I have realized something about myself by being on this trip: Acts of extreme spirituality make me uncomfortable. But, what's three months in India without being thrown outside your comfort zone? These devotees chant, beat drums, dance in circles, walk in lines praying, and others just stare into space in complete concentration. What was surprising was the diversity of the devotees at some of the temples. It seems that Hindus from all over the world travel to India to dedicate months of their lives to honoring the gods and strengthening their spirituality.
After six hours on the open road, we made it to Agra, the town that boasts claim to the Taj Mahal. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to state that I will be referring to the Taj Mahal simply as "The Taj" for the remainder of this post. Simply put and for lack of a better explanation, it sounds cooler. Now, when you visit one of the most coveted tourist attractions in the world, you get everything that comes along with it. It seems that almost everyone in Agra has dedicated their lives to "helping" tourists. We were propositioned with every sort of souvenir possible: Taj Mahal key chains, tshirts, snow globes, postcards, necklaces, you name it. The hagglers were relentless, but we prevailed and came out empty handed.
Our first day in Agra was spent moseying around town, taking pictures, sipping chai with the locals at a street stall, and lastly by taking in various views of the Taj Mahal from rooftop restaurants. The town of Agra is cozy, communal, and very traveler friendly. It seems that every cafe advertised the fact that they were once featured in Lonely Planet (they are on to us). The children of Agra are very clever and have figured out that travelers have a hard time saying "no" to happy kids. Children of all ages literally swarmed us demanding that we take their pictures. Of course we would because afterward they would shriek with excitement when they could see the digital image of themselves. We willingly took part in this charade until we had a parade of children following us around, so we had to break hearts and put our cameras away.
On our second day in Agra, we were up and out the door by 5:45am in order to catch the sunrise at "The Taj". When I say we were just about the only people present at this magnificent temple for an hour, I am not lying. The morning was blue, the sun was out, the gardens were groomed...it was majestic. Between Maire, Missy, and I, we took about 500 pictures, but not a single one of them represents a replica of this structure. You have to stand before it to really digest it. I spent about an hour just perusing through the gardens, snapping photos, listening to music on the ole iPod, and contemplating life. The story behind "the Taj" is pretty predictable. Mr. Mahal wanted to build the most impressive temple, to date, as a memorial for his wife when she died. Mission accomplished. We did learn, however, that the poor architect had his right hand chopped off by Mr. Mahal upon completion of the temple, so that he could never build anything as beautiful again. Another sign of a male ego gone awry in Ancient India...not shocking. In summary, I pledge my allegiance to the masses in the opinion that if you ever visit India, the Taj Mahal is a must see.
Also, Missy, for the second time in less than two weeks, was pooped on by a bird, at "the Taj". I mean, how many people can say that? Way to go Miss!
We arrived last night in Jaipur, thus begins our trek around the state of Rajasthan. The motto in this state is "guests are god". Sign me up!
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