In Benares, much catching up to do
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2004
1
27
59
Trip End
Jul 14, 2005
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Benares (varanasi), India
Tuesday, March 1, 2005
so we drive straight to this parking lot on the east gate (not the closer west gate because we were lost out in the country on the other side of agra for about 20 minutes cause the taxi driver was lost). So I am all wound up like someone who is hurrying to get something he really wants but all these obstacles keep appearing and I am thinking we will be three minutes late. they'll sell out of tickets etc. and boom! we hit the taj mahal con artists, touts and beggars. And they are like on steroid or somethng. much more intense than anything we had witnessed before. but not only am I hurrying like a madman but I'm still pissed off about my camera getting stolen. so I was like pagal (hindi for crazy--great word). and I just matched them all their requests with molten "No's. Get away from us. we didn't ask you for anything. we don't need your help." I gave a little beggar girl crazy eyes and she ran away. I was little over the edge. Tourist rage.
Anyway, pete didn't even notice. He was in his own world of touts and beggars and probably couldnt even see or hear me. IT was very loud and crowded.
we got a tricycle rickshaw to the east gate (the parking is about a 1/2 mile from the gate) and were off. of course, the usual hassle with payment amounts going up when you get there etc.
pause.
and then we are the Taj Mahal. I looked over at Pete and said, "We're at the Taj Mahal man." Hard to digest. You enter into a wide courtyard separated from the Taj area by a tall building which acts as a second kind of gate or enclosure. Then you approach this second gate which frames the taj in the distance. You suck your breath in and jump up and down inside like a kid in a candy store.
then you walk in and you're mesmerized. I climbed over a wall and found myself in a retricted area by mistake. I took as many pictures as I could till a man who works there finally reaches me (using his whistle the whole way). He doens't get mad but offers to show me the best places to take pictures and lets me into the roped off areas to photograph (for money of course--but I didn't care). Pete was doing the same thing.
Many great pictures as we had gotten there just around the 5 p.m. when the light was at
its best. but we hurried. at one point I saw a woman in a blue sari sitting on a wall looking at the taj and I thought I should stop and really try and see it. It is a task.
In fact, in some ways it seems to me that it is a test of some sort. Can you really see this? Can you bring this in? Can you forget all the pictures you've seen and quiet your mind and your hurry and really recieve the impression of this perfect work of art? I don't think I ever did. A surprise was the inside. It was dark when I got in there and I was really overwhelmed by the sounds. There was a crowd of people and many of them were singing and chanting and the echoes seemed to go on for minutes. very amazing.
later out front I took a picture of pete with a little boy and his father and they asked me to photograph their whole family. and gave me there email address to send it to them.
I wish all the people I took pictures had email addresses so I could send the photos they let me take of them to them.
we stayed at the taj until it closed at 7:30 p.m. it was dark and the moon had risen. great shots of monkeys circumambulating the building (the pedestal actually) and the sun setting over one of the twin buildings with triple onion domes that flank the taj on both sides.
after this we went to the sheraton and had dinner. and to bed.
the next day we went to Fatehpur Sikri which was built by Shah Jahan's great or great great grandfather Akbar (Shah Jahan built the Taj and the Red Fort, in Delhi). Pete said he liked it as much as the taj. There is a sufi saint buried there and Pete said he felt something very special at the tomb and had a profound exchange with a sufi who was there at the grave. He said he felt that the people who built this place knew something.
I enjoyed photographing children playing in the courtyard outside the tomb and climbng around the extensive "ruin." Although it's hardly ruined at all. It is a complete city--a amall city but still. IT's over 300 years old and so much remains. Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri as a learning center for the sufi sheik whose name is Christi I think. the sufi saint christi blessed Akbar and he had a son and heir and the building of Fatehpur Sikri was a reward for that action.
On the drive there we saw gypsies beside the road with dancing bears but our driver told us not to stop because they are annoying to deal with. How could they be worse than the touts at the Taj? Hard to say.
Then he took us to as place we could view the taj from the river. I think Pete wrote about almost laying down in animal dung to get a picture. Afterward we went to a festival called the Taj Mahotsav Festival. It was marvellous with our first taste of live Indian music and amusement park rides (we were late so couldn't stay very long). So many children wanted us to take their pictures.
Then to bed.
That was the evening of Feb 25th.
The next day, because of the wonderful planning of the Indian Railroad Commision we had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to take the only "reliable" train to Delhi (we had fired our driver remember?). There are other trains but they originate in other cities and so could be full by the time they get to Agra. We didn't want to take a chance so got up early. Luckily was able to get a little sleep on the train. But while I was sleeping I missed an episode with spilled tea that Pete later laughed about.
We arrived in Delhi around 10 a.m. on saturday the 26th. And shopped all day till late and then went to the red fort right at 5 p.m. (again with the great light) in time for great pictures there.
The next morning pete and I went to the meditation group (which I had worked with in Pune) and it was marvellous. I was able to play music with a group of 4 Indians and we ate a meal together. I talked a lot more than i usually do in such meetings so I hope I didn't bore them. We exchanged gifts of books and then we were driven around all day by Sankalp again. We ended up at an American Diner because he wanted us to authenticate the food. Some of it was close. the chocalate milkshake I had was pretty good. The chicken sandwich was bland (NO beef in Delhi). The pancakes weren't hot and the ketchup was too sweet with no tang at all. The home fries were decent and the buffalo wings were a disgrace. (chicken is always skinny here)
Sankalp told a great story about when he was hiking in the himalaya and it was very cold. A man who was part of his group had to go outside to go to the bathroom very late at night and he took a bottle with him. He asked Sankalp to go with him because there were leopards apparently but Sankalp passed. The next morning Sankalp found this guy fighting with another guy because he had taken the wrong bottle and had apparently cleaned himself with a bottle of whiskey and this was upsetting.
Sankalp told us some other great stories earlier in the week. He said that one time a guy with an SUV went to buy some tires at a place that was sort of black market and he went in and they said "it'll a be a few minutes." Shortly he was the proud owner of some new tires which he took back to his truck only to discover that they had stolen his tires.
Another story was about a beggar--he said some of them are not really poor at all. One day at an intersection a beggar had a cell phone go off in his pocket and people jumped out of their cars and beat him up.
very funny.
