Other Dombrowski’s Take on India

We flew to India during Easter break to visit Brittany.  We met up in Dehli (Holy Thursday) on Holi a free-for-all carnival of colours, where participants play and chase each other with dry powder and colored water.

Holi Celebrations in Delhi

Brit had showered and cleaned most of the colors off but the time we met her that night.

On Friday we visited historic sites in Dehli – the Red Fort – Humayun’s Tomb – India Gate.  Wow!  Our driver picked us up at the hotel and before we were out of the driveway the horn honking started. I’m not sure why they paint line lanes on the road – NO ONE uses them.  Cars, buses, three wheeled taxis and people on bikes cut in and out with no regard to human life.  Animal everywhere – including cows in the street that everyone drove around.

India Gate

Both the Red Fort and Humayun’s tomb gave us a great understanding of India’s historic architecture, but it was the gate that opened our eyes. I was so moved at India Gate. Unveiled in 1931, it is a memorial to the 82,000 soldiers of the Indian army who died from 1914 to 1921.  Names of 13,300 servicemen adorn the monument. Holi is a long holiday weekend so lots of tourists and local were about visiting the sites.

Up and out around 6 AM Saturday (after very little sleep) for the three and a half hour car ride to Agra and the Taj Mahal (220 km). The ride took us through crowded Dehli, through hours of open fields, to Agra.  A very very very old city.   Cramped, clustered, interesting.  Very different for western eyes.

We picked up a guide and went to the Taj Mahal.   As foreigners we luckily did not have to wait on the two hour queue to enter the temple region.  Our guide estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 people would enter that day (think if the Mets could get many to show up on a day).   As we walked through the entrance arch we were blown away with it’s magnificence. Really its size, symmetry, design.. adjectives could never truly describe the wonder that stood before us.  People were pushing about trying to find the best place to take pictures.  Our guide told us the story of  Emperor Shah Jahan who built the temple after the death of his third and favorite wife Mumtaz.  The marble is inlaid  with semi-precious stones in a process called pietra dura.  All so beautiful. We visited a shop and saw the tradition still carried out today.  On both sides of the Taj are matching buildings ( a guest house and a mosque).  We spent over an hour walking all about enjoying the beauty and taking pictures. Wow, wow.   Wow again!

Taj Mahal

We were glad we started out so early.   On our way back early in the afternoon the traffic attempting to visit the site was backed up for miles.   After a quick nap (Yes!) we were off to the England vs.Sri Lanka match in the T20 World Cup Cricket Championships.  It was a qualifying match and put England into the semi finals.  We asked lots of questions but were soon well versed in wickets, overs, bowlers, fours and sixes.  So, so glad we got to go.

England vs. Sri Lanka Cricket game with some of Brittany’s friends from Bangalore

After and hour sleep we left the hotel (3:45 AM) to fly to Bangalore.    Attended an 11:00 Easter Mass, brunched and went to Brittany apartment and collapsed.

Monday was to be (though we couldn’t have imagined it) our busiest day yet. We were off to Mysore, a town about two hours away, with a full plan ahead. After another 6:00 AM wake up we stopped for a traditional India breakfast, drove in to the major English fort of the ….. a saw our first Hindu temple, immediately followed by the dungeon, saw Brittany’s driver Nagaraj fend off a scam from our tour guide, Tipu’s burial ground and summer getaway. Then it was back in the car! We drove and stopped at St. Joseph/St.Philomena’s church, a beautiful building that took over twenty years to build. We ventured on saw our second temple of the day at about 5,000 feet above sea level, from there wesaw a marvelous view of the entire city. From here we figured our day would start winding down. We saw the Mysore zoo (lions and tigers and bears and elephants! oh my!) and walked for about 5k, followed it up with another traditional Indian lunch and set our course to see the city palace. Now there’s an old saying when traveling in India always make sure you wear your underwear…. or so Dylan learned as his pants split right down the back and he was forced to walk around one of the most beautiful buildings we had ever seen, laid with gold, and marble, and ivory, with his skivvy’s hanging out.

We had discussed on the way out  a few other quick stops along the way home, a bird sanctuary, which was very calming, and Nagaraj home village where he had grown up.  Now earlier we spoke about Agra being a shock to our western ways, this village was a violent electric shake! Maybe 90 small houses, a few street lights, one road in and one road out. Less then 300y in any direction and you were into the jungle. To say we might have been some of the handful of foreigners to ever venture into this town might be too high a number. If our eyes were not open before they were now, we thanked Nagaraj repeatedly for sharing this experience with us and he headed back to Bangalore for the rest of our trip.

The next three days were very calm. Very lazy. Aside from one easy 3k run on Tuesday morning our time was spent at the pool reading, at some local bars and restaurants, and one short afternoon of shopping on Thursday. We were spent and knew the earlier part of the week we had used our days to their fullest. Now we had the dreaded flights home but a trip of a lifetime to look back on.

• Dylan & Joe