This is an incredibly happy post, but as with all things in India, our trip to the Taj revealed many new contradictions. So I'll stick with the happy theme, but some of what I write about might make you sad (& rightfully so).
Our team took off bright and early (6am) Monday morning for the Taj in our two taxi cars. In our car, we crammed an extra guy between the two front bucket seats and only the 2 little AC vents in the very front worked. Kayla, Kelly, and I experienced major heat and a mild case of heat rash in the way back seat. The drive there took 4 hours at least, and I felt like I was on a ride at Six Flags the entire time. We listened to Hindi chant music the entire ride there and back, and twenty seconds didn’t go by that our driver wasn’t honking. In India, when you see brake lights ahead, that doesn’t mean slow down…that means squeeze in between them, drive on the dirt shoulder, lay on the horn, etc. We practically lived on the dirt shoulder and also “passed through” many, many red lights. This puts LA driving to shame! Sleeping was impossible due to the condition of the roads, the crammed car, and constant braking. We saw camels, oxen, horses, goats, and monkeys on leashes! These men had them acting like trained dogs almost, they would have the monkeys crawl all over our car when we were stopped and then try to sell pictures with them to us. Everyone comes and bangs on our car windows to sell us junk and stare at us. It’s really sad when the beggar kids stand and bang on our windows because you know giving them money does no good and yet it’s heartbreaking. I feel myself becoming hardened to seeing them in the two short weeks I have been here, and even though it's almost necessary, I hate it.
As exciting as the trip was, the hardest thing I have ever seen was on the way to the Taj. There are these motorized rickshaws and Indians cram like 12-15 people in and on them. There are usually three people sitting/hanging off the back holding on by one arm. We were on the “highway” probably going 40 or 50 mph, and we saw a woman lying in the left lane with one of those rickshaws stopped fifteen yards up the road and people running back. We’re pretty sure she fell off the back of a rickshaw as it was going because we saw skid marks on the road right after her body. As we drove by, men rushed onto the road and scooped her body up, but not before we saw her. Her beautiful face and the whites of her wide-open eyes are still in my mind. Our driver said matter-of-factly, “she’s dead”. We sat there in shock, we are all praying she was merely unconscious, but Anil (the volunteer with the organization who took us) said she was dead also. It happened so quickly and everyone handled it so nonchalantly, I still can't understand. Lots to think about, pray through. More on that later.
When we got to Agura, traffic got even more crazy. We finally parked in this parking lot and were immediately hounded by vendors, tour guides, etc. I used one of the worst restrooms ever and had to pay 10 rupees for it ha. Let’s just say I would MUCH rather go in Mother Nature and not put up with combined smells, bugs, urine everywhere, etc. The ridiculous tour guides threatened to beat up our friend Anil and tried to fight him because he’s a native Indian and he brought us, i.e. stole their business. They also threatened to kill him, which was utterly ridiculous. But thankfully nothing happened because when we left, we had our taxis come pick us up right outside the Taj.
While Anil only payed 15 rupee to get a ticket for the Taj, us Americans were charged 750 rupee EACH. We walked through these beautiful green gardens to get to the Taj and upon seeing it for the first time, I was stunned! It was so magnificent and much bigger than in pictures! I feel like the pictures I post still won't do it justice, it was breath-taking. It was so funny because families kept trying to get their kids in a picture with our group. If we started taking a group picture, the Indians would all whip out their cameras and start taking photos too. And I won't be surprised if there are random Indian children in my pictures, shoved in on the side by their parents. So we had to keep moving. We were in several videos and asked to be in family pictures. Because there always seemed to be a creeper following us, we kept moving. We spent three hours walking in and around the Taj and the mosques around it. It was all so nicely maintained and exquisite in the architecture and marble and etchings. So. Much. Art.
However, it was around 115 degrees and we were all soaked! Not to mention our water bottles were almost boiling. We stopped at a Pizza Hut on the way back for a taste of home and also got iced coffees to cool down. The ride back took around 6 hours with 2 hours of that traveling through Delhi alone! But it was so worth it! The long day drained us all and Tuesday was hard to be energized because we started kids camp at 8 and also taught our adult lessons in the afternoon. But it was so neat to rely on Him and to have His strength be more than enough! No one on our team is sick anymore, no one is insanely homesick, and we are all in good spirits! This week is probably our hardest and craziest, so thank you for your encouragements and for remembering us often.
More thoughts to come...
