We woke up this morning in our newer room and were happy to find that there was "Annual Sports Day" at Campion School. As I mentioned yesterday, our 4th floor balcony overlooks their sport field so we had the best seat in the house, better than the parents view since they are sitting on chairs at ground level. The boys range from very young to teens. They all wear different colored shorts depending on their standards (grade level). The scene was so joyous and so colorful with white, red, yellow, green, blue shorts and white school T-Shirt. Bernie was brought right back to his school years at Mount-Abu where they also had an Annual Sports Day. We decided to call Chris who is also an Abu boy and he also came to take in the the happy event.
After breakfast with Vera and Chris, we went back to the Taj to see Willie while our friends went off on their own as we needed to fix our problem. What we will do tomorrow is, with Willie's help, we will get a car and driver to pick us up in town and take us to Bandra. He will stay with us until we go to the airport so we will have a place for our luggage. Hopefully, we will be able to visit a few people during the afternoon. We all meet at 7 PM at the Santa Cruz Gymkhana.
Ouf! what a relief, it all seems to be working out.
After all this was settled, we walked for a couple of hours, all the way to Flora Fountain and back, and then went for a bite to eat in an AC restaurant. Chris and Vera are going out to dinner this evening with Chris' cousin and his family and we will be meeting an Abu boy, Aloysius (Datch), for dinner.
We are back and dinner was very nice. Aloysius picked us up and took us to a place where you can have a Thali. Everything was quite tasty and, the servers kept refilling our Thal until we said we had enough and could not eat anymore. It was of course all vegetarian with all kinds of bean dishes, my favorite Thoran cabbage, eggplant, okra and much more. There also served us many different kinds of breads like chapatti, paratha, puri, naan and others I cannot name. We decided not to get Aloysius to drive us back. since we needed the walk. It turned out to be a very short walk but had been quite a long drive in heavy traffic to get there. We are now getting ourselves ready for our last day tomorrow which will be a long one since we will have no real sleep for probably close to 48 hours (almost 20 hours before our flight and another 20+ in transit). I really am getting too old for these grueling flights
I am sure you are all waiting for Lynanne and Lloyd's contribution describing their trip to Delhi and Agra. I know I am.
Next entry from us, Danielle and Bernie, will be from our home in Ottawa, after having some rest.
Lloyd and Lynanne's Agra Day -2/9/12
ReplyDeleteWe were up at 4:30 and met our driver, Mr. Gian Singh and another guest (a young woman architect from Argentina), for a quick trip to the train station - not much traffic at that hour. However when we got close to the station there was a giant jam. Mr. Singh got us close enough to point the way to our gate.
The trip to Agra, with breakfast, was uneventful, and Mr. Saif, our guide found us quickly at the station. Agra is a "small city" of about 1.5 million. It is much like the old India that I remember from 40 years ago, narrow roads, pedal rickshaws, bullock carts, and lots of dust. We zoomed off to the Taj Mahal. Since my last visit, the area around the Taj has been improved with tourism facilities, park areas and a couple of hotels. You park and take a CNG jitney. The experience of being at the Taj Mahal is just as powerful as I remember, and was enhanced for both of us by Mr. Saif's commentary.
Lynanne's note on the Taj: The inlaid jewel work was so gorgeous. The unimaginable toil and craftsmanship over years to create the Taj is mind -boggling. It and the Red Fort just rise out of a very flat plain. Awe-inspiring!
For me (Lloyd) the highlight of the day was the Red Fort. The Mughals really defined how to do empire; such grand scale and insightful design. The ghosts of long dead queens, concubines and and slaves were almost visible in my imagination. What a place!
Mr. Saif's took us to a marble shop where we decided to buy an inlaid marble plate, after a demonstration showing the techniques used in making the inlays. No doubt the shop was a set-up for tourists, but we did it anyway.
After lunch we went out into the countryside for a 35 kilometer trip to Fahtipur Sikri. Again, the whim of a king produced an amazing set of gardens, palaces and mosques; then it was all abandoned 17 years later. The ride to and from the monument, showing ordinary people doing ordinary things (and driving in the inimitable Indian fashion), was also priceless. We hustled back to Agra to do a brief tour of the "baby Taj," which was a lovely precursor to better known Taj Mahal. Then to the gardens on the other side of the Yumana River to catch the Taj Mahal at sunset. What a day! Off to the train back to Delhi. A very long day, but definitely worth it.