India

The Golden Triangle

Another highlight in 2019 was spending a week in India following the Golden Triangle route home for India’s greatest jewels. The journey includes northern cities such as Delhi, Agra and Jaipur just about 4 to 6 hours from each other by land and a few minutes by plane. The experience as a solo female traveler in India did have its obstacles; the country is very traditional and American women are culturally opposite, which during my stay resulted in marriage proposal, and other advances.

Delhi

Delhi was everything I expected and more. The city was exceedingly hectic and stressful. Before visiting Delhi, I had no idea what smog were until we were landing and could not see the runway. Due to my travel experiences I’m accustomed to various method of transportation and I’m never stunned by the flow of traffic in any country until Delhi. Transportation infrastructure is nonexistent in Delhi. The traffic flow includes personal vehicles, animal carts, rickshaws, vans, three-wheeler or two-wheeler and none following a specific direction. A 2-lane street is easily turned into 6 lanes with motorized and un-motorized vehicles interlocking and swarming in and out in no specific direction. Let’s not forget the people begging in between traffic and at every stop. Ear drums are pounded by the incessant blast of vehicle horns.

Lots of obvious scammers offer their services when strolling alone in Connaught Place neighborhood. I will never forget my experience staying at Royal Plaza Hotel. Although I love travelling and exploring like a local in India, I wanted a decent hotel to rest at the end of my long days. Even though the hotel standard was a 3 star their meals and any service provided cost a five-star rate. Imagine paying in Delhi $25 USD for lunch and $35 USD to $45 USD for dinner per person. I asked the hotel tour agency to provide me with a car and guide to visit Taj Mahal and Agra they quoted me twice the average price. Once my tour guide referred me to another agent, they wanted to match the price. On my last day I asked them for a taxi to the airport the asked me to pay $25 USD. I instead step outside and stopped one who agreed to take me for $8. On the way back out of the hotel after grabbing my backpack the doorman informed me that the driver made a mistake and meant to say $16 USD. I asked them to move out of my way, got in the cab and closed the door. When we arrived, I paid him exactly what we agreed to $8 USD and walked away. this negotiation happens everywhere but seems like hotels like Royal Plaza Hotel prices are exorbitant.

Let’s now talk about the many marriage proposals. While touring Humayun’s Tomb for example this family approached and asked the following questions:

Where are you from?
What do you do in the state?
Are you married?
How much do you make?

Their favorite questions throughout my stay. How can you ask someone you don’t know how much they make? My tour guide who is engaged proposed many times as well and added that it was alright if I didn’t want to get married, he would even consider being my slave if I get him to the states. WOW… I literally had nothing to say after his comments.

Agra

While in India I planned a day trip to Agra. The beginning of the day was chaotic I must admit. The hotel provided a taxi to the train station. I clearly informed the service agent that I needed the 8:10am express train to Agra Cantt. Instead I found myself at the New Delhi Railway Station among the locals, gazing, begging, spitting truly not the ideal place. I waited for over an hour thinking I was at the right place until they called my train to board. I stood in front of the train mortified; I could not believe my sight. The train was dark, filthy, crowded the people were standing, laying and squatting just about anywhere and everywhere around the train. Others were brushing their teeth at the door. I backed away from the door, grab my hotel business card, quickly made my way to the exit and handed it to the first taxi that approached to take me back. The image is still shocking to me every time I reminisce about my time in India. As soon as I got back, I googled the information one more time online this time, I screenshot the name of the train station and the train I needed. All the while the train I needed was the Gatimaan Express leaving from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station. I was luckily able to catch the 9:15am. Let’s just say I survived the journey; the tourist train looked nothing like the promotional advertisement but compared to what I saw in the morning it was surely an upgrade I was willing to undergo to see the Taj Mahal. My tour guide and driver were already at the station waiting. We went directly to Taj Mahal for our visits followed by Agra Fort and an early dinner in the afternoon before boarding the same train to New Delhi. The trains had complimentary meals, but I was too uncomfortable to attempt anything, so I slept the entire ride to my destinations. Agra is also less hectic than Delhi. My driver was kind enough to stop at his house to pick up bindi (forehead jewelry) from his wife so that I complete my Sari attire (Indian outfit).

A beautiful love story surrounds Taj Mahal. It is not definite as the ideas are not align with common practices of emperors.

Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal built the magnificent structure as a tomb for his wife who died giving birth to his fourteenth child. On her dying bed, Shah Jahan made three promises to his wife. Her biggest grief was not being able to see her children again and not being able to protect them from a new mother and a new queen. His three promises were:

He will never marry again and will stay celibate,
He will always be a father to their children, not a ruler, and
He will build a monument for her where people will travel thousands of miles to witness. (Thus, the Taj Mahal- took him 22 years to construct)

He fulfilled all three of his promises. Towards the end of his life, the emperor became worried about what would happen to his body when he passed away. He wanted to be as close to his wife as possible and ordered the building of a black Taj Mahal across the river to connect to the current Taj Mahal with a silver bridge so that their souls would meet. The area where the black Taj Mahal would have been built can be seen across the river from the Taj Mahal. His plans concerned his sons and they believed their father was going crazy as he was still motivated by his dead wife. They imprisoned him the palace at Agra Fort and fulfilled his only request; to see the Taj Mahal from his window.

Jaipur

Jaipur was a lot more organized and peaceful than Delhi and Agra. I caught a flight around 5am to Jaipur and my driver picked me up from the airport. By 8am a local history teacher accompanied us for the day. He was very knowledgeable about the history of the city and the many location of interests. He even referred other locations that I never heard of. It made such a difference being accompanied by a local historian. Watching his excitement has he recollected the story of each site and the professionalism was unlike what I would expect in India after my time in Delhi and Agra. He was also very honest and respectful; he would not allow me to buy him food because his company covered all his expenses related to the tours. That was the very first time in a decade of my travels did a guide refuse to let me cover his meals. He said: “You are not obligated to but in case you were tipping me that would be enough there is no reason to ask you to pay for something I don’t need but it is very kind of you.” He negotiated all my purchases and got all my entry tickets because he did not want vendors to charge more and said his job was to protect his clients if he wanted to feed his family. He also shared his family photos and his personal life story. I was ready to give up on India altogether based on previous experiences, but this man is a reminder, living proof that great soul exists anywhere and everywhere no matter the circumstance.