Consider yourself warned...this one's a doozie....proceed with caution.
1,000 km doesn't sound like an epic journey anywhere...does it?...(maniacal laughter ensues)...
First of all, I can safely say now, I am happy I had this experience. I got to visit the freakin' Taj Mahal. How cool is that kids!?! Secondly, I'm happy it's over.
The "Golden Triangle" is a triangle on the map connecting New Delhi, Agra (the Taj Mahal), and Jaipur. Of course "connecting" has an interesting new connotation for me now.
I had three days before I flew to Goa and the only thing I knew was 1) Three days was way too long to spend in New Delhi and 2) I was way too close to one of the 7 wonders of the world not to make the effort to get there.
The odyssey began late one night (...wow..that was only three nights ago....anyway...I digress). I had flown in from Kathmandu and arrived fairly late in the evening.
I was on a mission -that night- to hire a driver to take me on this {preposterous} journey. I didn't shop around, I didn't interview people, I trusted in the Universe to guide me.... And, oh did it. Success! I found the sweetest, most polite and courteous driver in this crazy place to fulfill my request. He treated me like a queen. Early the next morning we headed for Agra...the city known only for housing the one and only, Taj Mahal.
Having only had a couple of taxi rides in Delhi from the airport to various hotels (I have been flying in and out of Delhi now for over two months so I FELT like I was familiar with India at this point, but alas I realized soon after we departed on this journey I didn't know squat.) Getting there was more than half of it. It felt at times like getting there wasn't even guaranteed. When we did actually arrive in Agra (late that afternoon and on a Friday...the only day it is closed) I was not only relieved, but exhausted, frazzled, and wondering what exactly was I trying to accomplish here...all in the name of....fun???
Ha. Take that! I'm still here.
Lets start with the "department of transportation". This would include the concept of road maintenance. Which I am afraid would be, well... none. What the hell, people? The term frequent "Land mine" potholes come to mind....on the highway...where people drive.."things" fast. Yeah...dodge these while trying to figure out which of the speeding truck-angry taxi-bicycle-rickshaw-tractor-camel driver-motorcycles is honking at you and apparently, they all want to be exactly where YOU are. Fancy that. And then there is the case of the rest of the "department of transportation" experiences you will encounter along the way, such as..."Diversions". This is the sign you will see regularly and this means "get ready to shift". Sounds easy enough, right?
All I can say is I have never had so much time to practice my calming, meditative pranayamas (breathing exercises) before. I'm really good at them now and don't even have to think about it...they come as naturally as...huh...breathing.
Where was I? Oh yeah...the Taj Mahal. Yeah yeah yeah... Big freakin' marble building....
I got to witness this "bigger than you can ever imagine marble structure" at dawn. The sun's first light shining upon this translucent marble surface is like nothing I have ever seen. I was fortunate to be accompanied by a lovely and knowledgable young Agra native that shared the less than wonderful story behind this monstrous building project.
You know the tale..."love story meets epic ego-ridden rich guy saga" and basically 20,000 craftsmen that carved this giant mother-scratcher by hand got their fingers and hands cut off so there would never be anything like it ...ever ...on the planet again. The dude was so crazy he wanted to build another one and the guys own son locked him away for life. Uh. Huh.
Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to have witnessed this piece of art. It truly is amazing...the detailed carving of what is said to be the hardest marble on earth, is astounding. The inlaid stonework with onyx, carnelian, and other gems...it truly is a sight to be held. My gratitude goes to all the artisans involved with this grandiose project. They did a bang up job.
Next on the itinerary was Jaipur. I'll be completely honest. I have no idea why I asked to be delivered to this "other" crazy city...I knew absolutely nothing about it...until I arrived at the "astronomical playground" as I would later affectionately call it. It's real name is "Jantar Mantar". It's a world heritage site and was built fairly recently (in terms of history in India..) about 287 years ago. It is a park- like courtyard just outside the palace and it contains all sorts of giant sundials, zodiac alignment tools, "Chakra Yantras", and various Solstice/Equinox calculating devices... It was truly like a mystical playground. Yum!
The palace inside the "pink city" was lovely...as well as the museums, the "Jah Mahal"....the water palace- in the middle of a lake -which really isn't a palace but a big fancy palace-looking structure where they would hunt tigers...boooo :-( on the surrounding mountainsides, the "mirror temple"...which is exactly that...a temple made of tiny cut pieces of mirror, which is just trippy I gotta say... Whew. It was quite the experience. And then...back to Delhi.
My kind driver, who I affectionately called "friend", and who would continually call me "ma'am" absolutely cracked me up. ....So, he gets in the car and looks at me, smiles, and says "English, no", "Hindi, yes"...which would be a perfectly reasonable thing to establish if this had been within, oh...I don't know...say an hour within meeting each other. But this fun little conversation was happening on the SECOND day after having had many conversations with him speaking Hindi to me, and me responding in English, telling him....again... I didn't understand. We would both giggle and then continue to be quiet for several hours. Then the process would begin again. The only words we mutually understood, (clearly NOT being each others' names as these were never truly understood by either of us) were the words "lunch", "water", and "toilet" as these were the only words that matter when you spend what seems like an eternity with someone in a car on a road trip. For three days. Think about it.
It's like being alone. But watched. As he too was an Indian fascinated by this freaky white girl wanting to be driven all over India in what was (obviously) too little time. I don't think either of us knew exactly what we were getting ourselves in to. Ha.
I think my "friend" could tell I was a little anxious about the every day normal goings-on of the highways in India...to put it mildly. What he didn't realize was half the anxiety was from him. The more anxious I looked, the weirder he drove. Do you know what's worse than an aggressive driver in India? A timid one. You know the type...you're on the interstate and the merging vehicle instead of speeding up to "go with the flow" slows down and brakes...pissing off everyone around you. Yep. That's right ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to my world.
Combine that with one weary [no I'm not a control freak] lady, who was originally asked to sit in the backseat, but insisted she sit in the front seat [no I'm not a control freak]...I never imagined in a million years there would come a time where I would think to myself while riding in a car (repeatedly...ok...almost continuously at times) in a place such as this, "I wish he would just let me drive". [No I'm not a control freak!]. Seriously. If you could have heard the conversation going on in my head....
I don't know if he was being so timid because he thought I was nervous and going slowly and so passively would ease my mind, or if he drove that way all the time but....I gave myself a stiff neck by literally forcing myself to look out the side window so I wouldn't "backseat drive in my own head". I hope he didn't see me pushing my imaginary gas pedal down to the ground.
Road tripping in India...all I can say is ...don't forget your valium. I think next time I'll take the train. No offense, my friend.
Thank you for a truly wild adventure (did I mention almost getting run over by elephants!!?!) and especially for returning me safe and sound.
Thank you for helping me learn to TRUST IN THE UNIVERSE especially by letting go of things totally out of my control.
Thank you for showing me your kind, beautiful heart. This sweet man volunteered to come pick me up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and take me to the airport.
Thank you.
I am so happy and grateful I trust in the universe!
No comments:
Post a Comment