The Delhi/Agra Nutshell

Where to begin? We've just completed our first four days in India and the only major conclusion I can come to is that I'm exhausted.

We landed in Delhi on the evening of the 3rd and as soon as we got outside the airport I asked if it was foggy. Gideon grinned and said, "Nope." At the end of each day I feel like I have a cold. It's so polluted that Agra specifically outlawed motorized vehicles within 50 meters of the Taj Mahal. The marble actually started to change color.

You can see the haze in the background.

Delhi is a city I left behind with no problem. We made one venture to the downtown area, Conaught Circle, but that was enough. The touts and rickshaw drivers are really aggressive. It's strange because I feel like I come from a culture, or at least a generation, where "no" means "no". It's not quite the same here... it's sort of like, "No doesn't mean no until you're inside the gate and I no longer have access to you."

(Gid: As a wise man once told me, "Delhi is a pit, man.")

Speaking of rickshaw drivers, the traffic here is remarkable. There's no other experience quite like riding in a rickshaw, basically it's a series of near misses.

Horns are another oddity. As far as I can tell, horns are used any time a driver approaches an intersection, approaches another vehicle, approaches a pedestrian, is stuck in traffic, or when the vehicle in front of you asks for it:

The horn used in lieu of the brakes most times, too. In fact, when the taxi driver took us from the Delhi airport to our hotel, instead of waiting in traffic behind a couple of semis, he veered off the road to get around all the other cars. (Gid: Welcome to India.)

Plus, there's nothing like watching a tour bus swerve to miss a bicycle.

(Gid: The behavior of drivers in India is truly fascinating from my view, though terrifying in the moment. Before they get on the road, many drivers will pray using a small alter in their car, as well as incense. Then, as Erin described, they drive with a single purpose--- get where they need to go as quickly as possible. I think there's something unique here--- you ask God to look after you, place it in His hands, and then drive with abandon, a beautiful chaos, believing that if something happens, it simply was your time.)

Poverty is another inescapable part of life in Delhi. I shouldn't have been surprised, because I'd been told about and read about the poor in India, but I suppose I wasn't prepared for the sheer number of people living in makeshift camps. At times, the smell of human feces was a little overwhelming. (Gid: Somebody needs to spend more time up on Haight Street...)

We only spent one day in Delhi and then we were off to Agra.

We hit the Taj Mahal first thing after dropping our bags in a hotel. I kept taking photos only to press the playback button and realize nothing comes close to the real thing.

(Gid: Truly. And the Taj is something that only grows as time passes--- I've seen it at least four times, and it gets more awe-inspiring each time. It simply defies belief--- you look at it, but you cannot process. It's as if your mind is correcting your eyes and saying "That is not so." It's worth seeing at least once--- but to avoid the touts and what not, a guided-tour may be in order.)

(Gid: Game Face.)

The big red building is the gate to the Taj Mahal.

The Taj is also flanked by two mosques.

Here's a strange thing: We're constantly being stared at because we're white (I know this is why; I finally asked.) By staring I mean unabashed, slack-jawed staring. Also, when caught staring... there's just more staring. But to top this off, you would not believe the number of time we were asked to have our photos taken with people. A group of four would come up and they'd each take turns grinning next to us. I've got to admit, that at first I found it mildly amusing, but sometimes it's obnoxious.

(Gid: For some folks, we're the first Westerners that they've met in our age bracket--- from TV and films to real life. In some ways, we're more diverse than India is--- it's the rare American that hasn't met, say, someone of Chinese or Indian decent at some point in their lives. In Blue States, anyway.)

That's all for now - more to come on the Red Fort, Fatehpur Sikri and Varanasi.