When we arrived things were pretty easy—turns out the city runs on tourism, so they greeted us with open arms. We got another personal tour for the day (I know, so spoilt), and first stop was the Taj. Now, please excuse the small history lesson coming up; I promise it’s interesting. Agra is known as the city of love, namely because at it’s heart is the Taj Mahal. The building was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to honor his third wife. Of his three marriages, the third was the only one that was a love marriage and not an arranged one. When his wife was dying in labor, she made him promise three things—to never marry again, to do something else I can’t remember, and finally to build her a beautiful tomb to remember her by. Immediately work began on the Taj Mahal, and 22 years later was complete. It wasn’t quite happily ever after though. The emperor wanted to build a matching smaller tomb across the river in black for himself, but his son thought he was spending too much money so banished him to the Agra Fort. The emperor was under house arrest until his death, but luckily he had a view of the Taj Mahal from the fort. When he died, he was buried in the beautiful tomb next to his wife—tres romatique.
The taxi pulled up a short walk away from the Taj Mahal—no cars are permitted close to it so as not to taint the sparkling white marble with pollution. We walked up through one of the three entrance gates, a spectacle in itself. All four of us were anxious as we got closer and closer to this marvel, constantly wondering when we would actually see it. Then, suddenly, there it was. Like a painting it appeared through the archway of the gate, hardly distinguishable from the pale sky, yet glowing a stunning white. It didn’t get less awe-inspiring as we walked slowly toward it either. After umpteen photo opportunities we found our way to the entrance and put on our little red booties. Only the tourists had to wear the booties—Indian visitors (which made up about 80% of the guests) only had to take off their shoes. Maybe we have dirtier feet. Anyway, we climbed the stairs and were able to look at the monument up close. I thought that the building was impressive from far away, but I must say the close-up view was even more incredible. The entire tomb is covered with intricate flower designs. The marble is carved out and colored stones are shaved to be fit right into the etchings….over the WHOLE THING. It was absolutely beautiful. The inside seemed deceivingly small, but perfect in its simplicity where the two tombs lay. Needless to say, very worth the trip.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the other beauties Agra had to offer—more tombs and stops at touristy restaurants and craft places. As we came out of lunch, there was a man sitting Indian-style (haha) on the ground with a basket in front of him and a recorder in his hand. A real live Indian snake charmer! He convinced a slightly cautious Jake and Kent to sit on either side of him and immediately started on Kent. He tried to put a small snake around Kent’s neck; as Kent was quickly backing away the charmer put the snake to his face to prove it was harmless—not that this changed the opinions of Kent or Jake in any way. No sooner was the snake around a terrified Kent’s neck than the charmer whipped out his handy basket. Cobra time. The cobra popped up, hissing and spitting all the way, and Kent flew several feet into the air. As you can imagine this provided significant entertainment to Allison and I, and even more when the whole thing was repeated with an equally petrified Jake.
Day 4
After a couple of hours sleep back at the hostel we hopped on an early flight to Nagpur, a city in the middle of India where Kent’s friend Megan is living and working at a school. Megan picked us up at the airport and we drove through a clean, GREEN city to the compound where she is living. After a quick cuppa we were off again, this time to Pench, a tiger reservation two hours away. Pench is part of the jungle where Rudyard Kipling based the Jungle Book—we were off to spot some tigers. After a bumpy ride with several cow stops we entered the reservation and found our resort. We were the only guests for the night, so the service was incredible. When we stepped out of the car four men came immediately to take our bags and put them in our jungle bungalow. The resort was beautiful in the sunshine; itself part of the jungle with hammocks and a tree house and our own bungalow on stilts. We put down our bags and sat on the back porch as tea and biscuits were brought to us. After a delicious lunch we headed off on our first safari. As we waited at the entrance of the reservation in our tiered jeep, we spoke to a British couple on their eleventh tiger-less safari. It wasn’t looking good.
Our first monkey sighting was a very exciting experience. By the 423rd monkey sighting the others were getting a little weary, but I was still snapping away. I have literally 504 photographs of monkeys. Anyway, monkeys and spotted deer dominated the jungle, and they would come right up close to the jeep, seemingly unruffled by our presence. Amazing. We were bumping along for about an hour when we saw two stopped vehicles in the distance, beckoning us on. We all became giddy with excitement for the potential tiger. We came up to the other jeeps and everyone was standing, silent but clearly aroused by something they were pointing to in the distance.
Two deer. (Que fake tiger spotting picture)
These false alarms happened more that once, and Jake, the boy who cried tiger, got a kick out of yelling “TIGER!” and pointing excitedly into the trees. Then it happened. We pulled up to a stopped jeep, shushing us and pointing to the right. We immediately stood up and looked and there, through the trees, was our tiger. Huge, majestic. This is one time I can say that I regret being so concerned with photographs, and my experience with the tiger was spent partially behind the lens, but nonetheless it was extraordinary. Plus I managed to snap a couple of photos as proof that it did happen.
After our REAL tiger spotting, we came back to the resort and were greeting with tea and biscuits around the fire. It was at that moment I wondered how I ever got this lucky. I’m barely into my twenties and I had just gone on a tiger safari in the Indian jungle. I’m not sure it’s fair but I am so grateful I had the opportunity. After our little break the owner of the resort offered to take us into the village where some of the employees worked, so we hopped back in the jeep. It was dark when we got to the village. The cook had a small house all made of clay, lit on the outside by a fire and on the inside with a single light bulb. Each house in the village was like this; not much, but enough. And they were kept so neatly that the pride shone through even in the night. The cows were tied up in the front and the chickens cooped at the side. The children huddled by the fire, and the boys ran through the streets setting off fireworks—one of which we almost drove over.
The owner then decided we should go on a night safari because he had heard a rumor that there was a pack of wild dogs on the move. Two hours and no wild dogs later we were back at the resort having our faces overstuffed with tandoori chicken and all the trimmings, being made right in front of us. It’s a rough life.
5:30 am—morning safari. Cold. No tigers. Allison took a nice nap though. We were just getting excited because the driver heard a roar when the heavens opened. Literally. It was absolutely pouring with rain. We took cover under some trees, but after 45 minutes of waiting it out, it was just too much so we headed back to the resort and then back into Nagpur.
Day 5
Megan has been living in a compound in Nagpur since May. The compound belongs to the owner of the Nav Jeevan School, a school and hostel for slum children. The compound has a beautiful house and gardens with servants for all the family members, but the slum is just around the corner. Quite incredible. The owner’s mother was the one who created the school. At first, it was an orphanage for the babies who weren’t cared for at the church nearby. A Dutch woman adopted two baby girls, and years later was so thankful that she wanted to give back. Her “giving back” was in the form of enough money to start a school to support what is now more than 200 children.
Megan took us into the school and past the slums on the way. The slums were like something out of a movie—interesting though, that some of the shacks had no real walls, but had a satellite and a t.v.
The school was wonderful and the children were breathtaking. The second we walked in, Jake and Kent into the boys dormitory and Allison and I into the girls, the children hugging and kissing us. They couldn’t get enough of our attention, grabbing our hands, asking us questions, requesting we sing and dance for them (we taught them the Cupid Shuffle). Their spirits were contagious. These children had come from nothing and blossomed into greatness, simply because they were given meals and a roof.
Later in the evening they put together an impromptu show for us. There were about 150 children in a small room, all quiet when they needed to be. I immediately thought of my 30 children in Bahrain and how they wouldn’t be able to keep quiet for 2 seconds. The children sang for us, danced, and even pulled us on stage with them. Their talent was astounding.
We all found precious little ones that we wanted to smuggle in my purse and take home with us. Jake’s was a five year old boy named Nendish. He was very sweet and everyone there seemed to be looking out for him. Without being able to speak any English, he taught Jake the ‘secret handshake’. This boy was all smiles and laugher, though not even a year ago he was in the slums, stealing from his mother and gambling in the streets. At five years old, he’s finally starting his childhood.
I think the whole evening deeply affected each of us on some level. I couldn’t get over the fact that these children were once begging on the street, addicted to tobacco and someone decided to give them food, shelter, and education. Someone gave them a home. And suddenly, these children in rags, bloomed. It just goes to show how far simplicities, necessities, can take a person. I’m not going to harp on any more, but I can say that in a word, we were thankful.
If you want to find out more about the Nav Jeevan School, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RWWOQ-H8lM. After you watch that, there are other links to their talent show (which I would recommend watching).
Day 6
On our final day we flew back to Dehli and, predictably, decided we hadn’t purchased enough touristy crap so we went a little spending mad. Don’t be surprised if you receive an elephant for Christmas—we bought cloth elephants, stone elephants, wood elephants, marble elephants…..
What an experience! It was a tiring week, but none of us would change a thing.
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