A little self education (Agra, India)

Okay, I arrived here yesterday in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. I'm not really going to talk a lot about it. I'm sure you've all seen it in pictures and know that its a wonder of the world. You've probably even eaten in a restaurant with the same name, its that popular. I can talk about it for hours, but nothing is the same as standing face to face with it. Even in a large crowd of tourists, who've all paid 750 rupees, all fighting to find that pefect spot to get that perfect picture of when the sun first beams upon on this landmark built out of love for a dead wife, nothing will taint the magnificance of the Taj Mahal.

One thing I do have to say about Agra is that people are very very pushy about buying things and its hard to trust anyone, because all they want is money! Yesterday we were tricked into going into this marble shop where they taught us the method of how the Taj Mahal was built and how each little piece is carefully done. Afterwards it was like we were in an info-mercial, being cohearsed to by a beautiful marble table to send back to Canada. "This one is only $300 Canadian, you can put it on your credit card!" I don't think so, buddy!

Now, let me rewind a few days....

Flying High!

This is one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had so far. One afternoon in Varanasi, we found this cool hostel with a rooftop patio of the Ganja river. Of course the food took forever to prepare from scratch, like I'm talking an hour, at least. In the meantime Melissa and I just took our chairs to the edge of the balcony and people watched.

Below us there was an older man who was going about his daily business. He kept shooing away pigeon and the nasty monkeys that roam around. Later he began to roll some dough as he sat on his cement roof. It turns out (we figured this out the following day when we came back for yummy seconds), the man was actually a pigeon breeder, or owner, (I don't know the correct term). He had a whole cage full of pigeons and he would feed them and then release them. They'd all fly up into the air for about 30 seconds and fly in this circle and come right back to him. A man explained to us that owning and training many pigeons is like a sport and there's competitions for having well trained pigeons.

There was another roof top that was full of family and friends. We watched as they combed each other's hair and did their laundry and laughed amongst themselves.

The thing that I was most delighted about was these small kites that all the children had. It was a Sunday afternoon so obviously no school. If you were to look up in the sky, you'd see at least 150 kites, all different colours and all different heights. I couldn't believe at how many of them there were, everywhere! It was so cool! We saw many kids just sitting there pulling and shaking their kite strings as they watched their kites flap and go higher and higher.

I wonder how the strings don't get all tangled up together???

Live in Concert:

When we first arrived in Varanasi, this man outside of our Lodge kept asking us if we want to see a concert, his son is in it, he plays the tabla. We finally agreed on the second night.

It was really a cool experience. Our Lodge owner (Ronnie, you'll about him in a bit), told us that the family is quite poor and they are lucky if they can survive in the summer months when there's less tourists. Anyway, we basically came in and sat down on a mat on the floor and they offered us Chai tea. Melissa sat there and got henna put on her hand by the mother.

Afterwards, they turned the lights off and there were two young men sitting there, one with the tabla and one with the sitar. Basically, its a set of like bongo drums and an Indian guitar. For two hours we sat there and listened to classical Indian music. I would often close my eyes and be in awe. This was no fancy concert by any means, but was definitley one of the best I've been to.


Om

The following day, the 3 of us did a quick one hour meditation class. We learned a few things in the short time we had. I wish that I could go back and do more. I guess I've got a lifetime to learn.

We chanted, you know like OMmmmmm and stuff like that, there was this one Hindu chant we did for about 7 minutes. We did some cool breathing exercises, which reminded me of Clea, my old voice teacher (Hi Clea!).

Then we also did some focussing while we closed our eyes, its called pyschic screening. It was hard to focus, they kept saying not to analyse anything that pops up in your mind, just let it pass through. At first I could only see Jeremy, then it went to the sun and moon, then I saw that scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy is getting taken away in the Tornado and she sees the her Mom and the farm and Toto and then the Wicked Witch.

Then in the end we lay down while the instructor talked to us about being in the mountains, gardens, etc. It was really relaxing, he told us not to open our eyes until we orientate ourselves with the surroundings. I opened my eyes a little too soon and was like, whoa, where am I? Well, not that extreme.

Written in the stars

Afterwards, I spent 30 minutes getting my palm read by this old man. He spoke English very well, but all the stuff he was talking to me was like mumbo jumbo to me. He kept asking if I understood and I was always like, yes. It was stuff like venus and jupitar meeting at this point and prosperity because of this line on my hand which coincides with these stars. He was more of an astrologist than a palm reader.

One thing that I kinda understood was that something good will happen in July 2004 and will last for 19 years! Well, that's cool whatever it is.

A Splurge

Varanasi is famous for its silk. There's tonnes of little shops selling scarves, pillow cases, cothes, etc. Emilie and Melissa decided that they wanted a "shopping day". I could really argue with them. I haven't really boughten any souvenirs along the way other than postcards since I've been gone. They went wild, they were buying Christmas presents for everyone back home. Sorry folks, I did not do that. I did buy 2 shirst for myself! One of them has the Om Mantra on it and the other is just a plain teal Indian style long sleeved shirt. Its so nice to have new clothes. We wore them this morning, just so we'd be presentable for the Taj Mahal.

Ronnie to the Rescue

Okay, my last story, I'll make it quick.

We stayed at the Yogi Lodge in Varanasi, owned by this very nice Christian man, Ronnie and his wife. They had the best service there and were really polite and kind.

Anyway, we had to catch a 6:15pm train to Agra and got to train station at 5:45. As we were walking to our platform, I hear Emilie scream "Oh fuck! My money belt!" Foolish girl left it at the lodge in the safety box.

We had to run through a huge crowd and find a free telephone. Emilie called Ronnie in a frantic and begged him to rush the money belt over on his motorcycle.

Soon after, while we were walking down the steps to the train, Melissa slips and almost sprains her ankle. My goodness, we were wondering what would soon happen to me.

After making a few different standing posts we waited for to spot Ronnie. We were all ready to jump on the train if it was about to depart as well. Ronnie miraculously was able to find Emilie right at 6:15. She hugged him and offered him a money reward, but all he could say was to "Think about Jesus." God Bless you Ronnie.

Another Goodbye

Well, today I said goodbye to Emilie and Melissa as they go off to Jaipur and me to Pushkar (see, I'm going Al). Last night we sat around the dinner table and said why were grateful to find each other. This was Emilie's idea, not mine surprisingly.

You meet so many people along the way and some of them will be burnt into our memories. Good luck my champignons!!