SPECTACULAR SERENITY

How do you say "hello" in India?  Hmmm, good question, especially since over 3000 languages are spoken there (yes - three thousand, counting dialects).  But, since the official language is English, I guess the best way to say it is the way they do - "Hello!  I am welcoming you to India!"

India is a land of history and great mystic beauty. A vast country of nearly the same size as America, India is bursting with a population of over 800 million people (over three times the population of the US!).  To make matters worse, that population grows annually by some 18 million babies, that’s more newborns every year than the entire population of Australia!   As you might expect, poverty is a serious problem.  But despite this heavy burden, India has many spectacular and well preserved sites.  Any trip to India should begin at the capital - Delhi.

DELHI (pronounced "del-ee")

Delhi is actually two cities in one.   Old Delhi - the ancient city of tight winding streets, crumbled city walls, and 2000 year old ruins, and New Delhi - the modern city of wide open boulevards and large opulent houses built by the British in the 1920s.  Delhi as a city has existed for thousands of years, having been destroyed and rebuilt no less than seven times in its history.  The sites to see there are almost too numerous to count, so if you are limited on time, the following are the ones to visit.

The Qutb Minar Complex - The first Muslim mosque built in India, including the magnificent Qutb Minar minaret.  The minaret is 73 meters (280 feet) tall and is completely covered with exquisitely carved red sandstone.  What makes this so amazing is that the entire complex, including the minaret, was hand built in the year 1191.  In the center of the complex is the Gupta Iron Pillar.  This is a pole of cast iron, with no special protection or covering.  Yet in the last 800 years, it has never rusted.  It is said that if you can touch your hands together behind your back around the pillar, good fortune will follow you.

Humayun’s Tomb - Humayun was the second Mughal emperor, ruling India between 1530 and 1556, and was Shah Jahan’s grandfather (more on him later).  His tomb was the original garden tomb design which culminated with the Taj Mahal.  A vast multi-domed red and white edifice surrounded with symmetrical gardens, Humayun’s Tomb is a must-see stop in Delhi.

The Lal Qila (The Red Fort) - Shah Jahan was the fifth Mughal emperor, and the wealthiest.  His conquests were the pinnacle of the Mughal period.  Jahan reaped in vast sums of money and immediately spent it on vast architectural wonders.  The Red Fort was his palace in Delhi (called Shahjahanabad during his reign).  A tremendous palace which sported such events as elephant fights and feasts with thousands of guests.  Jahan is responsible for most of the wonders tourists flock to see.

The Jama Masjid (The Friday Mosque) - Built in 1650 as Shah Jahan’s last major accomplishment, the Jama Masjid is a tremendous Muslim religious site, built to Jahan’s lofty standards of architectural excellence.  Some seven thousand of the devout can pray to Allah within the grounds.

Delhi is one point of what the tourist industry commonly calls, "The Golden Triangle." The other two points are Agra and Jaipur.  Some seven million people live in Delhi, and another four million live in Agra.  The two cities are only 185 kilometers apart, yet the road connecting them is only a two-lane highway.  This road is nick-named "the Highway of Death."  It took four and a half hours to drive that 185 kilometers, and along the way I counted no less than 18 accidents, two of which were fatal.  "Two lanes" means two lanes of truck, two of buses, two of cars, two of motorcycles, two of bicycles, two of horse- camel- ox- cow- whatever- drawn carts, and only two lanes’ worth of pavement - with everybody thinking they have the right of way.  You want my advise?  Take the train.

AGRA (ahg-ra)

There are two sites at Agra that simply should not be missed.  First and foremost is the Taj Mahal. Built by Shah Jahan as a monument of love to his deceased wife Mumtaz, construction on the Taj was begun in 1632.  An estimated 20,000 workers labored for twenty-one years to finish it.  Made of white marble with hand-carved inlaid stones, the Taj Mahal is without a doubt the single most incredibly beautiful building on Earth.  As the sun rises, travels the sky, and sets, the Taj will change colors, its white walls reflecting purples, oranges, yellows and reds.  I got up a 4:30 am to watch the sun rise on the Taj and stayed for eight hours.  As incredible as the outside is, the inside is even more astounding.   The entire interior of the tomb is inlaid with hundreds of thousands of pieces of precious and semi-precious stones.  Malachite, lapis lazuli, topaz, jade, turquoise, corundum, onyx, every color imaginable - all carefully hand-carved into the shapes of leaves and petals and plants.  The carvings look almost like photographs - yet each one is made of stone.  A single image of a rose may have as many as 100 separate stone pieces all fitted together.  No visitor to the Taj Mahal walks away unmoved.  It is simply too incredible.

The second must-see place to visit in Agra is just outside the city.  In 1571 the emperor Akbar decided to build a new city and move his capital to it as a sign of thanks to the gods for blessing him with three sons.  This city is Fatehpur Sikri.  In just one year, Fatehpur Sikri burst to life with incredible red sandstone buildings and flowering gardens.  Most surprisingly, after only 14 years, Akbar decided to abandon it, and the city has been a ghost town every since.  The buildings are as crisp and new as they were when constructed 400 years ago.

There are many other sites to see in Agra, Akbar’s tomb, the Agra Fort, and Itimad’s tomb to name some, so if you go, take lots of film - you’ll use it all in Agra.

JAIPUR (jai-poor)

Jaipur is called the "pink city" and is the final point of the Triangle.  All of the buildings in old downtown are painted a salmon pink with white trim.  The two most notable things to see there are the Jaipur Palace and the Amber Fortress.  The Amber Fortress is where the maharaja Man Singh ruled the region in emperor Akbar’s name.  It is a magnificent yellow sandstone castle built on top of a mountain.  To climb the steep road up you can either put on your walking boots or climb on an elephant.  I recommend the elephant simply because the view down the mountain side deserves to be seen - and walking up that hill you’ll be too tired to look!  Man Singh's son, Jai Singh, built up the palace in Jaipur (obviously named after him).  The palace is like a small city within a city, everything your could want is contained inside the salmon colored walls.  But, as usual, some people want more.  Jai Singh’s harem could hear the sounds of the market and parades outside the palace walls, but, as the custom was, were not allowed to go outside and see it.  To make them happy, he built what is called the Palace of Winds - a five story building that is only one room thick! This strange looking building overlooks the market.  The face of the building is covered with marble grating windows where the ladies of the harem could look out and not be seen.  When the wind blows, it whistles through those windows like musical chimes, giving the palace its name.

The sights in India are unparalleled anywhere on earth.   Massive complexes rich in color and design, displays of incredible wealth and even more incredible devotion.  And while the sights are not something to pass up, neither are the people or their culture.  Though most of the Indians I met were not what a Westerner would call "well-off," they were all friendly and most pleasant (of course, that might have been because I was spending money like water!).  The food in India was just as spectacular as the sights and the shopping topped them all.  All in all, India was an interesting trip.  If you ever go, be sure to remember one thing - when you leave, put your hands together, fingers up, wobble your head back and forth and say, "NAMASTE!" which is Hindu for, "Good-bye!  I am being leaving you now!"

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