They told us to prepare for poverty. I didn't really understand. There's people sleeping on the ground everywhere, garbage everywhere, and buildings, half built, half tarp all over the place masking as store fronts. It makes your mind shift, somewhere towards gratitude for all you half. I already feel myself softening up, like maybe India's telling me this secret that I didn't even know I needed to hear. To open, or bloom, like that lotus flower.Mark's sleeping next to me again. Our jet-lag is bad. We slept for two hours last night and spent the next six watching climbing DVD's, ordering veggie sandwiches through room service, and talking about life. This place seems to wake you up a little bit. We left at 8am after a very India breakfast for Arga.
The four hour drive today to the Taj Mahal in Arga was mind bending. In a good way. Our tour guide today teaches old women yoga out of his house for free. He showed me some stuff, some pressure points and breathing exercises. I came to the right place. And I don't mean just for yoga. After the drive, we walked about ten minutes to the entrance of the Taj. It's a tomb. It's said that the architect had his hands cut off so he couldn't replicate it. You get the the line for ticket sales, and it's one for Indians, one for foreigners (our ticket is a lot more expensive, their line is a lot longer). We go through security, and finally to an archway where you can see a glimpse of the Taj. It's literally breathtaking. Huge, hand-cut, marble, wonder.We spent a good hour there with our guide, showing us all the details and sparing no story along the way. The way back was dusted with Indian children selling snow globes for any price, monkeys, camels, and beautiful Indian people in the most brightly colored clothes I've ever seen.
They are really so unique, they seem to radiate sunshine amongst so much debris. The dresses as bright as all the colors found in a garden, and hand-painted trucks, busses, and cars driving like mad from road to road.
Interested to see Dharamsala tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect. Glad Mark's here.
1 comments:
One of my favorite places.
Shah Jahan (who built it for his wife, Mumtaz) had the architects hands cut off, for the reason you said. Shah Jahan also had planned a black marble replica of the Taj built on the other side of the River Yamuna, for his tomb. Shah Jahan's son had him imprisoned for the last eight years of his life in the Prisoners Tower at the Red Fort in Agra; the son was irked that his father was spending so much on architecture.
And Dharamsala . . . glad you have no idea "what to expect" . . .
Shanti Om
Scott
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