Colorful India
Saturday, January 16, 2010 Labels: Travel 5 commentsYeah! I was able to knock off one place in my checklist of places I would like to visit in my lifetime. I visited the Taj Mahal during my recent trip to India. 
There could not have been a more opportune moment and location for my brother-in-law's wedding. I visited Delhi to attend the wedding and also made a point to travel nearby places like Agra, Jaipur, and Mathura (the golden triangle). I have always wanted to visit northern part of India during my India trips, but for some reason or the other, could never do it until this holiday season. It takes a lot of planning to visit 3 of the 4 corners in India in 4 weeks time period. This posting is about my travel experience in north India.
Taking an afternoon flight was not a good choice, especially for the long haul from SF to Hong Kong. Both Suha and kids had jet lag for a couple of days after we landed in India. Before we could even unpack our 8 monster bags, we had to carry 4 of them to Delhi for the wedding. I haven't been able to reduce my luggage since my blog post about travelling heavy. Once we got through the security area in Chennai airport, we grabbed some sandwich and coffee from the snack shop inside the airport. I also picked up some children's activity book for Shreya to keep her occupied in flight. Chennai to Delhi flight was a relatively short one lasting just about 3 hours. Once we landed in Delhi, we headed straight to the brides place, had some quick bites followed by dinner and headed straight to Karol Bagh for the stay that night. Our tour operator, Panicker's travel is very prompt on timings, so we had to be ready for the 6 am departure of golden triangle tour. After dragging our bags to the bus, we got inside the bus with a hot cup of chai, sold by Chaiwala right outside the bus and then settled down for the 3 hour road trip to Jaipur. Then came the first adventure of the trip. We were about to sleep after an hour into the journey, but a highway truck driver had a different plan for us. A truck from the slow lane cut right into our fast lane resulting in a big thud and a crashed windshield on our tour bus. The truck lost stability after hitting our bus and was riding on just 2 wheels right on the center median with sparks flying all over. Half asleep, I wondered if people were celebrating Diwali in the middle of the highway. Luckily the truck did not topple in front of our bus. It got back on the road and as it happens in India all the time, the driver did not even bother to stop and check what had happened. Our bus passed the truck and forced him to stop in a gas station. Truck driver got down from his truck and try to flee out of sight. Some of the passengers in our bus chased him down and had their share of boxing practice.
Amber Fort, Jaipur
No insurance, no cops were involved. The truck driver was let go after he plead his way out of the situation. None of us slept during the rest of the journey.We stopped for breakfast at a resort where they served hot idli's, vada and coffee. We never expected south indian style breakfast up north. Amber fort was our first stop in Jaipur. Shreya enjoyed watching the snake charmers at work, while I enjoyed taking a short hike through the secret tunnel ways used by the Maharaja of Jaipur.
We made a quick photo stop by Jal Mahal and proceeded straight to the lunch spot at pink city restaurant. Food was typical spicy rajasthani food with lots of good selection. We had a sumptuous meal and watched a short but very enjoyable puppet show. We proceeded to the arts emporium to watch a demo of vegetable color painting.
Visited Jantar Mantar, performed some calculations ;) and went to the hotel for the stay that night in Jaipur.
Advait at Jantar Mantar
Had an early start the next morning at 4 am and headed straight to Fathepur Sikri.
This place is famous for its architecture during the mughal empire. Local guides take control of the tour as soon as you enter their territory. Guide added more spice to his version of history by emphasizing more on Akbar's secret relationships and wives than explaining about the actual monuments. It was like a bollywood
movie than a discovery channel documentary!
Kids at Fathepur Sikri
Our next stop was at Agra fort. We witnessed the places where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son Aurangazeb. Agra fort was massive and beautiful. As we walked through the fort we could feel the history behind it. We could see Taj from the fort but clear view was hindered by smog in the area. We finished our lunch and headed straight to Taj. We had an interesting experience at the entry. One of the passengers in our bus had fallen in the trap set by a local guide. The guide had promised to bypass the security line and take us on a fast track. We were highly skeptical of that as he had taken just Rs.100 for our entire group. We were taken through a narrow stairway and through alleys that reminded me of the movie 'Slumdog millionaire'. We navigated through the maze and ended up in the south entrance of Taj. Guess what? there was a security line in that entrance as well! Heavy security in the area prevented Suha from carrying some food items in her handbag. The beauty of Taj is, you can admire its beauty from a distance and also while you are close to it. It is too sad the precious gems on the Taj is missing now.
Taj in Close Up
Still the paintings on the marble are wonderful. We took a break the following day and finished our Delhi sightseeing after that. Of the places I visited in Delhi, I was most impressed with Qutub Minar. This place is rich in history and is a must see place for people with a penchant for history. The structure is amazing and the whole place is built on layers of historical structures and is an interesting blend of Hindu, Jain and Mughal architecture. Baha'i temple or the Lotus temple is also worth visiting. Of the other places we visited Rajghat (Mahatma Gandhi's tomb), India Gate and the Rashtrapathi bhavan (presidential palace) were nice.
Lotus Temple Iron Pillar at Sunset
After all this travelling, we did attend the main event, the wedding. The prime reason we visited north India!
Wedding Ceremony Kids at the Wedding
Overall a pleasant trip to India. During my previous trips, I have always wondered why India could not become like one of the developed nations, with broad roads, huge malls, big cars, grid layouts, etc. However, nowadays, I feel India should be the way it is to preserve its colorful character. With a blend of rich civilizations, rich and poor people living in the same neighborhood, modern and ancient set up abutting each other, there is immense diversity in India, the way it is today. And I am sure it will never change for centuries to come, even with the arrival of nano technology, uPhone, and Windows 7000! It is a vibrant land of rich heritage and everyone in this world should set their feet at least once in their lifetime on this beautiful subcontinent.
India Gate Qutub Minar
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Raja!ur post was like passing thro!the memory lanes as i was also touring with u!.good narration!and well said abt India's Heritage and culture..It need not change..It is beautiful as it is...Keep blogging!
Touring differnt places of India is always great.Because of globalisation India has somehow lost its heritage.Imagine the condition about 100 years back.Different states had different food habits and dressing habits.No pollution and fresh water.How Taj and Agra fort would have been at that time.Or the ganges river.We are slowly killing the civilisation.Raja has taken the right decision to go round India.A great place.
Narrations are good.Could have added some humour also to have some punch.
The fotos are really good.
Padma.. I am sure you would have felt somehow connected with this post..as you were with me during the trip..
Kumar..thank you for the comments..
I agree it would have been a much different situation 100 years back..but I think modernization without polluting the environment and compromising the heritage is required ..with modernization travel has become much more easy and comfortable in India
Guruji. Wondeful description of the heritage areas around Delhi. Made me add one area to visit in my next trip to India.
India should follow European countries in modernization, not USA. They have a lot of heritage that they preserve in spite of their auto bahns. India does not need huge cars and wide roads, but small cars and narrow roads.
Sudar..thank you for the comments. I concur with your view. I heard similar views from a colleague of mine. India has space and resource constraints. So should model itself on Europe and not the USA.