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Love, Love, Love. That's what the Taj Mahal is all about. You're reminded of this as you walk around polluted Agra by posters which have a picture of Love Birds and in English: 'Made for each other'... or a restaurant claiming it has 'yummy and romantic food'. We haven't been inside the grounds of the Taj yet, but yesterday we witnessed the sunset embracing it. We walked down the side of the Taj to the foreshore where there was a gruff looking military man. Once we smiled and said 'namaste' it melted his frown and he was very helpful. We walked behind the Taj, along the foreshore watched by the hundreds of people inside the grounds, then jumped on a small barge which poled it's was across the river and dropped us on a small sandy island whilst the sun sank in the distance like a fiery ball. We were alone on the sandy island which felt strange - finally we weren't surrounded by touts, begging children, stray dogs etc. Then a little boy waded across the water from the mainland and asked us if we wanted to ride his camel: 'very cheap'. We decided to keep the camel-riding experience for Rajasthan... The air was warm, the water was gently flowing, the sun was set. The Taj Mahal worked it's magic: we embraced, sharing this special moment in our lives and felt fortunate to be together on this journey. The feeling of gliding back over the gentle water with the Taj and sunset in the background and my beloved next to me will never leave my heart, I am sure of it.
Earlier that day we had visited Fatehpur Sikri which is about an hours bus ride from Agra. What an amazing place that is! Our voluntary guide was observing the Ramadan and discussing his Islamic faith, future arranged marriage and life as a young Muslim was very interesting. The buildings were spectacular - at the tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti we tied little strings to the incredible marble lattice screens whilst making wishes (sorry, not allowed to tell or they won't come true...). Inside the tomb, which is all white marble their are coloured flower murals and a beautiful mausoleum covered in mother-of-pearl shells. Difficult to describe the beauty but we will put photos up soon. The womens doors in this place were all really small and when I asked why they were so small, the guide said that by forcing the women to bend over to get inside the mosques or buildings, they forced women to show respect and submission...
There's also a strange tower decorated with hundreds of stone elephant tusks which from a distance looks like fierce metal nails. For justice the Emperor would order killings by an elephant stomping on you - his favourite elephant died and so he made this building for it.
Today is Monday and most places have holidays on Mondays. Tomorrow is Gandhi's birthday, so it's also a holiday. Hence on Wednesday we plan to actually go INTO the Taj. We were surprised that the city of Agra is actually right up to and around the Taj... I don't know why but we both always thought that the Taj was kind of seperate to the city - set apart in some way. But it's not! Therefore we are staying in a hotel about a 2 minutes walk from the front gate of the Taj (for $6AUD per night). Since we are so close, we plan to wake up at 5:30am and get there at 6am for the opening and we can see the sun rise from within the grounds. We have dinner on the rooftops of Agra and watch the sun set on the Taj... It's a great feeling!
We plan to stay here until Thursday when we will return to Delhi to check on the progress... of what? OUR MOTORBIKE!!! Yes, Mendo and I have purchased a Royal Enfield 500cc motorbike called Ganesh. Anyone who knows Mendo now knows that he is the happiest boy(!) in the World. Surprisingly I'm very excited about it also. It will mean FREEDOM and no more scarey bus/train rides - hooray! We've met some lovely people who have been travelling through India on motorbike and bicycle and have decided it's safe enough. When we are done in India we will ship it to Spain.
Last night we met a lovely man who told us his philosophy on Super Gods. We'd never heard of a Super God, but maybe it was a Hindu thing...? He has decided that Super Gods are parents. His brother is a Sadhu (holy man) and he had dread locks for 25 years, but when his parents died they both shaved off all their hair. When we asked why, he said that parents give everything to their children, so why can't the children make a little sacrifice of their hair to show their appreciation when they 'expire'. He went on to say how people don't appreciate their parents, but in reality parents would do anything for their children, they put them through schooling, support them through everything and love them unconditionally. Mendo and I discussed this later and whilst he was telling this to us, we were both thinking of our own family's and both agreeing that it was true in our cases for sure...
So cheers to Trini, Marco, Bev and Nick: it is you who has gotten us to this point in our lives and it is your support and love which makes us strong enough to continue. It's your belief in us which has enriched our minds and made us believe we can do anything we want to do and your wisdom which was helped us make good choices. We Love you and appreciate everything you have done for us, Thank you.
Love and bright white light,
Nic and Mendo.
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