Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and Agra

Yes guys, I really have seen it, in all its glory, cascading above the trees like it was flating on the clouds. Unfortunately, so have the other million people we were there with, and there were no clouds that day which made it steaming hot.

Saturday morning called for an early wake and a 4 hour coah journey to Agra, the home of the world famous Taj Mahal. It is exquisite, and like many things, is one place you have to see in your lifetime. I am just sorry I did not make it for sunrise, as the way the light hits the marble is meant to be beautiful. I instead, was sweating like a pig. It puts you in the mind set whereby you don't really give a crap where you are, you just want to sit down.... so after waking through the gates, having around a thousand photos in the poses like 'put your hand out and perspective will look like you are holding it' .... and the 'diana bench', I made my way upto the taj itself, as quick as possible, and sat down. Don't get me wrong. If it were empty and you could sit in its cool inside, lay on the stones, and look and watch the incredible view it may be one of my favourite places in the world. However after entering the actual mosoleum you were pushed in one direction to move around the tombs in a clockwise fashion, will sweaty people puching and showing, and whistles constantly being blown, it really does destroy he peace and serenity for which it is supposedly famed for. I am sure, had the creators known of this development for the Taj, they would, to put it bluntly, be turning in their graves.

We did learn however, that it was built by the mughal emporer Shah Jehan in memory of his third wife Mumtaz Mehal. In the centre of the mosoleum is the tomb of his wife, and to the left is the emporer. They had 14 children, although 8 died, and 4 boys and 2 girls survided. On the Taj Mahal are 14 chapters of the Quran for the children. One of the sons took over afer the emporer and when it was attempted to build a black marble Taj Mahal on the other said of the river by the creator of the original, the soon put his father in prison in the red fort, where he spent the rest of his life, being able to see the Taj from his window, but never being able to visit it again.

I shall update later, but I have just had my work experience day and I am really tired, so I am going to go and have a nap in my freezer of a bedroom beore hopefully going to India Gate tonight where there is Indian dancing and fun ... apparently. (i.e. that is what I have been told by an Indian man, and may indeed be rubbish, as many things have turned out to be, but as long as you have a good sense of humour and a little faith, things tend to turn out for the best!) xxx

shits

I would first like to clarify, that I can give no other name to this. It isn't poo, it isn't crap, it isn't faeces, it is pure and simple shit. I so far, have been lucky enough only to have a mere sample of what could possibly be to come. But I have decided a post of this kind is appropriate if you are to get as much understanding as possible of my time in India. Because talking about shit is a common occurrence. I would be so blunt as to say around 70% of our time we talk about it. After one meal out at 'Legends of India' restaurant we were queuing for the loo when one poor girl came running at me so fast I though she was going to take me out as she slammed shut the loo door. I should mention I wasn't able to use the loo for the next half an hour. But it's nothing new and I have come to think nothing of it. We have a system in our room, whereby if we are having, aptly called 'toilet time'.... we can put the shower on, the extractor fan, the TV, the air conditioning and the fan,.... and then we can let rip.

There is also a scam, called 'the poo man scam' .... whereby a man will squirt some shit on your shoe, and then will offer to clean it off at the tidy some of Rs 100. .... this has created a rather dramatic paranoia within our group, especially for the few that wear open toe sandals!


I shall keep you updated on my bowel movements however. As it is the theme of many jokes. I am just really dreading the day when I leave the hostel wearing my white linen trousers and I feel that rumbling of thunder from within which gives a warning that something much greater is on its way. You must note hear, that my fear is not irrational when I tell you there are very few, if any toilets around, and if you manage to find one it will be a hole in the ground with a small bucket of water by the side. As Indians do not use western loos.

Train museum...

However not as bad as one would first think.... yes there were trains, lots of trains. But it was a nice place and the photos were good! However within half an hour most groups had finished their tour and were now sitting at the outside cafe. Our guide however, having only been on the job for a month, was incredibly enthusiastic and went on for an hour and a half. I now know a considerable amount about the Indian railway system!... plus I have around 50 photos of trains.. all different, ... but all trains!

A quick story

Just a quick story I felt was so lovely I had to post. On Thursday we had a lecture on NGO's and disability in India given by an American lady who had been living in India for 30 years. When she was a student in the USA she went on a walk to protest over disarmament. Whilst she was there she met a small group of Indians also on a protest for India's freedom. She split from her group and walked with them for 5 miles. After that they parted company and went their separate ways.

Several years later she protested again for disarmament, and this time was arrested and made the news. One of the Indian men who had met and walked with her a few years ago reconised her and decided to write to her. They exchanged letters and decided they were in love and secretly confided that they wished to marry one another.

30 years later they are still happily married and are living in India together with their children and their parents and their adopted daughter Moi Moi who is severely disabled. She has set up a charity for disabled  children, to help them be diagnosed, for their treatment and for their well being, and to promote new beliefs of disability. To spread the word that disability is not caused by poor actions in a previous life, and that it can happen to anyone and that disability should  not be an individual issue, but one which should effect the community.

 Her husband was also our lecturer at the start of the week on the Indian and Delhi environment. He was described by many of us as the Indian Dumbledore, with a very happy smile!

If anyone wants to have a look at the charity it is called the Latika Roy foundation

x

Walking tour. Sikh and Hindu temples

On thursday we visited three temples, Sikh, Buddist and Hindu. I have to say they were incredibly peacful. My personal favourite being Sikh. I  have now come to believe that if I were to belong to any religion I would want it to be Sikh. They believe in equality and accept all other religions. They do not worship an idol, but believe in leading a good life and learning through the scriptures of the gurus. The religion is only around 500 years old and unlike many other religions, the religion of the sikh was being practised whilst scriptures of some of the gurus were still being written. It is very peacful, however they do not believe in metaphors or stories followed by other religions. For example they do not believe in the christian saying of 'if someone slaps you on the right cheek, then give them your left also'. Sikhs would follow that do not provoke yet draw your sword if you are provoked too much. This may not be the right example to get across how peaceful the religion is, but I have left my book upstairs and this was the only example I can remember off by heart!

I shall edit this blog later to add more about Sikhism.



ANNA HAZARE

On wednesday evening I attended my first protest in the name of the social activist Anna Hazare and the passing of the anti corruption bill, the Jan LokPal Bill.

After hailing 2 tut tuts 8 of us went to the protests together, 4 boys and 4 girls. After a brief scene between Alice and the tut tut driver who started crying because he thought it was too dangerous for us to go and Alice crying because he thought he was so nice, and a quick embrace between them both... (it was a rather surreal situation).. we headed off into the protests. I have never had more photos taken of me in my life. It was like Britney Spears had turned up! But, it was not particularly intimidating or uncomfortable. There were children asleep on the street who had come to show their support, women selling hats and flags, and men, who if anything only wanted to shake our hands and say thankyou for coming. Two Indian men had taken it upon themselves to become our body guards, and I think they enjoyed the job, seeing themselves as protectors of the westeners. They stayed with us the entire way, told us what to chant, navigated us trough the crowds and gave us flags and banners and took us to Anna. If anyone got too pushy they would simply push them out of the way and say something in Hindi.

We came to a clearing which was already building up with thousands of people around a stage where Anna was speaking. What was so brilliant was that everytime Anna spoke the crowds hailed, applauded and clapped him, yet it didn't get out of hand, noone was pushing, and I managed to keep my personal space. Although I later found out that Georgia had not been quite as lucky as I was, having had the odd grope now and then from members of the crowd.

It is possible, as with all things, that protests such as these could get dangerous, with even more of a chance of violence if anything were to happen to Anna, or if the government continues to refuse to negotiate. But, from where I was standing, these people were good people. Although we were a novelty, almost an attraction, at the end of the day the people were not there to see us. They did not want to harass us, or to sell us over priced goods. If we needed help they would help us, or if we needed a translation they would tell us.

On our way back through the crowds one man was hading out small packets of glucose biscuits and he offered me one. I though he may be looking for money so I refused, however he bowed his head almost to the ground and offered it to me and our group again, stating in broken English that he did not want any money, and wanted to shake our hands to say thankyou for coming. I may be niave to say such a thing, but for me, how anyone can say that these protests go against a democracy baffles me!

One thing is for sure, and that is I will be attending more of these protests throughout my stay.

Wednesday 24th

weds- british council- precolonial india, astronomy

thursday- walking tour- ngo's and disability in india- astronomy

fri- railway museum- governance in india -higher education  

Sorry I have not updated in a while, but its a sunday now so I have at least an hour before I  head out! Just a quick post for wednesday to let you guys know what I have been doing. We went to the British Council in Delhi and were given talks by several people, one being the author and British-turned-Delhi-ite Sam Miller. He has written the book, 'Delhi, advenrtures in a megacity'. He is also a journalist, and gave some interesting accounts of the city and his travels in it. He first came to India for the wedding of his sister with and Indian man. He then fell in love with the grooms sister, and on and off has been in India ever since.

Then we had afternoon lectures on precolonial India and astronomy. Truth be told I was really looking forward to the precolonial India adventure however I could not understand a word the man said, and although he knew what he was talking about, he was also quite harsh and abrupt in his answering of questions.

The Monsoons Hit!!!

So, quick update. We have been grouped into different colleges which we will be studying in at the 3rd wk at Delhi Uni, and our group today went to an arts institute and made matkas, I type of terracota pot... and had a tour round the fashion studio of the designer and his brand Akaaro. First impressions of the huge loom still in use, the spinning wheel and the patterns cut from brown paper were quickly changed when we were shown th desgings in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Tatler magazine, with the designer and his collection showing at London and Paris fashion week. Pretty impressive stuff when you know where it has been designed!!

Tonight we were meant to be heading for the Red Fort to see a night time light display however due to the weather it has been cancelled. We were literally walking above ankle deep after maybe an hour of rain! ... so now we have the night off (managed to just miss the talk on railways, but mum don't worry, we get to visit a railway museum, so if you think about it, it's just cutting out the midde  man)..

We also went to a market last night and I purchased the cutest cushion cover and bag (many more markets to come and much more to purchase, although slightly worried about how I will get it back!) At around 10pmish around 20 of us headed to a sheesha bar at Connaught Place just 10 mins away from the hostel and after a serious craving I managed to get some chips! ... and sheesha.

Anyway, I think a shower is in order...I shall grab my shower gel and head outside!!! xxx

Finally Here!

Hi guys!... I hope you haven't been waiting in anticipation for too long!  I am sorry I have not written on here sooner but the past 72 hours have been jam packed!... where do I begin!

Having booked with Virgin for their reliability instead of the dubious sounding Pakistan Airways or Air India, the flight was cancelled. We travelled around the runway reaching speeds of upto around 30mph before having to stop due to, and I quote from crazy passenger 'funny sounds coming from below the aircraft'.... I heard no such sounds.. but it got to the point where mass panic was about to take over, people had no idea what was going on and so started packing their bags and getting off the pane. Unfortunately one man sat next to Charlotte who no doubt was the starter of this situation and began to shout at fellow fliers, and Charlotte in particular 'we should all get off the plane, you should get off the plane, lets get off the plane'.. Our group however found this thoroughly amusing, with me at one point saying 'damn it I have paid for this flight, if its going down I'm going down with it' .... it was only when the pilot later stated that 'he would rather be down here wishing he was up there, than up there wishing he was down here' that I quickly changed my statement and packed my bags.

To put the rest briefly we then had a 2am picnic in Heathrow Airport with free access to costa coffee goodies, and then we were transferred to a 5* hotel.  Although it was around 4am we eventually got to this hotel there was no way I was going straight to bed when there was so much fun to be had in the room! What can I say, Virgin are pretty impressive! ... I'm talking tv's at the end of the huge king size bed, tv's in the bathroom at the end of the bath, lots of free products to use, a dressing gown and around 15 towels, which I made the most of and used all of them... its getting quite ridiculous when you decide to use a different towel for drying each body part, but hey, the rich must do it. I then settled in the bath and caught up on the latest corrie episode, poor Roy Cropper is having a few mother troubles.

So we caught the flight, and got to Delhi! The YMCA is pretty decent, on the condition you get the good half of the building which I did, although instead of a tv, the shower is well equipped with 2 buckets for washing. I am in a room with two of the best girls, Florence and Georgia, who have a pretty good sense of humour. Although the majority went to the protests last night, having had no sleep for quite a while us three went to bed......at 7.50pm, a good plan at the time, but not so great when you are up and ready for action at 3am. Next time I shall go to the protests. Everyone else came back at around 12ish and had a great time, some got so into it they are now just heading off to watch the man himself not eat some more in a park somewhere (not mentioning any names, Adele)

This morning we had 7am yoga... I have said I will stick with it, but I'm not sure yoga is for me in the long run, but hey, everyone, guys and girls from the programme were doing it, in a relatively small room, so it was an experience. Breakfast was then from 8-9am, with a choice of curry (which will also be the same curry served for lunch and dinner), toast, porridge e.t.c.. I stuck with toast. By 9.30 we had then all boarded a coach for a tour of Delhi visiting India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Qutub Minar and Humayun's tomb. Each one of the visits was more beautiful than the last. Due to being at an internet cafe the connector I have brought with me will not be allowed on this computer so I am not sure whether I can upload photos which I am a bit annoyed about, but what can I do?

We were also given a briefing yesterday. it is going to be pretty packed. today for example I had yoga from 7-8, then form 9.30-1.30 we were sightseeing, then back for an hour for lunch, and then lectures from 2-5 with Dr Ravi Chopra from the People's Science Institute discussing the Indian Environment and the Environment in Delhi. Just a few facts to chuck in here, 80% of people in India are living on 20Rs. (25p) a day, yet the Gvnt. say that the number of people in poverty are around 25%... dodgy figures I think?

There was also the argument about moving India towards a welfare system, and it has taken moves to reach that to create more balanced development such as village councils, with around 15% of these councils being represented by women, however the end goal instead of 'full welfare' is really more of a participatory democracy.

Anyway, more about the programme. Our itinerary is pretty full, for example (Wednesday):
7-yoga
8-breakfast
9-British Council
9-30-1The relationship between India and Britatin
1-lunch
2-3.30- India's pre-colonial history
4-5.30-Astronomy and Indian Heritage
6-5.30- dinner
7.30- depart for Dilli Hart


i.e.... little free time bar the weekends. Although I'm not sure anyone cares about that for saying just how amazing it is and how much fun we are having. These introductions are just for the first week however, as in the second week we will be at our placements which will be announced on Friday. They have managed to get some great places, however so I am pretty excited. Yet jealous at the same time as 15 have already been announced, and they will be flying to most likely Mumbai to have a placement with the huge corporation that is TATA. To be fair the students all seem to be able to speak a multitude of languages so I am sure they will be well suited.

I shall now love you and leave you even though I really could go on forever as Dinner is in half an hour and I really would love some time doing absolutely nothing!

Post a comment if you could, that would be great! Thanks!
xxx

Getting started

Hello there,

I am somewhat new to the world of blogging, but I have decided to document my upcoming travels and understand that the best way to this, aswell as allowing family and friends (and the BBC if they are interested!) to keep updated and share my experiences, is to blog.

So here we go, welcome to my adventure...

FIRST STOP: NEW DELHI, INDIA