**This blog has no photos today because I'm having A LOT of technical difficulty. I promise I'll show you them when I get home, or you can try www.charmcityyoga.com where hopefully there will be a photo or two thanks to the lovely Allison Korycki.**
Agra – August 20th
A 4:45 a.m. wakeup call had us up and out of Delhi before daybreak yesterday morning. As we headed off to Agra, with dreams of the grandiose Taj Mahal dancing before us, we couldn't help but relish both the adventure to come as well as the escape of the somewhat oppressive aggressiveness of Delhi's drivers, sellers and their persistent touts.
As we've come to now expect, the train was rather late arriving into Agra, but we were pleased to find our ride waiting for us as we headed towards the Taj's walled grounds. And that's when disaster, albeit minor, struck. As we drove through town, our autorickshaw driver was giving us the hard sell for his tour around the city, and one of the things that he mentioned was that the Taj was closed. Being seasoned travelers we had heard this line more than once before, and so brushed it off as a tactic to convince us to employ his services. Little did we know (good job Anna, why read your guidebook?) he was not trying to mislead us. Another Islamic based site, the Taj, as we came to find out shortly thereafter, is indeed closed every Friday to allow Muslims to use the attached mosque.
Our hearts broke as we realized we would not get in to see India's most famous piece of architecture – our train on to Khajuraho was leaving that evening. In an attempt to make the most of our day we headed off to Agra Fort, which not only has it's own incredible architecture, but also stunning views of the Taj, which would be Shah Jaman? Last view as he spent nearly a decade imprisoned there while his son was off enjoying the fruits of his labour. We decided to walk (of course) and just as in Delhi, everyone was surprised when they saw us walking rather than riding in some sort of motorized vehicle. On the way I was scared to death by the screams of an angry monkey running after me with teeth bared. I had apparently encroached on the territory of his mate and baby, and there was hell to be paid. Bart, of course, found this to be hilarious, and I'm still being subjected to the “angry monkey” face regularly. We saw and toured the fort, once again enjoying the quiet and relative emptiness of the sites, which is one of the benefits of being here during monsoon.
Afterward we headed back to the area around the Taj where we had some lunch and conversation with another traveler – who felt, as we do, that one of the most difficult things about India is acclimating to the intense and widespread poverty. The hardships of life here are inescapable, and it is hard to come to terms with your own abundance and privilege as you watch people around you struggling just to survive. This in itself has been one of my main lessons and yoga practices since I arrived – working to cultivate this awareness and understanding without allowing it to overshadow all the beauty that India has to offer.
Our lunch was enjoyable, but made even more so, by the approach of an unexpected guest, as a cow made her way into the lobby of the hotel housing the restaurant for her lunchtime portion of chapati.
And afterward we spent a little time wandering around the area and then went to the room we had booked just for the day for a shower, a rest and, of course, some yoga. My hour long practice was made all the better by the heat of the day, the loss of power and therefore air conditioning, as well as the spectacular view from our window. As I made my way into shoulderstand, the Taj was just at the tip of my toes.
After a relaxing afternoon Bart and I sat on the terrace and sipped lassis as dusk fell on the huge white domes and the still evening air was filled with the sounds of Muslims singing after their call to prayer. Then as night took over and a huge flock of bats soared overhead we bid farewell to this famous city, at least for the time being. We have made (and will execute!) a new plan to return to Agra on our second to last day of traveling rather as a day trip from Delhi. And don't worry – it's a Wednesday.
Khajuraho – August 21st and 22nd
While we found having cows wandering the streets of Delhi slightly disarming, here in Khajuraho it more normal than not. In fact a variety of livestock roam the streets here – and it seems they generally have the right of way when dealing cars, autorickshaws and pedestrians. In fact, there are animals everywhere here; goats on the roof of the supermarket, herds of cows laying in the road, peacocks on the terrace of a nearby restaurant. There are wild pigs basking in the monsoon mud and water buffalo pretty much anywhere you turn. But it doesn't stop with what we would consider “domesticated animals”. Today, while walking (once again disappointing rickshaw drivers everywhere) the 6 kms to and from Reneh Falls we also sighted a jackal (or maybe a hyena or wild dog – it's hard to tell, you know), a male peacock with perfect tail feathers and what we believed to be a gharial, which is an endangered species of crocodile they have here. It was all very exciting and definitely wouldn't have been possible if we'd been in a deafeningly loud tuk-tuk.
Although the local fauna has been keeping us quite happy, the real drawing point of Khajuraho is the four groupings of Jain and Hindu temples, many decorated with tantric sculptures and carvings, which despite all odds have managed to survive the last 1000 or so years. Yesterday we spent the morning wandering the most famous and well preserved group, and the afternoon enjoying the peace of the Jain temples complete with large and beautiful Buddha statues. The temples were for us, as well as their creators, sanctuaries from the crazy world outside. Just as in Delhi and Agra, Khajuraho is overwhelmingly full of people in need and they are not afraid to ask you to part with your Rupees, water bottles, pens, umbrellas, earrings, watches, or anything else they deem to be of value. Sadly, the majority of these are children, and saying no is a difficult task. Of course we would be happy to part with any of these things if we felt that the corresponding value would actually be helpful to the kids, but more and more we are feeling that there is something or someone much more sinister who is reaping the benefits. Instead, I've decided that once I get to Mysore I'm going to try to find somewhere to volunteer once I complete my practice for the day, thereby hoping to make a more lasting difference.
I'm sorry that it's been a few days since my last post. Internet, and particularly wi-fi, is not quite so accessible here, and I wanted to be able to upload photos with my posts. Also, due to the fairly regular loss of power (not including the mandatory shut-off in Khajuraho from 9-10 a.m. and 4-5 p.m.) and subsequent loss of everything you've typed that's not saved and still have to pay for the internet time you “use” during a failure, there's a definite possibility that if I had tried to type this directly into the blog without saving it as a word document first...you'd be getting a much less descriptive, far more succinct accounting of what's been going on – I rather think it wuld resemble this:
Love you. Miss you. Wish you were here with the pigs, goats, cows, peacocks, water buffalo and the sex statues.
Side note about food: So today we had the best food we've found so far in India. In most of the restaurants the food has been good, but neither as spicy nor as flavourful as either of us had expected. And we realized we've been eating in the places where a lot of the tourists eat because the food is “safe”. FORGET THAT IDEA! This afternoon we walked into a restaurant down the street and the first thing we noticed was that all the tables were occupied by Indian men and women enjoying their lunches...a ha! The resulting food was spicy (once we could convince the waiter that we wanted full force curries), steaming hot and made from fresh ingredients, rather than frozen veggies, which we've been getting in many places. The chapatis that accompanied the meal were so hot from the stove we couldn't even rip them without burning our fingertips. We're going to bed on our train tonight with very full and happy bellies.
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