Memorable Moments in Delhi and
Agra
Delhi, the capital of India,
is the country’s third-largest city. It
consists of two parts: Old Delhi and New Delhi. Steeped in history, the city is
the perfect combination of the old and the new.
August 4, 2012:
Tom, James, Emily, and I
arrived in Delhi after approximately 21 hours of travelling, haggard yet
excited to begin our journey through India together. Peering out the window of our Orient Express
van, perhaps, the most remarkable and startling sights were the abundant
tree-lined streets, the lush parks, and the sea of green foliage. This was completely contrary to the dusty,
brown, cramped streets I had grown accustomed to in India.
Well, this trip is certainly
off to an unexpected and intriguing start, I though…
We were just a short drive from
the airport to our hotel, The Oberoi, which is located in the
city center near government offices, shopping malls, financial centers, and
business districts. Immediately upon
arriving at the Oberoi, we were greeted and welcomed by an extremely attentive
and gracious staff. We were each handed
a mala – or a flower lei and were thanked profusely by the Oberoi staff for
visiting their homeland, India.
I have to say that the service at this hotel was the best I
have experienced in all my travels so far. Every staff member was ready to help
with a smile and a greeting referred to as namaskar or Namaste. Namaskar is the most popular form of greeting
in India. It is a general salutation that is used to welcome somebody; it can
also be used to say farewell. While doing namaskar, both the palms are placed
together and raised below the face, with a slight bow to greet a person. It’s an extremely warm and also regal
gesture. The staff also took special
care to remember our names and our taste preferences.
It
was not only the staff of the Oberoi that made our arrival in Delhi so special,
it was also the vast array of dining options available in the hotel. Options included a rooftop Chinese/Dim Sum
restaurant, a casual restaurant offering an eclectic mix of world cuisine
(where we ate breakfast each morning), and an upscale Italian restaurant (with
an age requirement). The variety of
cuisine made us all more comfortable as we transitioned from NYC, and the
familiar, into India, and the unknown.
· Dinner with
Ripun
That said,
we did not always dine at the hotel.
Rather, on our first night in Delhi, we dined with Ripun, my dear
friend, Sadna’s fiancée. Ripun currently
resides in, and hails from, Delhi. To welcome us to his home city, Ripun met us
at our hotel for a drink followed by dinner at Varq. Varq, like Delhi, is a harmonious blend of the
traditional and contemporary. Varq
retains the Indian traditional way of cooking while using exotic and novel
ingredients like sea bass, black cod and Iranian berries. At
Varq, Ripun ordered for everyone, providing us with a variety of tasty morsels
to try and savor, including kebabs, shrimp, paneer (a FitzGerald family
favorite), and dessert (see photo below).
While I have to thank Ripun and the staff at the
Oberoi for making our adjustment from NYC to India smooth and painless, I owe
an even bigger thank you to Tom, Emily and James for remaining open minded
throughout the entire journey and for embracing all that India is: the people,
the colors, the smells, the sounds, and even the dirt. You all made this journey truly amazing and
unforgettable!
August 5, 2013: Finally – after 4 trips and a 3
hour-long van ride, I made it to the Taj Mahal in Agra with Tom, Emily, James
and our tour guide, Sangay.
· The
Taj Mahal:
If there’s a building, which represents a country – like the
Eiffel Tower for France, then it has to be the Taj Mahal for India. Emperor
Shah Jahan constructed this famous Mughal monument in memory of his wife Mumtaz
Mahal. Construction started in 1631, and it took 20,000 people 22 years to
complete this magnificent complex of white marble, delicate gemstone inlays,
and magnificent gardens.
Our tour guide, Sangay, explored the Taj Mahal with us and shared
with us some of it’s hidden secrets. For
instance, while Indian marble is completely solid, it nevertheless transmits
light. If you shine a light behind the
marble, the stone inlay appears to come alive. Sangay showed us the
‘fire’ stone (or carnelian), a semi-precious, orange stone used in the inlay
work throughout the Taj. When you shine a light over the carnelian, it glows as
if ablaze…. Brilliant!
· Marble
Inlay Craftsman in Agra
Sangay also explained to us that marble inlay, a
craftwork also known as pietre dure, is a 350-year-old tradition in Agra. The
Mughals introduced the art of marble inlay or “Parchin kari” in India in the
17th century. Since the making of the Taj Mahal, this art has been an integral part
of the cultural heritage of Agra, and has been kept alive by the descendants of
the great Taj Mahal artisans. In fact,
in order to encourage continued production of the craft, the Indian government
provides stipends, health insurance and various other incentives to keep this
art form alive and thriving.
Thus, after viewing the exquisite
marble inlay work all around the Taj Mahal, we visited Marble Cottage, which is
a cooperative where the craftsmen continue to carry on this work. At the Marble Cottage, we were given a
demonstration of the inlay process. The master craftsman chooses the design and
carefully selects the raw material, which includes various semiprecious
stones. The stones are individually
shaped with an emery wheel. Once all the stones are shaped, work passes to the
artisans who specialize in inlaying the stone on the marble. Grooves are cut in
the marble with an iron chisel. The stones are set in the grooves by special,
secret-family-recipe glues (not unlike the Cahoon secret-family-recipe for
baked beans!) Finally, the marble is polished and the work is completed.
After
the demonstration, we visited the showroom and opted to purchase a small table
for our home.
· Sociability
of Indian People: The
other thing of note in Agra was that it was Tom and the kids’ first experience
of ‘celeb/superstar’ status in India. Every
time I have travelled in India, I have noticed that there’s a naturalness and
ease with which Indians engage foreigners in conversation. Unlike in many
countries where the conversation begins and ends with “where are you from;” in
India, people want to know everything there is to know about you. And they in turn —solicited or not—tell you everything
about themselves.
Women and children especially make you feel like a celebrity as
they greet you with huge grins from ear-to-ear and gentle head bobbing. All in all, time spent in India functions as a
tremendous ego boost.
· Bobble
Heads
If you spend
any time in India, you begin to notice the infamous Indian head bobble. The bobble can be a nod, a shake, or even a spasm of an
Indian’s head. It is usually performed by moving the right ear toward the right
shoulder, and then the left ear toward the left shoulder in repetition. At first, the bobble can be jarring. However, once you
discover the meaning of the head bobble and its many uses, it’s surprising how
infectious this gesture becomes. You begin to see that the head bobble can mean
“yes”; it can be used as a sign that what's being said is understood; or it can
be used as an alternative to “thank you”; finally, it can simply be a gesture
of kindness or benevolence. Tom teases
me each time he catches me unconsciously wobbling my head, and at the same
time, he acknowledges the warmth emanating from this universal bobble and his
eagerness to embrace and engage in this customs.
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