Soon it was time to leave Madurai and begin the
long journey home and I knew that no trip would be complete without a trip to the
Taj Mahal. Since I was flying out of New Delhi, I planned a turbo charged 3
days in India's capital city.
It is easy to see why the Taj Mahal is one of the Great Wonders of the World.
It was built by the grief stricken Emperor Shah
Jahan in 1631 as a monument/shrine to remember his third wife that had died in the
birth of the 14th child. This romantic story compels you to go and
visit but the amazing carving and Islamic architecture makes it so visually stunning
that you want to stay a while and look around.
Visiting the Taj involved leaving the hotel at
5.30 and catching a train for 3 hours journey. It was great to see some of the
Indian countryside and since I had flown in late the night before from Madurai
via Chennai also catch up on sleep.
Just before Agra, it was interesting to see
dozens of locals taking part in their “morning constitutional” in direct view
of the passing trains and without embarrassment or shame.
Chaos greeted the train from Delhi but luckily I
had joined an organised tour which was probably a good thing since by that
stage I wasn’t really in the mood for bartering with taxi drivers, finding my
way etc.
It was
nice to visit other sites in the immediate area. We visited several forts and
while they weren’t as famous as the Taj, they were equally as exquisite. The
emperor that had built these buildings had 3 wives and had different suites
(with different styles or architecture) made for each of his beloveds.
Soon enough it was time to make the trip back to
Delhi and after finally getting home at 11 pm, I soon fell into a deep sleep
and dreamt of magnificent buildings and having a prince charming build a
wonderful monument in my memory.
But soon it was time to get up again and check
out more of Delhi. First was a walking tour of Old Delhi where we explored some
of the tiny back streets of this bustling city. We saw many vendors trying to
peddle their wedding invitation services as well as a Mosque and Hindu Temple.
As usual, I was stared at by many locals as if they had never seen a short
white girl with a limp before but by that stage I had got used to it.
Since I had a midnight flight, I managed to squeeze
in an evening cooking class before heading home. By this stage I was tired and my
brain was bursting at the seams with impressions and memories of what would
soon become a far away and exotic place. But it was still great to be invited
into a local’s home to see how they prepare their evening meal.
But as the time to leave soon arrived and I had
to make a mad dash across Delhi to the airport and start the long journey home.
During this really tedious process I often hoped that one day I could return to
this interesting country and get to know it even better.
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