Jaipur

Jaipur, unlike most old-world cities, is a planned city—and it is planned on a grid. Major arterials, demarking the boundaries of the main grid of the city, are arcaded.

The city itself is built of a pink stucco, resembling sandstone.

Interesting utility service… one has to wonder who is paying… and who isn’t

Jaipur landmarks: A gate into the city, and the Hawa Mahal

The Hawa Mahal, or Palace of the Winds, was built in 1899. It is the part of the City Palace that originally housed the maharaja’s harem.

Amer Palace and Fort

Amer was the main city of the region before Jaipur was even a dream in the maharaja’s mind. Now it is a small suburb of Jaipur, and its once-great palace and fort are tourist attractions only. We didn’t have time to see the inside of the edifice, learning only later that it would have been worth going in.

Great scaffolding!

Jal Mahal

The palace sits in the middle of a lake during the rainy season

Galtaji Temple

This ancient temple complex built into a ravine is still in use today.

Looking from the top of the site back down the valley; ravine wall festooned with flowers

Monkeys were everywhere!

Agra

In and out of Agra

It turned out that we led a protected life in Jaipur. We spent most of our time at the wedding hotel. When we traveled, it was either on a large bus with the groom’s family or in a private car with a private driver and private guide, both of whom knew the area very well. Amazed as we were at traffic and transport, little did we realize that we hadn’t seen anything yet!

We took a car from Jaipur to Agra, a distance of about 240km (150 miles). Estimates of the amount of time it would take were in the range of 4 hours. We stopped three times along the way to see various sights, a total additional time of maybe 1.5 hours. Therefore, with a departure of 1000 hours, ETA was 1530. Actual arrival time was 2030. It turned out that our Jaipur driver did not know how to get around Agra and did not have a map. He also did not speak English. He drove into town to ask directions to the hotel. But by the time he got into town to ask, (it turns out) he had already driven way beyond where he was supposed to turn. Our hotel is on the edge of town not far from the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. We drove right past all this and into town, where we hit what they called in Hindi a "jamboree" or a "jamjam". NOTHING WAS MOVING. For the longest time. After a long time, we asked the driver next to us in the jamjam, and he indicated we should turn around. Which we did, got caught in more traffic, and ended up in a market street carrying two way traffic but only a lane wide at best. We spent literally hours asking directions and driving in circles attempting to avoid the ever-widening jamjam. Finally, to our initial horror but ultimate relief, a complete stranger GOT INTO THE CAR WITH US. He directed the driver, and after an enormous circuit of the gridlocked city, we were again near the Red Fort when we got a flat tire. After fixing this, it was only 5 minutes to the hotel. We were never so glad to have arrived anywhere!

Leaving Agra was only a little less exciting. We took the train.

Agra Cantt train station at night in the mist that seemed to be a feature of the city appeared so Gothic that one expected its trains to be driven by steam, with great hoots and whistles, ear-deafening screeches and sighs.

Fearful of encountering another paralyzing traffic jam, we allowed extra time to get to the train station. This meant that we arrived early. It also turned out that our train was half an hour late. Plenty of time for the platform to get crowded with travelers, vendors, hangers-on, and, yes, beggars.

The children were the most in-your-face members of the begging community, but poor souls dragging their useless legs along the platform in a kind of half-crawl had a mesmerizing fascination. We had already learned while driving in the city that, to be left in something like peace, it is imperative to avoid meeting the eyes of any of the beggars. At Agra Cantt, we were not separated from them by the car window and locked door. But it was not a problem. Adam discovered the technique, and we all practiced it: The American Library Association Tour of India.

New Delhi station seemed to have a perennial population of about a quarter of a million people, more or less evenly distributed among perhaps a dozen tracks, a long walkway over all the tracks, and the two entirely separate station areas blocks apart at either end of the walkway. Santosh, mother of the bride and daughter of our friend Sheoraj, was late meeting us because we had all thought that the train was to come into Nizamuddin station, an alternate New Delhi station. But not so. And so, when we arrived at the station, Santosh was not there. And when we reached the walkway at the top of the stairs over the arrival track, she was still nowhere in sight among the press and throngs of people—and it was completely unclear which direction to go in. Half the passengers seemed to go either way. And half the busy crowd on the walkway was going either way. But no one was standing still, and the crowd was too dense for a party of five people with luggage to do so for long. To the right, then. When we reached the station at the bottom of the walkway, Santosh was not there. We had to check the station at the other side. So leaving the three youngsters with all the baggage to wait for Santosh, should she show up on that side, Dan and I raced up the stairs, across the walkway over all the platforms, and down the stairs on the other side. When I say here “raced”, you have to imagine two crazy Americans trying to run (and often succeeding) through and past a Times-Square-New-Years-Eve-dense crowd of people of every nationality in every kind of costume dragging, rolling, and carrying every possible variety of baggage. Gathering our breath, we searched for Santosh, but she was not there. We had to get back to the kids! Again the crazy race across the walkway, and when we arrived back to where the kids waited, Santosh was with them.

Taj Mahal

There is this problem with the Taj Mahal: It is so wonderful, you just have to take pictures. Every picture has been taken by every tourist a thousand thousand times. But so what! These are our pictures!

First, for the record here are the “postcard” views.

Now, here are some other scenes of the Taj Mahal.

Outside the walls and outside the gate

Inside the gate and a detailed view of the fabric of construction

The platform of the Taj (looking toward the mosque) and the view of the river from the platform

Red Fort

The fortress-palace built by his grandfather must have been a bleak place of imprisonment for Shah Jahan in his later years, where across the river he could see but never approach the Taj Mahal, the tomb of his love.

Nevertheless, this was not a bleak place. Now in some decay, it still evokes the grandeur it must once have had.

Delhi

Oh, Delhi! After elegant Jaipur and Agra with its incomparable monuments, Delhi required an adjustment all its own. Not to be caught short of the punch line, I will say up front that it’s a wonderful city and I hope to return. Soon. But still, we needed an adjustment.

Not as populous an urban area as New York (15 million vs. 19 million people), Delhi is more than six times as dense (11,200 people per square kilometer vs. 1,750 per square kilometer). You can feel this. You know it when you’re driving, when you’re walking along the street, when you’re in any public place. Returning to New York City (Manhattan), Adam noted, “The streets are really empty here in New York.”

We have no good pictures of traffic. The nature of traffic seems to be that when it is the most interesting, it is also the most impossible to photograph. All you end up with is a photo of the car next to you. However, here are some Delhi street scenes in rare places where there wasn’t much traffic.

We have no pictures of Raj Ghat (the memorial to Ghandi) or of either of the two temples we visited. I wish we did. Raj Ghat and the Lakshmi Narayan Temple were very spiritual and moving. And Akshardham Temple was… well… er… big. Really, really big. With boat rides and musical fountains and a food court and big screen movies. We might have been the only Westerners present at any of these places when we were there. Certainly Raj Ghat and the Lakshmi Narayan Temple are worth visiting. And Akshardam Temple is… different.

Qutub Minar

Not far from our hotel was the Qutub Minar, built in the 13^th-14^th century AD, which at 238 feet has the distinction of being the tallest brick minaret in the world. It is a world heritage site, which also comprises an early mosque and a college-cum-tomb built in the 14^th century.

The brickwork and stone carving of the tower are truly remarkable.

Mosque entry

College of Alauddin & early mosque built of parts of destroyed temples

Humayun’s Tomb

Another World Heritage Site, Humayun’s Tomb is an early example of Mughal architecture in India and was probably a significant inspiration for the Taj Mahal. The site includes Humayun’s Tomb itself, an earlier tomb (that of Ali Isa Khan), and impressive gardens and waterworks.

Isa Khan’s Tomb

Humayun’s Tomb: Gateway and entry to the platform

Humayun’s Tomb: To get an idea of size, the finial at the top of the dome is 6’ tall.

On the platform and inside

The grounds

Shopping

We definitely did not take enough pictures of shops and shopping areas. However, here is a picture of Dilli Haat, a handicrafts bazaar representing fine craftspeople from all over India, and another of me shopping for a salwar kameez (a matching tunic / pants / scarf outfit that is custom made). I picked out the fabric the first day, and got the finished outfit fitted and adjusted the second. It’s lovely!