India: The Beautiful Islamic Architecture of Delhi and Agra

India was frustrating… and for once it wasn't too much India that stressed me out but the lack of it. I wanted more, more, more.

I did one of the big four day trips… of which most of the four days is traveling. We went to Delhi, Agra, and Varanassi. It took hours for the Indian immigration to finish all of our paperwork so we didn't really have time to go out into Chennai and explore before it was time to go. The airplane ride was kind of long and they served a meal… I was really excited about getting some Indian food but the food was "westernized", no spicy watering eyes.

We arrived in the early evening to a fancy 5 star hotel in Dehli where we were greeted by 2 beautiful Indian women anointing us with red blessings on our foreheads and decorating us with leis made of real flowers. What more could you ask for?

Semester at Sea has a policy of putting students in 5 star hotels and first class transportation whenever possible… this is for safety and health reasons. I have to say I would prefer to go a little grungier and experience something more Indian but that's a personal preference.

In the morning we headed out to a great old mosque. From the moment we stepped off the buss we were engulfed by sellers trying to entice us with their very cheaply made toys, jewelry, fans, anything and everything you can think of. (And this, my friends,, is the India of tourist… sellers, sellers, beggars, sellers, beggars, beggars.)

Trying to get past them is like trying to part the Red Sea. I don't know how to best emphasize the claustrophobia one can experience trying to get passed these people. It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman, adult or child, it doesn't matter if you say no politely or scold them in a mean tone… they don't give up. They follow you for at least 10 mins as you walk with their merchandise 3 inches from your face…

"Look, good price for you. Only 500 rupees. Special student price. You need. Ok, 200 ruppes for you. Madam, madam look. Ok 100 rupees… ok 50. 50 rupees! Look how nice for your mother. 50 rupees. You have dollars? Ok 3 dollars madam."

This is what I heard for 4 days. It's funny because they all say the same thing, it's like a script and we are all
very good at imitating them. The interesting thing is how as you walk the price just goes down and down.

And some of them give you a tone like, "it's only 50 rupees, what's it to you."

And then somehow they are down to 50 rupees which is about $1 and when they ask for dollars they start the bidding game over at the high price and ask for $5 and then work down to $1 again. They don't make sense, it's very comical. Why would I give you $5 when you just offered it to me for 50 rupees?

So after the 10 mins it took me to weed through the mass of sellers I could see the mosque. Well it was more like a city with a mosque in it. It was giant and made completely out of reddish stone. There were
two living quarters for the king, one on one end of the complex which was the summer palace, with lots of places for the wind to flow through.

The other was the winter palace which was all closed up with no wind flow.

The Islamic architecture was beautiful, the best part are the windows which are carved with gorgeous symmetrical patterns that remind me of stars and flowers at first glance.

Close to the mosque was a little temple-like building where you could purchase a piece of thread to tie to a window and make a wish. The mosque itself was heavily decorated with these geometric designs and verses from the Koran. By the mosque I was greeted by a young man… as you learn in India, every one in a tourist location just wants money from you so I tried to shoe him off. He then claimed to be a student wanting to practice his English by "teaching" me about the mosque and the Muslim
religion. He said he wasn't asking for money so I let him talk to me.

Then after my look at the mosque he led me to his friend and a collection of elephants carved from stone saying "this is my work, I made this"… yeah right. Then when I was leaving he asked me for money. Enough said.

During the trip we also went to some very expensive shopping places to buy silks, hand embroidered woolens, and various things made of precious stones. Everything was amazing and beautiful. I wanted to buy everything… I couldn't but my credit card took a bit of a beating.

In Agra we visited a giant forte and the Taj Mahal. I have to say that I wasn't dying to see it but once I got there and actually looked at it I was blown away. I've studied it in art history courses, but it's a completely different perception to actually experience it. The white marble is not white, but more like vanilla swirls. In it are set precious stones in flower patterns in much the same tradition as the works in the shops they took us too.

Around the entrance are the verses of the Koran set in black marble. It's quite magnificent and the elegancy of the Islamic architecture is breathtaking. We watched the sun set over the Taj and the millions of people who were there.

There were at least a few thousand people there easily, no exaggeration.

All this time, with hours of bus rides and train rides between "attractions" all I really wanted to do was go to the Ganges River.

And that will be a blog all in itself.



For now, here are some pictures:





the Taj- a more detailed look





stone setters- all handmade stuff





sweeping the street