Trailing Off....: Two Sides of a Triangle: Jaipur and Agra

entering one of the seven gates into the Pink City

Google searches of "must see places in India" or "India Tours" will most likely lead to The Golden Triangle, a tourist circuit between Jaipur in Rajasthan, Agra, and Delhi. Though we didn't use any tour package and did the circuit out of order, we managed to hit each of these places. Agra, I get, because of the Taj Mahal. Delhi is a huge city and the capital, so it makes sense to go there. But Jaipur? Maybe my recent sojourn to the desert fort town of Jaisalmer spoiled me, but Jaipur only requires a day at the most.

Jaipur is nicknamed "The Pink City" because the entire city was painted pink in honor of a visit from the Prince of Wales in 1853. The majority of the buildings still use the colour on their facades. It is also a planned city but is much more chaotic and run down than Chandigarh We spent our time their roaming the streets, hunting tandoori, and not buying souvenirs from the hoardes of shop owners who wanted to sell them. As with most of our trip, we saw few foreigners. And it was hot. So hot.

view from the minaret below

There were several temples, forts, and palaces to be seen, but I think we were just too worn out to go in. Often, a brief glimpse from the outside is all it takes to get the gist of a place. One regret though is that we didn't go to the famous Raj Mandir cinema to see this film that was advertised everywhere.

Jain temple

had while waiting for the monsoon rainstorm to stop

AGRA

The Taj Mahal is probably the most famous and well-known tourist site in India, especially for Westerners. It was built by a Mughal emperor in the early-mid 1600's to honor his wife who died in childbirth. It's an iconic symbol found on any tourism poster, so I imagined that every street corner would be filled with touts enticing me with plastic Taj replicas and a myriad of other services a rich foreigner might need. I pictured being swarmed by street urchins selling postcards and key rings. But the reality was that Agra, home of one of the sometimes listed wonders of the world, was a totally laid back and friendly place.

In addition to the Taj, there is also an impressive fort. We walked there in the blistering heat from our guesthouse and ended up going the wrong way. This meant that we walked completely around the thing before finding the entrance. However, we got to see the entire fort without paying the entrance fee as well as a short walk with the bulls.

suckers going in the main entrance

The fort was nice, the Taj was amazing, eating curry and drinking a beer on a rooftop was bliss, but what I loved the most about Agra is that at sunset, everyone goes to their rooftops and flies kites. None of my pictures captured it very well, but imagine as the sky becomes a darker blue it is filled with bright splashes of colour bobbing up and down and the joyous shouts of neighbors in friendly competition. I tried to think if there was any singular activity like that in the States that would draw out an entire community to participate in such simple fun, and none came to mind.