Pools and Take-Out Containers

After an incredibly packed and expensive sight-seeing day yesterday, we have fully appreciated all that Agra has to offer. Here is a shot of Kerri at the “Baby Taj,” an early monument to a financial advisor (valued staff even then) that predates the beautiful pietra dura work at the Taj Mahal itself. So today, we did a tiny bit of sight-seeing this morning and spent the rest of the day at a pool. It was “lovely,” as the British women cooed, cooling off after a long day of bus travel. Pool visits may not be exciting to read about, but they are definitely a haven of calm, quiet and anonymity. When I spent a lot of time overseas in Africa on three to six week assignments, I spent every Sunday at the pool for a little mini-trip to America (and a schmooze with our donors).

The one fun thing I have to share today is my amazement at Indian fast-food serving ware. They serve street food in these little bowls made from banana plants. You can see one, with my sweet lentil dessert in it, here. The other serving ware that is very popular are rough cast clay cups. They’re not even as finished as terracotta pots at home, and people drink tea, a yogurt drink called lassi, or a thicker yogurt out of them. These are also single use. Now here is an excellent example of local know-how merging with international concepts – fast food in perfectly biodegradable containers. Amazing.

Drumroll, please...

Today we saw it. The famous, magnificent Taj Mahal. After a brutally early wake-up call, we took the train to Agra this morning (kerri’s first train ride!) past small towns, fields of sugar cane, and small grass-thatch huts. (Kerri adds: and cows. Of course.) As soon as we dropped our bags, we headed out to see it. Built by Shah Jahan in the early 1600s for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj is a marvel of tromp l’oiel, in the sense that the architect carefully planned the building sites, angle of the minarets at the corners, and the approach to the Taj to make it seem far larger than it really is. As you enter the walls around the monument, you arrive in a courtyard surrounded by carved red sandstone walls and a red sand-stone gateway with pietra dura motifs at the top. Pietra dura is the inlaid stone technique that decorates the Taj Mahal – precious stones are inlaid into marble to make the floral and calligraphic designs. This technique hails from Florence by way of Iran, but Shah Jahan used it to great effect here. As you climb the steps of the sandstone gateway, the first view of the Taj Mahal is framed by the vaulted arches. It was just stunning. As Kerri pointed out, it was like walking into a postcard or onto the Discovery channel – you’ve seen the image so many times, it is very familiar – and yet, here you are, in the flesh! Okay, the water ways weren’t filled and the river was very low, both due to the heat, but it still looked postcard perfect to us!

The only down side to the Taj is that Kerri and I were a major tourist attraction ourselves. At least 15 families asked to take photos of us, and a few families had their children sneak up to us so that they could quickly grab a picture. This perplexed me , but drove Kerri insane. It is strange – here we are, in front of a stunning monument, and the tourists want to take pictures of two average American girls? Weird.

So here are some lovely photos. We’re off to see the Fort this afternoon and then to dine in view of the Taj – yay! So happy!