The prayer to Bhudevi (Mother Earth), begging her forgiveness.
We left Jaipur, the Pink City today. But we had a quick stop at the Hawa Mahal, a honey-combed pink sandstone landmark that is sadly covered in scaffolding at the moment. It was Constructed in 1799 so the ladies of the court could watch life in the city.
One the street, a man with a dyed red beard asked where I was from. When I replied, "America," he said, "Obamaland!"
As we continued our drive to Agra, we saw more and more trucks that emended me of the busses in Guatemala. Decorated to the hilt, with deities and "God is Great" painted on them. Some have gorgeous paintings of women on the back, with stickers and "Horn Please!" in big letters on the tailgate.
We also saw a procession of camels, presumably going to market. These were not the big, majestic camels of Ethiopia. The poor things were mangy and skinny.
As we drove, we saw countless women working in the fields. Green, grassy fields, punctuated with little pops of yellow, orange or red - the women's heads in their scarves as they worked in the fields. We stopped for a rest break and just down the highway was such a field, we'd seen the women carrying the grass on their heads across the road. So me and a fellow traveler and the professional videographer on our trip all ran down the highway and asked the women if we could take their picture. For a fee, of course. My friend bartered with some bracelets she had - those spend just as good with the women here.
Brick kilns and fields and fields of bricks. There were dozens of smoke stacks for the kilns and rows upon rows of bricks stacked and drying.
We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and saw the bricks in use. A man and woman were piling them on their heads - about right of them at a time - and moving them to use at the back of the building. It is hard to imagine what a difference a wheelbarrow would make here.
I was served my food - a vegetable and sauce dish and rice. As I tucked into the plate of food, I realized my dish had chicken in it. I didn't say anything because it was probably better than with just vegetables, but ten the server realized his mistake and rushed over. He was so apologetic, and kept asking me if I was a vegetarian. I assured him that I was not, and he said, "I am so glad, because that would be very bad for me." I can only assume that it would be very bad karma for a Hindu to feed meat to a vegetarian.
We arrived in Fatehpur Sikri to see the palace complex. Emperor Akbar (Shah Jahan's grandfather) built this capital of the Mughal empire, but it was only used between 1571 and 1585. It was an Indo-Islamic masterpiece with three palaces for each of his wives, one a Hindu (her palace had a separate vegetarian kitchen), one a Muslim, and one a Christian. Akbar was known as a scholar and a seeker and was open minded in regards to religion.
He invited theologians from all major faiths to come teach and diabetes their beliefs. He took an active interest in Hinduism (he was a Muslim ruler of many Hindus after all), and invited Zoroastrians (there's those Persians again!), Jains (this convinced Akbar of the benefits of vegetarianism), Jews, Jesuits, and followers of Confucius to all come to his court to expound on their philosophies.
The Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Private Audience) has a carved stone central column supporting a platform with bridges attaching it to a small gallery. Some historians think that Akbar would sit in the center, and his advisors in the gallery. He would consult them, and they could approach as needed via the little bridges. This building is smaller than I expected, but the column is so richly decorated that that is all I noticed.
We entered one courtyard to find a gaggle of girls on a field trip. When they saw us, they surged up to us and immediately started talking to Madan. He asked them questions and one of girls said something to him, and he turned to me and said, "She wants to talk to you." So we had a pleasant conversation in English (her accent was great, more American than British), and some of the other girls joined in. It was such a moving experience. to see these girls, talking to them about heir schooling, their goals. Madan said it made him happy to see this education going on, and that this was a good thing that the British left behind.
Dinner tonight was pizza. It turns out that travelers on Trip Advisor had recommended it, so some of us ordered it for dinner. It was actually quite good. I have even more of an appreciation for Indian food now, but at the half way point, it was good to switch things up. That and a couple glasses of wine and that was the end of my night.
We left Jaipur, the Pink City today. But we had a quick stop at the Hawa Mahal, a honey-combed pink sandstone landmark that is sadly covered in scaffolding at the moment. It was Constructed in 1799 so the ladies of the court could watch life in the city.
One the street, a man with a dyed red beard asked where I was from. When I replied, "America," he said, "Obamaland!"
As we continued our drive to Agra, we saw more and more trucks that emended me of the busses in Guatemala. Decorated to the hilt, with deities and "God is Great" painted on them. Some have gorgeous paintings of women on the back, with stickers and "Horn Please!" in big letters on the tailgate.
We also saw a procession of camels, presumably going to market. These were not the big, majestic camels of Ethiopia. The poor things were mangy and skinny.
As we drove, we saw countless women working in the fields. Green, grassy fields, punctuated with little pops of yellow, orange or red - the women's heads in their scarves as they worked in the fields. We stopped for a rest break and just down the highway was such a field, we'd seen the women carrying the grass on their heads across the road. So me and a fellow traveler and the professional videographer on our trip all ran down the highway and asked the women if we could take their picture. For a fee, of course. My friend bartered with some bracelets she had - those spend just as good with the women here.
Brick kilns and fields and fields of bricks. There were dozens of smoke stacks for the kilns and rows upon rows of bricks stacked and drying.
We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and saw the bricks in use. A man and woman were piling them on their heads - about right of them at a time - and moving them to use at the back of the building. It is hard to imagine what a difference a wheelbarrow would make here.
I was served my food - a vegetable and sauce dish and rice. As I tucked into the plate of food, I realized my dish had chicken in it. I didn't say anything because it was probably better than with just vegetables, but ten the server realized his mistake and rushed over. He was so apologetic, and kept asking me if I was a vegetarian. I assured him that I was not, and he said, "I am so glad, because that would be very bad for me." I can only assume that it would be very bad karma for a Hindu to feed meat to a vegetarian.
We arrived in Fatehpur Sikri to see the palace complex. Emperor Akbar (Shah Jahan's grandfather) built this capital of the Mughal empire, but it was only used between 1571 and 1585. It was an Indo-Islamic masterpiece with three palaces for each of his wives, one a Hindu (her palace had a separate vegetarian kitchen), one a Muslim, and one a Christian. Akbar was known as a scholar and a seeker and was open minded in regards to religion.
He invited theologians from all major faiths to come teach and diabetes their beliefs. He took an active interest in Hinduism (he was a Muslim ruler of many Hindus after all), and invited Zoroastrians (there's those Persians again!), Jains (this convinced Akbar of the benefits of vegetarianism), Jews, Jesuits, and followers of Confucius to all come to his court to expound on their philosophies.
The Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Private Audience) has a carved stone central column supporting a platform with bridges attaching it to a small gallery. Some historians think that Akbar would sit in the center, and his advisors in the gallery. He would consult them, and they could approach as needed via the little bridges. This building is smaller than I expected, but the column is so richly decorated that that is all I noticed.
We entered one courtyard to find a gaggle of girls on a field trip. When they saw us, they surged up to us and immediately started talking to Madan. He asked them questions and one of girls said something to him, and he turned to me and said, "She wants to talk to you." So we had a pleasant conversation in English (her accent was great, more American than British), and some of the other girls joined in. It was such a moving experience. to see these girls, talking to them about heir schooling, their goals. Madan said it made him happy to see this education going on, and that this was a good thing that the British left behind.
Dinner tonight was pizza. It turns out that travelers on Trip Advisor had recommended it, so some of us ordered it for dinner. It was actually quite good. I have even more of an appreciation for Indian food now, but at the half way point, it was good to switch things up. That and a couple glasses of wine and that was the end of my night.
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