“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” - John Steinbeck
A friend calls it the 80% rule: you can only enjoy India up to 80%. For example, one moment you’re giddy with excitement enjoying everything India has to offer and the next moment you’re cursing everything around you. My trip to Delhi and Agra perfectly illustrates that rule.
80% Transcendence: I flew in Friday night and met up with a group of Michigan friends with whom I would visit the Taj Mahal the next day. We slept for a few hours and then woke up at some ungodly hour. The seven of us (and a our driver/tour guide) piled into our pre-hired van to make the four-hour trip to Agra. The drive to Agra was an education in Indian life (you’ll note some parallels here to my previous description of life in Bangalore): traffic clogged Delhi’s streets, auto-rickshaws, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and cows vied for the road, children panhandlers tapped the windows for money, makeshift homes dotted the landscape in increasing frequency as we left the city, street vendors (also known a wallahs as in “Chai Wallah” for someone selling chai) lined the road for nearly the entire trip, and the roads were filled with bumps, holes, and dirt.
Once we arrived at the Taj Mahal, however, all other earthly considerations were forgotten. A little background for the uninitiated: the Taj Mahal is essentially the best love letter in the history of man. Built in the 1600s by a Mughal Emperor to commemorate his love for his recently deceased wife, it took 20 years and 20,000 workers to build and cost somewhere on the order of $12 billion in today’s dollars. Visiting is truly a religious experience. Upon arrival you come upon a large “Red Gate,” which serves as a herald that something magnificent is behind it. As you can see from the photos below, it is a beautiful piece of work filled with ornate marble reliefs. As with the rest of the Taj Mahal’s design, the gate is completely symmetrical.
Then, through the red gate’s doors you see it. Transfixed, you slowly walk through the archway as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world slowly reveals itself to you.
The Taj Mahal glows with a radiance I’ve never seen. It takes your breath away and never gets old. It’s beauty only grew upon further inspection as I found flowers carved in marble, marble filigree inlaid in marble blocks, and beautiful symmetrical patterns throughout the structure. My favorite was the flower inlay over the doorways.
After peeling ourselves away from the intoxication of the Taj Mahal, we made our way around Agra stopping at Agra Fort, a second burial shrine, and a temple. The bottom right photo is a view of the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort.
During this part of the trip, I started to take pictures of India’s people, a mini-project I call “Faces of the India.” I’ve posted a few photos below and, in the coming weeks, I will share a few more. Taken together it makes for an interesting cross section of humanity that I hope will give you a sense of India’s rich cultural diversity.
The next day, we visited Delhi’s Lotus Temple, another breathtaking building. It’s one of seven Baha’i temples around the world, each with their own amazing architecture.
As you can see, it was a weekend filled with cultural exploration, spiritual enlightenment, and architectural wonder, all of which I was able to share with a group of friends…
20% Frustration: …which brings us back to the 80% rule. Little did I know that after such a transcendent weekend I was setting myself up for a difficult 20%. Thinking that my flight left at 6:30 and believing that I had the proper documentation in my backpack, I made my way to the airport. The problem was that my flight didn’t leave at 6:30, it left at 6:10. And the documents I had with me were the wrongones . The next two hours were perhaps the most frustrating I’ve had in a long time. I was only five minutes late for boarding… but I was in the wrong terminal. And my phone didn’t work. And I couldn’t log on to the internet without my phone. And I didn’t know where any of my friends lived. Or if I could catch the next flight. Or… well, you get the idea. After two hours of a cyclical period of anger and trouble shooting, I gave up. I knew of a hotel nearby and, despite not wanting to spend the money, realized it was the only hope I had for a place to sleep, a good meal, and free internet where I could book a new flight. In retrospect it was all my fault, but the frustration put a bit of a damper on what was mostly - 80% to be exact - an amazing weekend.
Next Post: Guru Talk: Lessons from Harish Hande, founder of Selco
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