Taj Mahal, Holi, time in Delhi nearly finished
Well it's raining in Delhi, it feels quite homely - just like an English summer. It's the festival of Holi today and tommorrow, the 'festival of colour', which means you cover everyone you know in coloured powder and probably have a big water fight. Since it's raining it's a bit of a damp squib so far, but apparently tomorrow is when it really gets going. Not that we'll be venturing far afield, as things can get a bit carried away, so the rooftop is the best place to see the carnage of Holi from. We've arranged to 'play Holi' outside the house with some of the students tomorrow (no school as it's a festival) so I've got some old clothes ready. Then back to school for a two day week, then the weekend and the outreach projects again - it's all flying past and in under 3 weeks time we'll be on holiday in the Himalayas wondering where all the time went. Ah well, I'm missing England. This morning I really felt like a pizza. Not a pizza that you trek for an hour and a half to the westernised area of Delhi and sit in a restaurant waiting for, but an actual, authentic, *frozen* pizza!
Got back last night from visiting Agra and the Taj Mahal. Being so near to the Taj for five months we couldn't really not have visited it, as it's quite spectacular, and you've just got to have that photo of you in front of the Taj in an 'I've been to India' kind of way. Anyway, the Taj was indeed a very impressive building, the sheer size of it was breathtaking and the white marble made it look like a fairytale castle - or, as was intended, like an lamic impression of heaven. The most impressive thing was the precision with which it was made and the absolutely perfect symmetry of it - almost like an actually existing platonic idea of a building, if that makes any sense. Probably not. It was a very detached, perfect sort of beauty that you wouldn't believe really existed, and for me this gave the whole thing quite a cool feeling, especially as the building's only purpose was to serve as a gigantic mausoleum. Well worth a look though.
Outside the Taj, we were back in real India, with the interminable waiting at train stations, the food poisoning, the hassle etc; but we met a funny old guy with a 'suitcase shop' full of essential oils and bought a bagful to take back to England, and went away smelling of roses, jasmine, sandalwood, amber... We also found a couple of kids with a camel and got a ride on the back; it actually seemed more comfortable than riding a horse but that's probably because the camel was walking very sedately after its hard day of carrying tourists. I was amazed by the length and versatility of its neck - it felt like you were riding a brontosaurus, or that the neck had the same structure as an anglepoise lamp that you can point anywhere.
Back in Delhi I'm sitting around feeling shattered from travelling and various stomach wobbles, but looking forward to the final stretch, the holidays, and coming home. Take care everyone.
Got back last night from visiting Agra and the Taj Mahal. Being so near to the Taj for five months we couldn't really not have visited it, as it's quite spectacular, and you've just got to have that photo of you in front of the Taj in an 'I've been to India' kind of way. Anyway, the Taj was indeed a very impressive building, the sheer size of it was breathtaking and the white marble made it look like a fairytale castle - or, as was intended, like an lamic impression of heaven. The most impressive thing was the precision with which it was made and the absolutely perfect symmetry of it - almost like an actually existing platonic idea of a building, if that makes any sense. Probably not. It was a very detached, perfect sort of beauty that you wouldn't believe really existed, and for me this gave the whole thing quite a cool feeling, especially as the building's only purpose was to serve as a gigantic mausoleum. Well worth a look though.
Outside the Taj, we were back in real India, with the interminable waiting at train stations, the food poisoning, the hassle etc; but we met a funny old guy with a 'suitcase shop' full of essential oils and bought a bagful to take back to England, and went away smelling of roses, jasmine, sandalwood, amber... We also found a couple of kids with a camel and got a ride on the back; it actually seemed more comfortable than riding a horse but that's probably because the camel was walking very sedately after its hard day of carrying tourists. I was amazed by the length and versatility of its neck - it felt like you were riding a brontosaurus, or that the neck had the same structure as an anglepoise lamp that you can point anywhere.
Back in Delhi I'm sitting around feeling shattered from travelling and various stomach wobbles, but looking forward to the final stretch, the holidays, and coming home. Take care everyone.