Valentine's Special

Since my every day work life isn't much different here, I hadn't really felt like a tourist until I took my first trip outside my Google/Hyderabad bubble last weekend to see Delhi and Agra. It was the first time since I've been here that I felt really far away from home, and it's finally starting to sink in that I'm actually in India.

I went with Mike, one of my roommates and Vince, another expat. Let me pause for a moment and comment on traveler culture. When abroad it is completely acceptable to make weekend plans with perfect strangers within minutes of meeting them. There's safety in numbers, so as long as you both instantly agree that you could tolerate the other for a few days it's a done deal. Mike was planning a trip to Delhi and Agra, I wanted to take a trip this weekend, and voila. We have a match. 

We caught a Friday afternoon flight to Delhi, which turned into an evening flight thanks to a delay, and headed straight to the Google guest houses near our Gurgaon office. We didn't really plan an agenda for our day in Delhi. We figured that our driver would be able to derive some sort of logical sequence for the day, a logical assumption considering that (a) he's a professional driver and (b) he lives in Delhi. Of course, we all know what happens when we assume... It's not that he didn't know where the places were, but more that he didn't understand a single word we said. We tried so many different communication methods (verbal, non verbal, calling our Hindi-speaking friends, etc.) and every time we thought he understood we would end up on the opposite side of town and start the dance all over again. What I found most amusing was the fact that he was kind of annoyed that we kept having him double back, as if it was our intention to see Delhi in the most illogical manner possible.

A quick note on communication in India. There is a universal head nod that moves sort of sideways and on a diagonal that means any one of the following: yes, no, maybe, hello, goodbye,I love your sari, your baby is ugly, you have food in your teeth, or pretty much anything else you might ever say (or not say) to another person. The only way to make sense of it is to read the facial expression or hope they use a verbal cue as well. Thus, when our driver shook his head while saying "Yes, Madam", I was led to believe that what I said actually made sense. 

For anyone familiar with Delhi you will find the following agenda incredibly amusing. I'm not going to go into too much historical detail because I don't want to bore you and I really didn't bother to learn it in the first place. Our first stop was India Gate, which is at the center of the city and their version of the tomb of the unknown soldier. From there we went to Old Delhi to see the Red Fort. It's hard to believe that something like this was really necessary at one point in time. Next stop was supposed to be a famous tandoori restaurant called Karim's, but we actually ended up at Humayrun's Tomb, which is like a mini version of the Taj Mahal and my favorite site in Delhi. 

We then found out that Karim's was actually back by the Red Fort, but we were already back toward the center of town so we decided to head to the Lotus Temple, which is a Bahai temple shaped like a lotus flower. I thought it looked like the Sydney Opera House. We had to take off our shoes, but I left my socks on for fear of warts and foot disease. It reminded me of airport security in the summertime when everyone is wearing sandals and walks through security barefoot. I don't want my bare feet where other peoples' bare feet have been, not to mention bird poop and who knows what else. Gross. 

From the Lotus Temple we decided to go back to Old Delhi to see Jama Masjid, a huge beautiful mosque. I think I remember someone saying that it's the largest mosque in the... something or other. It was big, that's the important part. The walkway leading up to it is littered with vendors selling weird thing like moth balls and all kinds of strange people staring and begging.  At the risk of being terribly insensitive and possibly offensive, the only way I can describe it is to picture an Indian circus sideshow act in the middle of a Mexican flea market. Forgive me, I mean no disrespect.

We were royally ripped off by some guy guarding the security entrance of the mosque who 

charged us to bring our cameras in. I know better now. Again, we had to take our shoes off and 

at this point I promised myself that I would throw these socks out immediately when I got home. We bought tickets to climb to the top of the minaret, which sounded like a great idea until I realized how many stairs were involved (remember, I'm in my socks still). Of course, when we got to the top the view of Delhi was unbelievable and worth the claustrophobic hike. We were there just as the sun was setting, which meant that the mosque was closing to women and non-Muslims so we enjoyed a few peaceful minutes before heading back down.

At this point, we were so hungry and ready to finally sit down at Karim's for a meal. We went back to the car and several minutes passed before I realized we were back near the center of town, which didn't seem right but the driver assured me we were on our way to Karim's. Night has fallen at this point and we get dropped off at the end of back alley bazaar type thing with instructions to go straight and take a left. There were several lefts, of course, and it was clear that whatever restaurant named Karim's that may be hidden in this area was not a place where we would actually want to eat. 

So, we headed back to the car and called our Hindi-speaking friend and asked him to recommend a well-known restaurant on our way back to Gurgoan. We never did make it to Karim's, but we enjoyed a lovely Valentine's Day buffet for three. We arrived at 7:30 completely famished and it wasn't until after they seated us and served us wine that they told us it started at 8:30. This, my friends, is India. I stuffed my face that night, by the way, and didn't feel an ounce of guilt.

We got back to the guest house around 11:00. I quickly showered and got into bed set my alarm for 1:00am. I had just over an hour to sleep before our next adventure would begin. We wanted to get to Agra in time to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise, and with a four to five hour drive this was our only option. I grabbed a pillow, assuming I'd just sleep in the car and magically wake up in front of the Taj Mahal just as the sun was rising. Unfortunately that plan was diverted by the fact that we were riding in an old Tata Indica, which is even smaller than a Ford Ikon and completely devoid of suspension. The roads are terrible and we were being tossed around like crazy. It kind of felt like the time my friend Becky and I rented a Hyundai Elantra and went off roading to the Grand Canyon, except that was kind of fun and this was just plain miserable.  

Alas, we made good time and were there well before sunrise. In fact, we were about an hour and a half early because apparently the Taj Mahal does not open until 7am. This little detail, of course, was not mentioned by any of the guide books or online reviews. We took 'sunrise' quite literally, but at that point we were standing at the gates of the Taj Mahal and it didn't really matter.

The first thing you see when you get through the gate (and security) is a beautiful entry way. It's an amazing architectural feat on its own, and the perfect prelude for what lies beyond it. I stepped through the archway, took my first look at the Taj Mahal, and got chills. It's the sort of thing that words cannot do justice, so I'm not going to try. Standing there in person made me understand why it is one of the seven wonders of the world. It may not be a natural wonder, but there is no question that it was built by God's people.

Perhaps it was the descendants of these people who greeted us at the exit with postcards and mini Taj replicas in hand. I bought a few postcards from a persistent little 10 year old before heading to breakfast at a local hotel. Yes, I said local, but by then we were so hungry (again) that it didn't matter. A family came in to eat and their little boy was pretending to fist pound me from across the room. Thinking it was adorable, we called him over. I tried showing him how to twist his fist after it hits mine but he got frustrated and punched me in the stomach. Little bastard. He's lucky I have a rule against beating up kids under the age of 8.

From the restaurant we went to the Red Fort. This is a different Red Fort, and a much cooler one at that. It's the way a fort should be with all kinds of hiding places and stairwells to get lost in. We had a blast running around before the dreadful ride back. 

We made a stop in Mathara along the way to visit one of Mike's friends. It's a very holy city in the Hindu religion and entirely vegetarian. We had a nice lunch and walked around for a bit to see the front of a famous Hindu temple/Mosque and stopped for some lassi. Lassi is a sweet milk and curd drink that I had no interest in tasting, but the guys liked it.

The trip back to Delhi was long and bumpy, but we got back in time to have dinner with the Gurgaon expats. It was nice to just hang out and relax after such a crazy weekend. Our early morning flight back to Hyderabad was a bit of a nightmare that started with our driver dropping us off at the wrong terminal and snowballed from there. Fortunately, we made it back safe and sound and were at work by noon. 

It was a pretty eventful weekend, to say the least. It was great to see a different part of India, but it was a little sad that I couldn't share it with people I'm close to. I'm surrounded by people all the time, but it can still get pretty lonely. I find myself taking mental notes of things I want to write about, so in a way you're along for the ride.

gv