Days 2 & 3: Delhi and Agra

We arrived in Delhi at 2am on Monday. I was really grateful that I'd taken the time to arrange a car ahead of time to drive us to the hotel. Our 3am drive through the streets of South Delhi initiated us into the world of Delhi driving - which I was not prepared for. I really can't describe what the driving is like here in a way that does it justice. You have to see it to believe it. Lane markers are mere suggestions, and the road is likely to be crowded with everything from ox-driven cart and bicycle-rickshaws to throngs of pedestrians and BMWs. Everything flows together into a crazed mix, somehow inching forward, only at the prodding of incessant car horns.




I have to stress that this introduction to Delhi was not negative - it just took me aback. And as the next couple of days would prove, I really hadn't had the imagination to conceive of how different life can be in a place like this. We were certainly very sheltered from it - in a nice hotel and driven around in an air conditioned car - but it had a powerful effect on me.

After spending an abbreviated night at the Intercontinental Delhi Nehru Place in southern Delhi, we woke up to head out to do some basic sightseeing. We learned from the hotel concierge that the Red Fort and most of the other major attractions were closed on Monday - just our luck. But it turned out to be just fine. They set us up with a good driver (an indispensable asset as we had learned the night before) and we headed out see some of the city highlights. Again, the most striking thing here was what it was like to drive through Delhi -- an even more intense experience during the day. The sheer mass of people, and the chaos was overwhelming. But it was also incredible to see the way that it all somehow worked - people got to where they needed to go, thought whatever means of transportation they had.



We went first to the India Gate, and then drove across a large public park (really a big lawn) to the parliamentary and presidential complexes. We then drove up towards the Red Fort area, and stopped at the Jama Masjid mosque, opposite the fort. A friendly seeming tour guide came up to us, and despite my best instincts to stay away from uninvited strangers, he seemed knowledgeable, so we let him lead us around. He explained quite a bit about the arrangement of the mosque, its history, and how 25,000 plus people still come on a regular basis to pray there. At the end, predictably, he asked for an exorbitant fee for his time, but we were able to negotiate him down to about 500 rupees, or $10.




After leaving the mosque, was decided it was time to look for a place for lunch. I'd originally planned to have us go to Connaught Place, considered the center of New Delhi, but we were running out of time with the 4 hours we'd booked with the driver, so he took us to a restaurant back near the India Gate called Pindi's. The food was pretty good for my first real Indian food in India - but the Chicken Tikka Masala was different from what I'm used to in San Francisco -- less saucy and more oily. I later learned that the butter chicken here is more like tikka masala back home.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel. In need of some rejuvenation after the hectic first day of sightseeing and the late-night arrival, I headed to the fitness center, while Dad took a nap. Earlier, we had arranged plans to meet up with the daughter of a friend of Dad's named Alison. Alison has been living in Delhi since last July and was very nice to come pick us up a the hotel, and go out to grab dinner and tell us about life in Delhi. I really admire her for picking up and moving here -- it's an intimidating place to live. We learned a lot about what it's like to live here as an expat. Not something I'm eager to do, but definitely sounds adventurous. We ate at a place called Moet, which was a good Indian restaurant in a cool little area (though still only accessible by chauffeured driver -- Delhi is not pedestrian friendly for foreigners). Here I had the butter chicken I'd been craving, as well as excellent Roti bread.

We headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before an early morning departure for Agra. We'd arranged with the hotel to have a driver take us to Agra in the morning in order to visit the Taj Mahal in the afternoon on Tuesday. The drive would take about 4 hours, with a brief stop in middle.

Once again, the journey by car and it's associated adventures dominated the day -- only slightly overshadowed by the Taj itself. On the drive, we passed town after town, intersection after intersection, crowded with people on all kinds of vehicles. Adding to the craziness was that Tuesday was the day before a major Indian holiday festival called Holi - a festival of colors. We saw many people running around covered in bright blue, green paint, and preparing large piles of sticks, cow pies, and other flammable materials for huge bonfires that would be lit later that night.

From Delhi & Agra

We stopped briefly at a rest stop, where a man with a monkey approached the car. He was doing some kind of small performance with the monkeys, and had one of them jump on the car. I couldn't resist taking a picture. That was apparently a mistake, because the man immediately demanded payment for my having taken the picture. We ignored him long enough until he went away, but I'll be more careful about taking pictures of monkeys in the future...

From Delhi & Agra

After four hours, we arrived in Agra - which wasn't that much different from most of the run-down but crowded looking towns were has passed on the way. We made it to our hotel, and the driver let us know he'd arranged for a tour guide to take us to the Taj and Agra Fort - and that this was included in the fee we'd agreed to. I was suspicious, but as long as he wasn't demanding more money, it seemed okay to go along with.

After having lunch at the hotel, we met up with our driver and the tour guide, Bindu, a nice 20-something Indian girl who did seem pretty knowledgeable about the monuments. We took a tour of the Agra Fort, which was impressive for it's combination of Muslim, Hindu, Christian and other architectures. Seeing it gave some insight into the region's Moghul past.

From Delhi & Agra

Around 3pm, we left the fort to head over the the Taj. Even though it's the most heavily visited tourist destination in India, it was still surprising to see the relatively haphazard means available for getting there. We drove up within about a half mile, and then took an auto rickshaw the rest of the way, and were accosted by hawkers selling wares for the last 5 minute walk. It was actually good to see that these types of tourist destinations aren't completely sanitized -- though the experience is obviously still very sheltered.

We made our way through to the main gate of the Taj grounds, and then saw the monument itself. It certainly makes an impression for the style, symmetry and level of detail. It is one of those sights that seems to overdeliver on the hype. Bindu did a good job leading us around and giving us insight into various aspects of the place.

From Delhi & Agra

After vising the Taj, Bindu and the driver took us to a place to see a "demonstration" of the marble inlay techniques similar to those used on the Taj Mahal. It predictably turned out to be a high-pressure sales tourist trap, and we thankfully made it out without dropping too much cash. We bought a couple of small pieces as souvenirs. The experience soured my day a bit, but I understand the economy here around tourism and the need for guides like Bindu to earn commissions.

We headed back to the hotel, and where we had another good Indian dinner - this time a bit more Moghul-influenced food.

I'm finally caught up to real time on these posts, and I'm about to head to bed. We're getting up early to be on the road by 7am to get back to Delhi and connect with Jai's father's driver to take us to Chandigarh. Our driver here told us we'll need to get an early start to get in front of the Holi celebrations, much of which are concentrated in Mathura, a town about 50 km outside of Agra on the way back to Delhi. I'm looking forward to seeing the Holi celebrations, but I'll bet they won't be good for traffic.