Ashrams in Agra and Dancing in Delhi

OK, so if this blog were my job I would be SO fired. Thanks for sticking with me! :)

I think at the last post I was about to leave for my trip to Delhi and Agra. I'm telling you, things on this trip keep getting cooler and cooler. That particular excursion was perhaps one of the most beauty-packed and experience-rich 4 days of my life!

We started at 5 am on a Friday, leaving for the Kolkata airport. As soon as we got there we learned our flight had been canceled for "operational reasons" (likely there were not enough people on the early flight, ugh). So we camped out in the airport until the 11 am flight. After a very turbulent flight - once again, Indian airlines are out to get me - we landed in Delhi and I was ready to kiss the ground.

Delhi seems to be a different world from Kolkata, a testament to the importance of urban planning and sanitation. The boulevards are wide, the buildings are gorgeous and the restaurants and bars oh-so-cosmopolitan. Some drivers respect lanes and pedestrians. The sidewalks can actually be walked on (a sidenote example: today Maggie and I walked in our upper-class Kolkata neighborhood and were unable to walk on the sidewalk due to a giant pile of sand, and later a giant pile of gravel. We also passed over a gutter filled with hair - an entrepreneurial barber must have temporarily abandoned his operation! Inexplicably, much of the bricks and stones of the sidewalks have been looted.) It's a pity that most people only experience the tourist-friendly places of India and think "this is great!" because Delhi is developed in a way that most of the country is not. It was also filled to the brim with mzungus - a word commonly used in Africa for "white people" but very appropriate for India on the occasion that our group spots a fellow tourist! Example: "The Taj Mahal is a magnet for mzungus." There's such a fraternity of white people traveling abroad in India - it's quite funny how we automatically relate, nod our heads or smile knowingly across a crowd as we are hassled endlessly by omnipresent hawkers. People remain fascinated by our decidely multiracial group, particularly the very blond Chris and Julia. I have yet to figure out why people want to take pictures with me to put in their vacation albums, but it's such a funny phenomenon that I never turn the request down!

Upon our arrival in Delhi we met with our driver - a surly fellow that only became more so as the day continued. Anjali's uncle is a Delhi Chief of Police who arranged all of our lodging and travel for the weekend - sweet! We were all famished and dropped into the United Coffee House, where I was delighted to find a HAM AND CHEESE SANDWICH!!! Oh my gosh, little things really get you excited around here. We continued on to the India Gate, a World War I memorial modeled after the Arc de Triomphe. Quite a nifty place, although I was once again the target of many a young man's cell phone camera, argh! We saw the government building district, all very pretty and gorgeously landscaped. Then we stopped by Humayan's Tomb, a Mughal prince's resting place. We passed through the gates and into a courtyard area. Off to the right was a serene tomb, beautiful and ancient. One cool thing about India is that there is not nearly the same level of security or preservation as there would be for most other historical sites. So there's not really the same sense of boundary - wobbly staircases, crumbling columns, no railings. You're quite free to go anywhere you please within the confines of the historical sites. So you can get really close to things, touch, linger. We did just that at Humayan's tomb, taking plenty of time in the green oasis (there's not much green space in a country of a billion people) and enjoying each architectural detail. Mughal architecture is unspeakably beautiful, usually composed of either white marble or red sandstone and generally soaring and curving in the most foreign and lovely patterns. When we returned to the courtyard area, thrilled with the tomb we had seen, we realized that we had entirely missed the main attraction - an enormous red sandstone creation that seemed to have risen out of a duststorm, a Mughal masterpiece that was clearly a predecessor and inspiration for the Taj Mahal. Amazing.

After leaving Humayan's tomb we met up with some friends who go to Duke and UNC who are in Delhi for the summer. We had a great time laughing and sharing our only-in-India stories at the restaurant Not Just Parathas, where I had a delicious lamb dahl. Most of the Duke students were working with DukeEngage, a huge summer service initiative that offers funding to undergraduate students for Robertson-esque summers, on a rehabilitation program that gets intravenous drug users back on their feet. They begged us to join them for what they called a "coffee house" not far from the restaurant, where the folks they work with have a party every 2 weeks. So at about 9:30 pm I found myself dancing with junkies on a rooftop in Delhi. And not just any dancing - a frenetic, jumpy, crazy dancing to the Rolling Stones and Elvis! It was SO much fun, so unique and memorable. I also got to meet some more really cool Duke students, including one girl that I met just once during the year (we watched the Oscars together, long story) and ran into in DELHI! What a small world.

The story of this trip is just too long for one post! To be continued, soon I promise.... And love to you all...Daron