12.20.2012

Agra

Fatehpur Sikri

 Fatehpur Sikri, or the “City of Victory”, was the capital of the Mughal Empire for a mere 14 years. It was built by Emperor Akbar and operated as the capital from 1571 to 1585. Akbar came to Sikri on the heels of a prophecy which promised the birth of a Mughal heir in the area. After a son was born to Akbar, the emperor built the grand complex in Sikri to celebrate his assumed fulfillment of the prophecy. Although Fatehpur Sikri was not the capital of the Mughal Empire for long, it was arguably the most important Indian city of the time. An English traveler said of Fatehpur Sikri in 1585, that it was “considerably larger and more populous than London.”  However, only 14 years after it was completed, Akbar abandoned the city to fight the Afghan tribes, and later established a new capital northward in Lahore. 

We were lucky to have an excellent tour guide for our visit to Agra and he shared all kinds of interesting insights into the structures, the people who built them, and the state of India at the time. We learned about the Aryans who came from Germany to North India, pushed the natives further south (why Northern Indians have lighter skin than Southern Indians), established themselves as rulers and started building these beautiful structures.

We were surprised to see what we thought of as "Nazi" swastikas painted throughout India. We had asked our friend about it, then our tour guide shed some helpful insight - the swastika is actually a symbol that the early Aryans brought with them when they entered India thousands of years ago. The symbol has become part of Indian tradition and is believed to bring good luck and blessings to those who display it. Our friend mentioned that he would always sketch the symbol onto his tests before he began so he could receive good luck! Adolf Hitler was well-versed with Aryan history and he chose this symbol to represent his rising party, just reversing it to make it his own. Ironically he also seemed to have reversed the meaning - in India the symbol represents blessings and in much of the Western world it represents the opposite.  

I think our guide must have been a romantic, because he spent a large portion of our time at Fatehpur Sikri describing the king's relationship with his three wives. To appease all of his subjects, the king took a Christian, Hindu and Islamic wife - one for each of the major religions in his kingdom. He treated them all as equals until his Hindu wife gave him a son. Then she quickly became the favorite. Instead of her own room, she was given her own wing of the castle - complete with winter rooms and summer rooms. 

The castle was stunning and it was impressive to see how the craftsmen were able to work such detail into the soft sandstone of the area. The amount of restoration required to keep the sandstone looking like it originally did was astounding! It was fun for me - as a history nerd - to learn more about India's history. The theme for our trip was "India Re-emerging" with the thesis that for hundreds of years India was a powerful force in the world, controlling almost 1/3 of the world's economy. Considering all the poverty, poor infrastructure and corruption, it was fascinating to visit a visual reminder of the glory that India once enjoyed.

Camels!!! Because we spent most of our time in big cities we hadn't seen very much of the wildlife that India is known for - like monkeys, elephants or camels. We were probably more excited than we should have been to see this camel on the streets of Agra!

Agra itself is a much smaller city than any of the other ones we spent time in. Truthfully, it made the infrastructure, cleanliness and order of the big cities (which I had thought were pretty abysmal) seem much more robust than I had originally given them credit for! I am so grateful I had this opportunity to visit a developing country. I have so much more gratitude for all that I have, and I hope to share that perspective with my family.

Taj Mahal

The Taj was simply breathtaking. It literally took my breath away. To visit the Taj you enter through a security checkpoint, walk through a courtyard, then make a turn and come through the gate. A I turned the corner and came through the gate, I was completely taken aback by the beauty and grandeur of the structure. I was so much more affected than I thought I would be and am having trouble putting the experience into words!

Our tour guide came with us to the Taj Mahal and had all kind of amazing insights to share about the structure and the people related to it's building. He told us about the love shared by a young Maharaja and his wife and his devastation at her death (she passed away after complications from the birth of their 14th child!) and how he built this magnificent monument in honor of his love for her. The guide shared all kinds of fascinating details about childbirth in the 1600's in India, the work conditions for the thousands of craftsmen, and the details of construction. It was delightful to have such a knowledgable guide and I'm certain we were able to enjoy our visit more because of all the context he provided!

Here's a shot of the whole group. We had a really amazing group of fellow travelers and so much of what made the trip a success was the people that we shared it with. There was just the right amount of focus, fun and friendship and it was incredible to feel the bonds of friendship forming after such a short time knowing each other. This was truly a once-in-a lifetime kind of trip and I'm so glad I was able to experience it with Kylan!

 Case in point on the fun factor: here we are performing Gangnam Style as a group in front of the Taj. 

It was amazing. (still waiting for a copy of the video!)

One of the best things about this whole experience was the friendships we were able to make with the other trip leaders. Kylan (plus the girls and I to a much lesser extent) spent a lot of time with these four Indian friends planning for the trip. Over the course of a year, we developed strong bonds of friendship with them. We are so grateful for their friendship and look forward to returning to India someday to visit them in their home!

Here's the group: Manmeet, Ruchi, Kylan, Suhail and Vivek

The best leadership team on record and now some of our closest friends!

These sweet girls were so intrigued by me! They approached after we had finished our tour of the Taj and were wandering around the building and asked if they could take a picture with me. I was very flattered and felt just a little bit like a celebrity with these young girls so enamored with me - I must have seemed very foreign to them!

One of our trip-mates snatched this picture of Kylan and I as the sun was setting and we were just getting ready to leave. It is such a treasure in the way it captures the beauty of the moment and the place. What an unforgettable memory!