in front of the fort
The arc of India
TAJ MAHAL!
Gandhi's Ashram
I LOATHE bike Rickshaws!
So Wednesday Andrew and I left at 4am to catch our 6am flight to New Delhi. We stayed with Lalits family (Andrews roommate) which I’ll come back to in another blog. Anyways, all day Tuesday we did the whole New Delhi tourist thing and went and saw all the sights that New Dehli has to offer tourists. Such sights included the arc of India (comparable to Arc’D’Triumph), Gandhi’s Ashram, the place where the senate, and the president preside, the Red Fort (a palace-turned-fort) and a giant mosque (that was beautiful ) in which we weren’t allowed to enter without first shelling out big bucks for no apparent reason (and in which I would’ve had to wear a large frock because I was wearing jeans and a tshirt and was not ‘modest’ enough.) I think it goes without saying that we skipped going inside and just admired from the outside. We took a ride on a bike-rickshaw, def. a new (and unenjoyable experience) I think I almost died about 4 times in little less than a mile ride. And then our ‘driver’ tried to rip us off (unsuccessfully) and I decided that I hate bike rickshaws.
Of all the Delhi sights that we saw Gandhi’s place was def. my favorite- it was a beautiful park with green grass, and not a spot of trash to be seen—something I haven’t seen since I left Kentucky. It was a few acres of rolling hills and it really was a small glimpse of home. But more than that it was where Gandhi-a world inspiration (and what has become a personal inspiration,) has his legacy preserved and revered. If you don’t know much about Gandhi, I highly suggest researching him; his life was incredible and if I could only capture a fraction of his passion and self discipline in my own life I would by far be a better person.
Thursday was the BIG day—AGRA! What I’ve been waiting for since first planning my trip to India. The Taj Mahal. We left Delhi at 4:30 am and took our 1st train ride. It was amazing to watch rural India pass by my window as the sun was rising. *Interesting Side Note* We passed several people from the slums just squatting in the grass as we were on the train. It didn’t take long before I realized that these people were in fact defecating! In the open, seemingly unashamed! Squatting, just watching the trains, people in the train watching them, pass by. I may have even made eye contact with some of them! I guess when your raised under such circumstances it doesn’t faze you, but it still amazed me!* We reached Agra around 9am and headed to the Taj Mahal. We took a camel cart to the Taj and you couldn’t see the Taj until you walked through the fort gate in front of the Taj. My first glimpse literally took my breath away. It was shimmering in the morning sun and reflections of the Taj in the many surrounding pools only seemed to magnify the glinting effect. We did all the tourist picture things, but WOW! I don’t think its possible to accurately capture with just a mere camera….one of those things that you just had to be there for it. There are few times in my life when I can truly say that ‘you just had to be there.’ Once being in Jamaica when we climbed the falls, once being the sunset over the beach at Goa, once seeing the aftermath of an ice storm in Lexington, once seeing a rainbow over the hills of Haiti, and the Taj Mahal. Now if you notice the rest of those are all natural, God-made wonders, this is the first man-made wonder to make me think ‘WOW’. It was built in such a way that it looks identical from all four sides-symmetrical.
Facts:
· It took 22 yrs to build
· the 4 pillars surrounding the Taj lean 2km away from the structure in case they were to ever fall they wont damage the structure
· the Maharaja that built it was going to build a black one for himself across the river, adjoin the 2 together with a white/black/silver bridge but did not because his 14 children all fought with one another and killed each other and eventually his only remaining son had him placed under house arrest
· the Taj was built out of love and devotion of the king to his wife
· the king had the hands cut off and the eyes gauged out of the architect so he could never create anything better
· Taj=Crown Mahal=Palace
It was gorgeous to say the least. From the glinting white marble, to the colorful stone inlay depicting heartbreak and love and beauty, it left no question in my mind why its considered one of the worlds 7 wonders.
I had a fleeting thought, but quite a monumental one. Why do we praise and admire such a giant (beautiful) man-made building, but often dismiss the much more complex and much more beautiful natural beauty that DAILY surrounds us. The flowers, trees, waterfalls, rain, sun, and even the human body. Why is the Taj Mahal revered yet a simple rose dismissed? I understand the significance behind the praise of the Taj—it’s a celebration of mans creativity, and ability, (and esp given the reason behind the building was motivated by Gods best creation-LOVE,) but I couldn’t help but wonder how God feels about our adoration of the man-made things over His creation. You would think he would just get tired of it and say “fine, if you like man made things better, than I’ll stop making the sun and the rain, and every other amazing thing that you take for granted.” Thankfully we have such an amazing and loving God that he doesn’t get fed up with us.
It also occurred to me that the architect is like God in a way….very few can recall the name of the architect, and when I looked at the Taj I didn’t think “O man, the architect is amazing”, no I thought about the creation completely dismissing the creator. The Taj is adored by many, known by most, yet how many can actually name the architect? How unfortunate for that architect! How much more unfortunate for God!?! His creation worshipped, yet the creator forgotten. Sad when you think about it.
Like I said, fleeting thoughts, but highly monumental and when first digested can provoke a lot more meaningful thoughts. After the Taj we went to another palace-turned-fort and learned about it’s history. Our tour guide obviously knew that tourists love having their picture taken, so he pretty much gave Andrew and I a photo shoot. He constantly would pose us in positions, and never for a second made us feel bad for wanting to stop and take a picture. It was good to have him as a tour guide because I know have over 300 pictures from one day trip to Agra. After the fort, Andrew and I ate at a 5 star hotel for lunch (which was included in our agra tour fee—we paid $100 for the 2hr train ride round trip, 3 meals, 10 hrs in agra, English speaking tour guide, and a car to drive us around in Agra)—not bad if you ask me. Lunch was amazing-buffet! After lunch we headed to ‘ghost town’ which is an abandoned town about an hour away. Like Agra Fort it wasn’t as interesting as the Taj, but def. worth seeing. Learning the history of these places was def. intriguing and it made me thankful that I didn’t live in India during the times of these palaces because he talked about how these kings had thousands of concubines and basically just degraded women. Praise the Lord that I live in a day and age (and country) where I’m appreciated for my personality, beauty (more from within), and respected for my opinions and beliefs. Next time I get on my soap box about how women are treated as objects I need to remember to be grateful that at least I'm respected as much as I am.
Funnily enough our tour guide was telling me how beautiful I was, but at the same time telling me that I would be more beautiful if I lost about 5-8kg (10-15lbs). He suggested I do this by walking 4 miles a day and drinking one beer every night before bed. Frankly he was slightly crazy. I love how blunt Indians are though; he did not mean to be mean or harsh in the slightest, in fact just the opposite—he was trying to help me become what he thought as my best. Thankfully I have overcome trying to fit inside the worlds perceptions of beauty, otherwise his comments may have actually hurt.
We headed back after a long day, both Andrew and I slept on the train ride home and were puckered out.
We ended up spending the rest of the week in Delhi just chilling, hanging out with Ashu (Lalits brother) and the family (Ashu, his wife Arthi, their son Arun, and Ashus parents-known to me as auntie and uncle.) By the way in India anyone who is elder to you and not as formal as Mr. and Mrs. you call Auntie and Uncle. We also went to the Gandhi museum and the place of Gandhi’s assassination which moved me quite a bit. Again, if you don’t know much about Gandhi I HIGHLY encourage you to do some research—I'm a little sad that they don’t teach more about Gandhi in American schools—if I ever became dictator of America I force that change. Hahah I hope you caught the irony of that statement—Gandhi was against dictators and violence.
Anyways as always I miss and love you all dearly!
Love, Rebecca Ann
Of all the Delhi sights that we saw Gandhi’s place was def. my favorite- it was a beautiful park with green grass, and not a spot of trash to be seen—something I haven’t seen since I left Kentucky. It was a few acres of rolling hills and it really was a small glimpse of home. But more than that it was where Gandhi-a world inspiration (and what has become a personal inspiration,) has his legacy preserved and revered. If you don’t know much about Gandhi, I highly suggest researching him; his life was incredible and if I could only capture a fraction of his passion and self discipline in my own life I would by far be a better person.
Thursday was the BIG day—AGRA! What I’ve been waiting for since first planning my trip to India. The Taj Mahal. We left Delhi at 4:30 am and took our 1st train ride. It was amazing to watch rural India pass by my window as the sun was rising. *Interesting Side Note* We passed several people from the slums just squatting in the grass as we were on the train. It didn’t take long before I realized that these people were in fact defecating! In the open, seemingly unashamed! Squatting, just watching the trains, people in the train watching them, pass by. I may have even made eye contact with some of them! I guess when your raised under such circumstances it doesn’t faze you, but it still amazed me!* We reached Agra around 9am and headed to the Taj Mahal. We took a camel cart to the Taj and you couldn’t see the Taj until you walked through the fort gate in front of the Taj. My first glimpse literally took my breath away. It was shimmering in the morning sun and reflections of the Taj in the many surrounding pools only seemed to magnify the glinting effect. We did all the tourist picture things, but WOW! I don’t think its possible to accurately capture with just a mere camera….one of those things that you just had to be there for it. There are few times in my life when I can truly say that ‘you just had to be there.’ Once being in Jamaica when we climbed the falls, once being the sunset over the beach at Goa, once seeing the aftermath of an ice storm in Lexington, once seeing a rainbow over the hills of Haiti, and the Taj Mahal. Now if you notice the rest of those are all natural, God-made wonders, this is the first man-made wonder to make me think ‘WOW’. It was built in such a way that it looks identical from all four sides-symmetrical.
Facts:
· It took 22 yrs to build
· the 4 pillars surrounding the Taj lean 2km away from the structure in case they were to ever fall they wont damage the structure
· the Maharaja that built it was going to build a black one for himself across the river, adjoin the 2 together with a white/black/silver bridge but did not because his 14 children all fought with one another and killed each other and eventually his only remaining son had him placed under house arrest
· the Taj was built out of love and devotion of the king to his wife
· the king had the hands cut off and the eyes gauged out of the architect so he could never create anything better
· Taj=Crown Mahal=Palace
It was gorgeous to say the least. From the glinting white marble, to the colorful stone inlay depicting heartbreak and love and beauty, it left no question in my mind why its considered one of the worlds 7 wonders.
I had a fleeting thought, but quite a monumental one. Why do we praise and admire such a giant (beautiful) man-made building, but often dismiss the much more complex and much more beautiful natural beauty that DAILY surrounds us. The flowers, trees, waterfalls, rain, sun, and even the human body. Why is the Taj Mahal revered yet a simple rose dismissed? I understand the significance behind the praise of the Taj—it’s a celebration of mans creativity, and ability, (and esp given the reason behind the building was motivated by Gods best creation-LOVE,) but I couldn’t help but wonder how God feels about our adoration of the man-made things over His creation. You would think he would just get tired of it and say “fine, if you like man made things better, than I’ll stop making the sun and the rain, and every other amazing thing that you take for granted.” Thankfully we have such an amazing and loving God that he doesn’t get fed up with us.
It also occurred to me that the architect is like God in a way….very few can recall the name of the architect, and when I looked at the Taj I didn’t think “O man, the architect is amazing”, no I thought about the creation completely dismissing the creator. The Taj is adored by many, known by most, yet how many can actually name the architect? How unfortunate for that architect! How much more unfortunate for God!?! His creation worshipped, yet the creator forgotten. Sad when you think about it.
Like I said, fleeting thoughts, but highly monumental and when first digested can provoke a lot more meaningful thoughts. After the Taj we went to another palace-turned-fort and learned about it’s history. Our tour guide obviously knew that tourists love having their picture taken, so he pretty much gave Andrew and I a photo shoot. He constantly would pose us in positions, and never for a second made us feel bad for wanting to stop and take a picture. It was good to have him as a tour guide because I know have over 300 pictures from one day trip to Agra. After the fort, Andrew and I ate at a 5 star hotel for lunch (which was included in our agra tour fee—we paid $100 for the 2hr train ride round trip, 3 meals, 10 hrs in agra, English speaking tour guide, and a car to drive us around in Agra)—not bad if you ask me. Lunch was amazing-buffet! After lunch we headed to ‘ghost town’ which is an abandoned town about an hour away. Like Agra Fort it wasn’t as interesting as the Taj, but def. worth seeing. Learning the history of these places was def. intriguing and it made me thankful that I didn’t live in India during the times of these palaces because he talked about how these kings had thousands of concubines and basically just degraded women. Praise the Lord that I live in a day and age (and country) where I’m appreciated for my personality, beauty (more from within), and respected for my opinions and beliefs. Next time I get on my soap box about how women are treated as objects I need to remember to be grateful that at least I'm respected as much as I am.
Funnily enough our tour guide was telling me how beautiful I was, but at the same time telling me that I would be more beautiful if I lost about 5-8kg (10-15lbs). He suggested I do this by walking 4 miles a day and drinking one beer every night before bed. Frankly he was slightly crazy. I love how blunt Indians are though; he did not mean to be mean or harsh in the slightest, in fact just the opposite—he was trying to help me become what he thought as my best. Thankfully I have overcome trying to fit inside the worlds perceptions of beauty, otherwise his comments may have actually hurt.
We headed back after a long day, both Andrew and I slept on the train ride home and were puckered out.
We ended up spending the rest of the week in Delhi just chilling, hanging out with Ashu (Lalits brother) and the family (Ashu, his wife Arthi, their son Arun, and Ashus parents-known to me as auntie and uncle.) By the way in India anyone who is elder to you and not as formal as Mr. and Mrs. you call Auntie and Uncle. We also went to the Gandhi museum and the place of Gandhi’s assassination which moved me quite a bit. Again, if you don’t know much about Gandhi I HIGHLY encourage you to do some research—I'm a little sad that they don’t teach more about Gandhi in American schools—if I ever became dictator of America I force that change. Hahah I hope you caught the irony of that statement—Gandhi was against dictators and violence.
Anyways as always I miss and love you all dearly!
Love, Rebecca Ann
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