Our trip to Northern India

After a series of weekend trips, Shirley and I made a longer trek up north. We went to Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Chittorgarh and Chandigarh. The latter two cities were for weddings of relatives of two ISB friends.

Our trip started by flying to Delhi, which was loud, big and busy. We tried to meet up with an exchange student friend at the Taj Mahal Hotel, but went to the wrong hotel - the Taj Palace Hotel. there are too many hotels named 'the taj' or some derivative! we only stayed one night in Delhi, as the next day we were off to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal!

The Taj Mahal was spectacular, albeit a bit crowded. i can't say it was better than machu picchu, but we had a very nice time there. the intensive amount of labor used is reflected clearly on every part of this structure. Each piece of marble has intricate design carved into it or contains inlayed stone. Shah Jahan truly spared no expense for his beloved wife.

The next day, we alloted one hour for the Agra Fort before catching our bus to Jaipur. It was a mistake to rush through it because it was a fascinating place! Shah Jahan was imprisoned here for the last few years of his life, so we were expecting a prison-like structure but instead found a palace, albeit it poorly upkept, with designs similar to the Taj Mahal.

Our next city, Jaipur, is also in Rajasthan, along with Udaipur and Chittorgarh. Many pictures you see of India are taken in Rajasthan, a state of India, because of the vibrant colors, the beautiful dresses, the camels, the landscape, the forts... Rajasthan has it all (except the taj). It is where you can get pictures like this:

Jaipur, the "pink city," was a fun city for shopping. i feel shocked seeing myself type that, but this isn't your typical shopping mall outing. jaipur is known for it's endless and organized Indian goods bazaars. the picture to the here is me with a guy and his grandsons. i haggled with them for some ankle bracelets for my niece:

Each store is but a small compartment, family run, and a bartering paradise. as you walk by, men jump out to get your attention. The wooing typically begins with:
"Looking is free.... come see, come in! Yes, yes!"

"...we have nice pashmina shawls only 500 rupees... come look!"

(as we continue walking past the store...)

"ok, ok. For you 250.... come! ok 200.... ok special friend discount... 150!!"

We quickly learned that the most powerful bartering tool you have is your feet.

We also visited jantar mantar, an extraordinary exhibit of sundials and non-mechanical timepieces. we didn't bother hiring one of the tour guides so we didn't know how most of them worked, but the abstract-looking building and structures made for great pictures.

After Jaipur, we took an overnight train to udaipur. There, we met up with bram, axel, and walter, fellow exchange students from isb. udaipur is called the "venice of the east," not because it has canals, but because it has really tight streets that are reminiscent of european architecture. udaipur is home to the lake palace hotel, one of the most famous hotels in the world - the james bond movie octopussy was filmed here.

udaipur was a fun city to walk around, although it got a little annoying at times because motorbikes were constantly dodging us walking tourists and making a smoky, choking storm of pollution. most restaurants are rooftop and have a nice view of the lake and city. we took a boat ride which brought us up close by the Lake Palace Hotel, and to a second island hotel. There we had a few non-alcoholic drinks and enjoyed the uncustomary peace and quiet of an Indian city.

From udaipur, we journeyed to chittorgarh to attend the first of two weddings. we actually didn't go to the wedding ceremony at this one because the bride and groom were married the day before. this was sort of the closing ceremony after a week-long series of wedding events. At this event, several women performed traditional rajasthani dances in their amazingly brilliant dresses called lehengas. we learned that a lehenga can cost up to US $25,000! for some families, the dress is an investment, as they will have precious jewels and gold sewn into them. if a girl showed up to a western wedding wearing one of these, the bride would be pissed cause it would easily show up her dress!

this picture below doesn't really capture the elegance of the dresses (i just liked this shot). check out this movie to see the beautifully clad ladies in motion (even still, it's not the same as seeing them in person).
As you can see, Teena, our connection to the Chittorgarh wedding, was kind enough to lend Shirley one of the beautiful lehengas, in a red/orange color. The guys also got indian getups too, called kurtas:

From Chittorgarh, we returned to Udaipur to fly to Delhi in order to catch a train to our final destination, Chandigarh. Chandigarh is in punjabi, and is a most unusual Indian city. Designed by a French urban designer, the city is laid out in a grid design, which avoided the organic, sprawling, messy growth that most other Indian cities have experienced. Each grid is called a "sector," and each Sector contains a small community of livable space, schools, parks, and religious structures. The grid organization of the city also facilitates traffic and congestion, resulting in very little pollution. Chandigarh also has good employment opportunities - many citizens of the city are employed by the government, which has several branches offices there. And, there are NO slums in this city. My first thought was: "Every Indian must want to live in Chandigarh!!" To my (this is Shirley writing now) surprise, when we were strolling around Sector 17, a popular entertainment and shopping center, I saw many signs advertising consulting services on immigration procedures to Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. Harjeet, our ISB friend, explained to me that many Indians simply believed that life is much better abroad, despite living in what I believed to be the nicest city in India.

In Chandigarh, we attended the second of our two weddings. This was a Sikh wedding. There were many other exchange students who joined us: Gary (cousin of the bride - our connection to the wedding), Harjeet (who grew up in chandigarh and is sikh), Julie, Brigitte, Derek, Kelly and Paul, Marjorie, and Nykia. Traveling with fellow exchange students has been a great pleasure!

In general, the punjabi sikh wedding was a more casual, wildier affair, when compared with the Hindu wedding in rajasthan, which was more conservative. movies have been made about punjabi weddings (monsoon wedding). There was lots of singing, dancing, clapping (all by both young and old!) and open excitement at the Sikh wedding:

At this wedding, not only did we see the ceremony and reception, but we also attended the bride's family party the night before the ceremony. We learned that this wedding was the product of an arranged marriage. It seemed rather sad for the bride, as the new couple would not be setting out to begin a new life together after marriage. Instead, the bride would be leaving her life in Chandigarh behind to move into the home of her husband and his family, 100 km away. At her new home, she would be a housewife and likely answer to her mother-in-law. Like Chinese culture, it is not unusual for adults to live with their parents even after marriage.

In Chandigarh, we also visited the Nak Chand fantasy rock garden. i'm not sure how to describe it. this man made hundreds of miniature people, bridges, waterfalls, huts, etc... using industrial waste (as in cement and tiles, not poisonous chemicals). It was a very unique and unusual place.

Our trip ended with a final return to Delhi. This time, we actually took half a day to visit some sites. we went to Humuyan's tomb, a precursor and inspiration for the taj mahal. We anointed it the "mini Taj Mahal" because the architecture and layout were so similar, with differences only in materials and size. We hoped to go to the gandhi memorial, but it was closed - bummer! A tip for anyone traveling to India - the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, and most of the historical monuments and museums in Delhi are closed on Mondays.

Finally, we boarded a plane for Hyderabad. Traveling in India is very exciting but can be wearisome, due to the constant haggling and pollution. It was nice to head back to ISB to begin Term 8.