The Indian tourism board is pushing hard on Singapore with a campaign called
Incredible India. Incredible it is, as well as intense, indigestible and simply incomprehensible until you find yourself in the middle of the mass chaos. As Adam puts it, it's an assault on all your senses.
I thought my trip would be too short, as I left for Delhi on Friday night and returned to Singapore Sunday morning, but I found myself simply exhausted after a day and a half and more than ready to return home.
We took off on our 4 hour journey to Agra early Saturday morning in a chauffeured car. While I would see this as a major luxury in the states, it was a necessity in India. There is no way to navigate through the dizzying streets unless you've had years of experience. As soon as we turned the corner out of the heavily guarded and gated hotel, there were stray dogs roaming the street and a family who had made their home out of whatever scraps metal/tarp/or boards they could find. The streets were already filled with rickshaws built for 4 carrying as many as 14 people and motorcycles zooming around. Some of the roads have lines but they are completely ignored. r
ear view mirrors while present on the vehicles are
rarely used and instead most cars have"Blow Horn" painted on the rear - meaning if I'm about to hit you let me know. And blow their horns they did. Driving in India is like one big game of chicken. Here's a small glimpse:
The streets of India are lined with tons of people and animals. Cows wander down the street like they are going to buy their morning coffee while little kids and adults alike
relieve themselves on the street side. Shop keepers sweep the dirt around their little shacks with sticks while a stray dog, donkey, monkey or goat searches through the pile of trash two feet away. It is sad to say, but my dog at home has better living conditions than those living in the slums of India. I saw mile after mile of this but kept thinking, "we've got to be coming to a more developed part of the country soon" but we arrived in Agra with no such sighting. The worst part is seeing the children. Whenever we stopped at an intersection they would flock to the car repeatedly tapping the widow with one finger begging for money - this is what they do all day long, every day. It is so hard to ignore them and even as we drove off I could see the smudges their little fingers had made on the window as they tapped. Just writing this I can see their little face and the big eyes that will forever be in my memory.
In stark contrast to the poverty seen on the streets, the
Taj Mahal was amazingly beautiful. The sight was breath taking and I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually there. The
Taj was built by a king in memory of his wife who died in child birth. It's amazing the things that love will make you do, like building a giant, perfectly symmetrical marble masterpiece.
Overall, the trip was emotionally overwhelming. I could write a novel about my 36 hours in India and it still would begin to paint an accurate picture so I'll leave it with this: Adam and I talk about how lucky we are to have the opportunity to leave the U.S. and see the rest of the world, but the truth is that our real blessing was to have been born in the United States where the possibilities are endless...
Pictures
