which was stressful to say the least. Language for me is like math - it needs to be laid out very clearly with no tricks or ambiguity. Which there's a lot of in Hindi (or at least there is in the way we're being taught).
We had a really good lecturer on globalization and climate change for two days this week - Pradeep Saha ("just Pradeep" as he said on the first day he came). He's an editor at Down to Earth, an environmental magazine. He was definitely the best lecturer we've had so far...it felt like I was back in an American college class. He spoke both very theoretically and very concretely about globalization and climate change, and took a very holistlc approach rather than limiting his talk to specifically India like most lecturers have. Also he was the definition of an Indian hipster. So cool!
And I'm meeting with someone for my ISP tomorrow.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Jodhpur
Last Thursday we migrated from Bikaner to Jodhpur. We arrived in the late afternoon, and since there was nothing else on our agenda, we all went up to the fort to get our tourist on. It had some pretty amazing views of Jodhpur. It's known as the Blue City because a bunch of the houses are painted blue. I heard that it was to denote the Brahmin homes in the city, but I fact-checked this with my host sister when I got home on Sunday and she didn't know if it was true or not. Anyway, there were a lot of French tourists which was interesting - we hadn't (to my knowledge) encountered many French tourists before. A lot of people that I've talked to have said that they studied French in addition to English and Hindi in school though so maybe there's some connection there.
The next morning we visited a Hindu-Pakistani refugee camp outside of Jodhpur. After Partition, Pakistan declared itself a Muslim state, leaving the Hindus in the country feeling threatened (and rightly so as they were often discriminated against & had acts of violence committed against them). Many Indians also traveled between India and Pakistan to visit family and to work as laborers. So when the border closed, a lot of Indians were left trapped on the other side. There's one train a week that runs from Pakistan to Jodhpur. Hindu-Pakistanis have to come over with Indian visas, then begin a long process of extending their visas until they finally gain citizenship. However, citizenship doesn't get them much, as they're on the lowest rung of society (most were already scheduled castes/dalits so that didn't change once their citizenship did), so their economic condition hasn't really improved. However, being in a majority-Hindu nation where they feel safe and at home is the primary concern for many. The settlement that we visited is illegal - like the Basti, the government considers it occupied land and comes by every couple months and tells the inhabitants to leave because they're going to tear it down. They never have, but it's a constant worry. They can't register for below-poverty-line cards to get subsidized foods & supplies from the government...I'm a little unclear as to why but I think it's essentially that they don't know how to go about starting the process.
We asked one woman if, had she known about the conditions in the camp in India, she would have still come over. She said yes - and that she did already know - because of the increase in available technology she had been able to communicate with family members in India about what the settlement was like. However, when her mother-in-law crossed over she didn't know what it would be like. I talked to a woman later who had never lived in Pakistan - she was from Jodhpur and had married a refugee who had gained his citizenship (gaining citizenship allows refugees to participate in Indian social society as they can travel through the country, attend festivals, and get married). Because India is a patrilocal society though, she had to move to the illegal settlement to live with her husband. That they both have citizenship makes getting things like healthcare and education slightly easier for them - and she doesn't have to work - but not by much. I was confused about why she couldn't help to secure a BPL card for the family, and my Hindi teacher, who was interpreting, didn't really answer my question. But I think it's a case of Indian bureaucratic red tape - applying for anything from the government is a long, convoluted process that people simply don't have the time to invest in.
Right before we left for the organization we met with the head of an advocacy NGO that works on behalf of the refugees. We were given two articles to read that described the refugees' situation and what sorts of things had happened to them in Pakistan. I think that going to the camp immediately after reading the articles made it a much more powerful experience - we were able to connect the abstract notion of "Hindu-Pakistani Refugees" to the people sitting in front of us.
After a quick lunch at a restaurant that was decorated with pictures of Mickey Mouse and Miley Cyrus - though probably not affiliated with Disney and thus a lawsuit waiting to happen - we were off again to GRAVIS, a development NGO working in the Thar Desert. They basically gave us an overview of their projects (elderly care, revitalization of indigenous knowledge with modern technological improvements, reforestation with native plants that require less water, etc.) via power point. Interesting, but in conjunction with the fluorescent lighting in the room, our energy level quickly declined. There was a mystery white man sitting at the table that we were all curious about - we later learned that his name is Ben and works for Traditional Medicinals, a tea company out of Berkeley. He's in Jodhpur working with GRAVIS on their development projects on behalf of the company, because they source some of their plants from the Thar. We invited him to dinner at the same Disney-fied restaurant we had lunch at, mainly because we had seen pizza advertised and wanted a break from Indian food. It was nice to be able to talk to an American in India (outside of our group) about being an American in India, and also to learn more about his work, since that sounds like the kind of job I would potentially want in the future.
The next morning we visited a Hindu-Pakistani refugee camp outside of Jodhpur. After Partition, Pakistan declared itself a Muslim state, leaving the Hindus in the country feeling threatened (and rightly so as they were often discriminated against & had acts of violence committed against them). Many Indians also traveled between India and Pakistan to visit family and to work as laborers. So when the border closed, a lot of Indians were left trapped on the other side. There's one train a week that runs from Pakistan to Jodhpur. Hindu-Pakistanis have to come over with Indian visas, then begin a long process of extending their visas until they finally gain citizenship. However, citizenship doesn't get them much, as they're on the lowest rung of society (most were already scheduled castes/dalits so that didn't change once their citizenship did), so their economic condition hasn't really improved. However, being in a majority-Hindu nation where they feel safe and at home is the primary concern for many. The settlement that we visited is illegal - like the Basti, the government considers it occupied land and comes by every couple months and tells the inhabitants to leave because they're going to tear it down. They never have, but it's a constant worry. They can't register for below-poverty-line cards to get subsidized foods & supplies from the government...I'm a little unclear as to why but I think it's essentially that they don't know how to go about starting the process.
We asked one woman if, had she known about the conditions in the camp in India, she would have still come over. She said yes - and that she did already know - because of the increase in available technology she had been able to communicate with family members in India about what the settlement was like. However, when her mother-in-law crossed over she didn't know what it would be like. I talked to a woman later who had never lived in Pakistan - she was from Jodhpur and had married a refugee who had gained his citizenship (gaining citizenship allows refugees to participate in Indian social society as they can travel through the country, attend festivals, and get married). Because India is a patrilocal society though, she had to move to the illegal settlement to live with her husband. That they both have citizenship makes getting things like healthcare and education slightly easier for them - and she doesn't have to work - but not by much. I was confused about why she couldn't help to secure a BPL card for the family, and my Hindi teacher, who was interpreting, didn't really answer my question. But I think it's a case of Indian bureaucratic red tape - applying for anything from the government is a long, convoluted process that people simply don't have the time to invest in.
Right before we left for the organization we met with the head of an advocacy NGO that works on behalf of the refugees. We were given two articles to read that described the refugees' situation and what sorts of things had happened to them in Pakistan. I think that going to the camp immediately after reading the articles made it a much more powerful experience - we were able to connect the abstract notion of "Hindu-Pakistani Refugees" to the people sitting in front of us.
After a quick lunch at a restaurant that was decorated with pictures of Mickey Mouse and Miley Cyrus - though probably not affiliated with Disney and thus a lawsuit waiting to happen - we were off again to GRAVIS, a development NGO working in the Thar Desert. They basically gave us an overview of their projects (elderly care, revitalization of indigenous knowledge with modern technological improvements, reforestation with native plants that require less water, etc.) via power point. Interesting, but in conjunction with the fluorescent lighting in the room, our energy level quickly declined. There was a mystery white man sitting at the table that we were all curious about - we later learned that his name is Ben and works for Traditional Medicinals, a tea company out of Berkeley. He's in Jodhpur working with GRAVIS on their development projects on behalf of the company, because they source some of their plants from the Thar. We invited him to dinner at the same Disney-fied restaurant we had lunch at, mainly because we had seen pizza advertised and wanted a break from Indian food. It was nice to be able to talk to an American in India (outside of our group) about being an American in India, and also to learn more about his work, since that sounds like the kind of job I would potentially want in the future.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Bikaner part 2
Last Wednesday was the BEST day of the program so far. We went to an URMUL trust cluster office out in the desert and learned more about their rural development programs. The office serves as a kind of community center too I think. We continued on to a rural village called Nathusar where we had some men map it in the dirt for us. We then broke down in to smaller groups and met with individuals in the village. My group met with the panchayat (local governance unit) representative, a 50 year old, illiterate widow. On the way to her house we encountered a man on a camel carrying a load of sticks. Everyone whipped out their cameras and when he saw us he stopped his camera to let us take pictures! It was SO cool. I'm in awe of all the camels I see - I can't believe that they're still an efficient mode of transportation after however many thousands of years. I digress. Anyway, we talked with her about the village, its needs, how the people get food, water, etc., and her life in general. She was surrounded by her grandchildren who I'm sure were fascinated by our presence. After we finished our interview she showed us her home. On our way out, she said something to me in Hindi that I didn't understand so I just smiled and nodded - my go-to response in those kinds of situations - and continued to walk out. She grabbed my arm and pointed to my camera, to have me take a picture of her and her family:
Afterwards we met with two women's heath workers in one of their homes. They talked to us about their work and we asked questions about the health concerns of the community and the whole process of how they treat their patients and visit the various homes in the village. At one point we got on the subject of family planning and we asked if anyone in the village was actively using contraceptives to space the birth of their children. There are 8 families doing so, and to follow up we asked if the men supported this decision. A male village elder who was facilitating our visit immediately scoffed and said "no," which I found...I wouldn't say disturbing but definitely not in line with everything else we've been learning. However, I will say that it was nice to hear a man's candid opinion - a lot of the information we've been getting has focused solely on women.
That whole day made me realize how much I do love doing field work like that. Even though I'm pretty sure it's not what I'm going to be spending my life doing, I definitely want to do it for some amount of time. And at one point our program staff interpreter asked me & one other person if we wanted to do development work after we graduated from school, and I answered "yes" without even thinking about it.
The desert landscape is SO beautiful. It looks like California and Africa got together and had a baby. Also, on the same "random cultural similarities" note from yesterday, we saw so many of these on the drive out:
They look nearly identical to the huts that the Maasai build and, again, it blew my mind.
That evening when we returned to Bikaner, we actually made it in to the Old City. It was nowhere near as touristy as Jaipur's, so it wasn't at all what I had expected. We passed under a gate and encountered the same types of shops as we had on the other side. We ended up wandering up a couple alleyways in to a more residential area. It was pretty cool to see a more urban residential area.
Afterwards we met with two women's heath workers in one of their homes. They talked to us about their work and we asked questions about the health concerns of the community and the whole process of how they treat their patients and visit the various homes in the village. At one point we got on the subject of family planning and we asked if anyone in the village was actively using contraceptives to space the birth of their children. There are 8 families doing so, and to follow up we asked if the men supported this decision. A male village elder who was facilitating our visit immediately scoffed and said "no," which I found...I wouldn't say disturbing but definitely not in line with everything else we've been learning. However, I will say that it was nice to hear a man's candid opinion - a lot of the information we've been getting has focused solely on women.
That whole day made me realize how much I do love doing field work like that. Even though I'm pretty sure it's not what I'm going to be spending my life doing, I definitely want to do it for some amount of time. And at one point our program staff interpreter asked me & one other person if we wanted to do development work after we graduated from school, and I answered "yes" without even thinking about it.
The desert landscape is SO beautiful. It looks like California and Africa got together and had a baby. Also, on the same "random cultural similarities" note from yesterday, we saw so many of these on the drive out:
They look nearly identical to the huts that the Maasai build and, again, it blew my mind.
That evening when we returned to Bikaner, we actually made it in to the Old City. It was nowhere near as touristy as Jaipur's, so it wasn't at all what I had expected. We passed under a gate and encountered the same types of shops as we had on the other side. We ended up wandering up a couple alleyways in to a more residential area. It was pretty cool to see a more urban residential area.
Bikaner Part 1
On our way to Bikaner last Monday, we stopped at a girls' education camp run by the URMUL trust, a development NGO that started in the '80's. The camp brings in illiterate, uneducated girls aged 11-16 from rural villages in Rajasthan and educates them up to a 5th standard level in 6 months. In addition to an academic education, the school also teaches them basic hygiene (bathing and brushing their teeth daily) and socializes them in to group play. They didn't learn these things in their home villages because they were girls and thus not as valued in the family. 18 of them were married but hadn't gone to live in their in-laws' homes yet. We learned that poorer families will often marry off their daughters at the same time despite their age to save on the costs associated with a wedding. They looked so young for their age because they had probably been malnourished as children - no one could believe that the youngest girl there was 11. One of the teachers was an alumna of the program and working on her masters, and the director said that a lot of the alumna do go on to higher education or some kind of career. This past weekend URMUL had a reunion for alumna of the school. We didn't get to go but I like that they're actively promoting the success of the program not just to the rural communities but also to larger areas like Bikaner.
The girls showed us around the camp - their dorm rooms, their chests of clothes, soap, and toothbrushes, and then we went in to an open area and played Indian versions of Duck Duck Goose and Red Rover with them. We tried to teach them Down By The Banks but it got lost in translation and visual demonstrations weren't working in our favor. After we had exhausted ourselves playing, one of the teachers brought out tubes of henna and the girls sat us down and did henna on our hands and forearms. I thought of it as the Indian version of French braiding hair because it a) is really pretty and b) some girls are better at it than others. The girl who started doing mine couldn't get it right so she got up and called over another girl to do it.
After leaving the camp we continued on to our hotel and a few of us went out to explore Bikaner. Our destination was twofold: the Old City and a sweets shop our homestay coordinator recommended to us. Naturally, we made the sweet shop our number one priority. As we were walking there we kept asking people for directions, and the cool thing was that everyone's directions matched with the previous person's. We weren't getting led astray at all and I suppose it's enough of a well-known place for everyone to have an idea of where it is. We got these delicious toffee sweets that had cashews in them. I tried to describe them to my host sister yesterday to find out what they were, but she didn't know - I guess they don't use the word "toffee" in India and I couldn't think of another way to describe it.
The next morning we met with a man from the URMUL trust who talked more about their development projects and how they get their funding. Surprisingly, Canada's foreign aid agency is a large donor. As a whole the application process seemed very elaborate and, well, Indian.
Afterwards we went to the fair trade store that URMUL runs next door. Right up my alley, especially for my ISP because I want to focus on craft products. Except, none of the program staff told me we were going beforehand so I didn't really use it as a fieldwork experience. I just shopped. What surprised me the most was how much a lot of the designs resemble South American patterns and textiles that I've seen before. I can't think of any way that these two cultures would have interacted in history, and yet they're producing designs that are SO similar to one another. It blew my mind.
In the afternoon we visited a girls' college outside of Bikaner.
In our hotel, I'm rooming with two other girls. There were two beds between the three of us, and we didn't find any problem with this and assumed that everyone else had a similar situation. The next day we found out that that wasn't the case and everyone found it funny that we just rolled with it instead of complaining. Also there were pigeon eggs outside of our window.
The girls showed us around the camp - their dorm rooms, their chests of clothes, soap, and toothbrushes, and then we went in to an open area and played Indian versions of Duck Duck Goose and Red Rover with them. We tried to teach them Down By The Banks but it got lost in translation and visual demonstrations weren't working in our favor. After we had exhausted ourselves playing, one of the teachers brought out tubes of henna and the girls sat us down and did henna on our hands and forearms. I thought of it as the Indian version of French braiding hair because it a) is really pretty and b) some girls are better at it than others. The girl who started doing mine couldn't get it right so she got up and called over another girl to do it.
After leaving the camp we continued on to our hotel and a few of us went out to explore Bikaner. Our destination was twofold: the Old City and a sweets shop our homestay coordinator recommended to us. Naturally, we made the sweet shop our number one priority. As we were walking there we kept asking people for directions, and the cool thing was that everyone's directions matched with the previous person's. We weren't getting led astray at all and I suppose it's enough of a well-known place for everyone to have an idea of where it is. We got these delicious toffee sweets that had cashews in them. I tried to describe them to my host sister yesterday to find out what they were, but she didn't know - I guess they don't use the word "toffee" in India and I couldn't think of another way to describe it.
The next morning we met with a man from the URMUL trust who talked more about their development projects and how they get their funding. Surprisingly, Canada's foreign aid agency is a large donor. As a whole the application process seemed very elaborate and, well, Indian.
Afterwards we went to the fair trade store that URMUL runs next door. Right up my alley, especially for my ISP because I want to focus on craft products. Except, none of the program staff told me we were going beforehand so I didn't really use it as a fieldwork experience. I just shopped. What surprised me the most was how much a lot of the designs resemble South American patterns and textiles that I've seen before. I can't think of any way that these two cultures would have interacted in history, and yet they're producing designs that are SO similar to one another. It blew my mind.
In the afternoon we visited a girls' college outside of Bikaner.
In our hotel, I'm rooming with two other girls. There were two beds between the three of us, and we didn't find any problem with this and assumed that everyone else had a similar situation. The next day we found out that that wasn't the case and everyone found it funny that we just rolled with it instead of complaining. Also there were pigeon eggs outside of our window.
Shuffling
Last night during dinner I got a phone call from my friend Anne, saying that her host mother (the homestay coordinator) told her that my family was having people stay with them for the next two days, and she invited me to come stay with them so I wouldn't have to deal with a ton of new people at the house. I knew nothing of this save for a snippet of a Hinglish phone conversation I overheard that made it sound like guests were coming. Annoyed that I was kept out of the loop, I accepted the invitation and just chalked it up to "Oh, India." When my host sister sat down to dinner I told her about the conversation and she goes, "Oh, yes, I was going to suggest that to you but I didn't want to say anything until the plans were solid." Which I then realized is exactly what I would have done (and have done with telling her about Agra and Pushkar). She then went on to tell me that there would be 5 people and a baby coming, and they would be using my toilet because the guest toilet is broken. So while I'm glad to be getting out of the house for all that chaos, I'm a little bummed to have to be packing all my stuff up again right after getting back from 10 days of travel.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Being a Tourist in Agra
These past 10 days have been pretty incredible.
Last weekend, 10 of us went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. After an incredibly long bus journey that involved a 4-way intersection on the highway, getting lost, and discovering that we had a big blue flashing light on top of it, we got to our hotel only to discover that they had sold our rooms. Naturally, this was after they had taken us up to the rooftop restaurant that has a view of the Taj. They had booked us rooms at an unnamed hotel across town and wanted us to get in rickshaws (tuk-tuks) to make the journey. This was not OK considering it was about 10:30 PM and we were in an unfamiliar city that has a reputation for being sketchy. With the help of a member of the program staff via cell phone and our bus driver, we made it over eventually and all was well.
The next morning we set out to see the Taj. Our new hotel was close enough to walk, so we made the journey along with countless other tourists. We get to the East Gate entryway, and are informed that you actually had to purchase tickets 1 KM back. We were unaware of this fact, but our bus driver offered to go back and get the tickets for us, and rolls up about 20 minutes later on a motorcycle with our tickets, bottles of water, and little red booties to put over our shoes. Looking back on it, we had a pretty cool buildup to actually seeing the Taj in person: first seeing it from the rooftop of the hotel that wasn't, then walking up with the masses, and finally getting through security and walking through the gate. It surpasses any hopes I had for how beautiful I thought it would be in person. It looks unreal against the sky, and no picture could ever do it justice (but here's one anyway):
The only thing that was anticlimactic was the inside - it was a small, circular area filled with people so it was uncomfortable and stuffy. But I wasn't expecting much anyway - I figured that if the inside was spectacular I would have heard something about it before then. So after we had made it through the inside, we sat ourselves down on a ledge to relax and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes. All of a sudden, a group of Thai tourists comes up to us and asks to take "just one photo." We said yes without realizing that "just one photo" means one photo per person, per camera. So we were trapped smiling with random strangers' arms around our shoulders for a good 5 minutes. No less than 30 seconds after they walked away, a giant group of Sikh men in brightly colored turbans comes up and asks to take pictures with us too. So we say yes again. This process continued for about 10-15 minutes because we got in on the fun too - when were we ever going to be surrounded by Sikhs in brightly colored turbans again? Though an enjoyable experience, when that was done we decided to move before we became a permanent sideshow to the Taj.
Seeing the Taj was the first time that I had ever been to an Islamic religious site of any kind. It was a weird realization to have because it was something I had never thought about before but I think is interesting.
After the Taj we headed to the Agra Fort, which was equally beautiful and seemed to go on forever. It also had a view of the Taj, which was beautiful except for the intense haze. I definitely could have spent the afternoon there - someone said that it felt like a giant playground for grownups. At one point a few of us were sitting somewhere and surprise! A giant group of Indian tourists swarms us for photos. We (stupidly) said yes and spent what felt like forever being pulled around and by the various members of the group looking for a photo opportunity. They finally left and a few minutes later another group just came up to us, sat down, put their arms around us and started taking pictures. They didn't even ask permission or acknowledge that we were humans. Which, of course, was incredibly frustrating and prompted me to get up and walk away without saying anything.
By the time we left it was about 4:30 and any other monuments in Agra would be closing soon, so we just went back to the hotel. That night, there was a wedding across the street - at the Leprosy Research Institute, which I found confusing, funny, and somewhat disturbing. Not my first choice for wedding venues. A parade went down the street in front of our hotel and we could hear music for most of the night.
On the way back to Jaipur the next day, we stopped at Fatehpur Sekret, an Islamic holy site/World Heritage site along the way. It didn't cost anything to get in because it's still an active pilgrimage site, but that also meant that street vendors could come in and try to sell us stuff the whole time. So though I wish it had been more regulated for my own touristy pleasure, I can definitely understand why it isn't.
Last weekend, 10 of us went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. After an incredibly long bus journey that involved a 4-way intersection on the highway, getting lost, and discovering that we had a big blue flashing light on top of it, we got to our hotel only to discover that they had sold our rooms. Naturally, this was after they had taken us up to the rooftop restaurant that has a view of the Taj. They had booked us rooms at an unnamed hotel across town and wanted us to get in rickshaws (tuk-tuks) to make the journey. This was not OK considering it was about 10:30 PM and we were in an unfamiliar city that has a reputation for being sketchy. With the help of a member of the program staff via cell phone and our bus driver, we made it over eventually and all was well.
The next morning we set out to see the Taj. Our new hotel was close enough to walk, so we made the journey along with countless other tourists. We get to the East Gate entryway, and are informed that you actually had to purchase tickets 1 KM back. We were unaware of this fact, but our bus driver offered to go back and get the tickets for us, and rolls up about 20 minutes later on a motorcycle with our tickets, bottles of water, and little red booties to put over our shoes. Looking back on it, we had a pretty cool buildup to actually seeing the Taj in person: first seeing it from the rooftop of the hotel that wasn't, then walking up with the masses, and finally getting through security and walking through the gate. It surpasses any hopes I had for how beautiful I thought it would be in person. It looks unreal against the sky, and no picture could ever do it justice (but here's one anyway):
The only thing that was anticlimactic was the inside - it was a small, circular area filled with people so it was uncomfortable and stuffy. But I wasn't expecting much anyway - I figured that if the inside was spectacular I would have heard something about it before then. So after we had made it through the inside, we sat ourselves down on a ledge to relax and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes. All of a sudden, a group of Thai tourists comes up to us and asks to take "just one photo." We said yes without realizing that "just one photo" means one photo per person, per camera. So we were trapped smiling with random strangers' arms around our shoulders for a good 5 minutes. No less than 30 seconds after they walked away, a giant group of Sikh men in brightly colored turbans comes up and asks to take pictures with us too. So we say yes again. This process continued for about 10-15 minutes because we got in on the fun too - when were we ever going to be surrounded by Sikhs in brightly colored turbans again? Though an enjoyable experience, when that was done we decided to move before we became a permanent sideshow to the Taj.
Seeing the Taj was the first time that I had ever been to an Islamic religious site of any kind. It was a weird realization to have because it was something I had never thought about before but I think is interesting.
After the Taj we headed to the Agra Fort, which was equally beautiful and seemed to go on forever. It also had a view of the Taj, which was beautiful except for the intense haze. I definitely could have spent the afternoon there - someone said that it felt like a giant playground for grownups. At one point a few of us were sitting somewhere and surprise! A giant group of Indian tourists swarms us for photos. We (stupidly) said yes and spent what felt like forever being pulled around and by the various members of the group looking for a photo opportunity. They finally left and a few minutes later another group just came up to us, sat down, put their arms around us and started taking pictures. They didn't even ask permission or acknowledge that we were humans. Which, of course, was incredibly frustrating and prompted me to get up and walk away without saying anything.
By the time we left it was about 4:30 and any other monuments in Agra would be closing soon, so we just went back to the hotel. That night, there was a wedding across the street - at the Leprosy Research Institute, which I found confusing, funny, and somewhat disturbing. Not my first choice for wedding venues. A parade went down the street in front of our hotel and we could hear music for most of the night.
On the way back to Jaipur the next day, we stopped at Fatehpur Sekret, an Islamic holy site/World Heritage site along the way. It didn't cost anything to get in because it's still an active pilgrimage site, but that also meant that street vendors could come in and try to sell us stuff the whole time. So though I wish it had been more regulated for my own touristy pleasure, I can definitely understand why it isn't.
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