Delhi
I am first spending a few days to take the flavor of the country and visit a few places. The temple in the picture on the previous page is the Birla Temple in Delhi and it is the first monument I visited.
Then I went to see the Red Fort and the National Museum. The museum has lots of Indian art, mostly sculptures and paintings. See a few samples below.
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The Lotus Temple is the latest of the seven Baha'i Temples in the world. I had the pleasure of seeing the one in Kampala (Uganda) during my Group Study Exchange trip to East Africa in 2001. That makes two down, five to go. The other temples are in Apia (Western Samoa), Sydney (Australia), Panama City (Panama), Frankfurt (Germany), and Wilmette (USA). The temple in Delhi was dedicated in 1986. The petals are made of white concrete, and they are covered in the exterior in white Greek marble panels.
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Near Delhi are the ruins of the Kutab Minar Mosque, the oldest Mosque in India, completed in 1197. It consists of a rectangular courtyard, 43 by 33 meters, enclosed by cloisters.
Next to the Mosque is the Alai-Darwaza, one of the most treasured gem of Islamic architecture. It was built in 1311 as a main access gateway to the Mosque. It is the first building employing wholly Islamic principles of geometric ornamentation.
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Agra
Agra was a necessary stop to see the Taj Mahal, the famous "Crown Palace" of India. It was built in the 17th century by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his queen. Both are buried in the center of the main building. The Taj Mahal is covered with white marble with some "inlay work" of semi-precious stones. The picture on the right shows perfectly my impressions of India so far: a country with beautiful things and lots of poverty around.
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Also worth seeing in Agra is the Agra Fort. It is the most important fort of India. It is mentioned for the first time in 1080. Shah Jahan lived there the last eight years of his life, as a prisoner in a marble palace, after he was defeated by his own son. He died in 1666 and was buried in the Taj Mahal that you can see from the Agra Fort.
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I was blessed with perfect weather, even though there was plenty of fog in the morning when we left Delhi. The next day it rained all day, so I really picked the best time to see the Taj Mahal!
It's a Small World!
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I stayed overnight in Agra. While I was about to sit in the restaurant of the hotel, I was very surprised to hear somebody call my name. A group of friends from San Diego happened to stay at the same hotel! They are with the Foundation for Women, and were on their way back from a trip to Southern India to open some village banks over there. Three of the women are members of the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club, and two are spouses of members of the same club. I was the guest speaker at their club the week before I left. What a small world!
Now is time to head North to more serious matters.
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