Chapter 32 - India - Delhi and the beautiful Taj Mahal

I can't think of a country that is more the opposite of Switzerland than India. That is exactly where Toto flew next: to the capital city of New Delhi. Actually, the old city is referred to as just "Delhi" or "Old Delhi," which is where the city began hundreds of years ago. In Old Delhi, the streets are narrow, crowded, hot, dirty and hectic, like this street scene I photographed as I emerged from the clean, new, air-conditioned subway.

I took a rickshaw to the subway from my hotel in New Delhi, which is the name for the rest of the city that has grown around the original city of Delhi. A rickshaw is a three-wheeled bicycle taxi like this one. The streets are so crowded that rickshaws are a relatively quick way to go short distances around the city. India is a very poor country, but the rickshaw fares are affordable for many Indians, so there are many people who make a living driving rickshaws.

I had been to India many years ago, but never to the area around Delhi. The thing that always amuses me about India is that there are cows just walking around the streets everywhere. Cows are sacred to the Hindu religion, which is what many Indians believe, so they allow cows to wander around like this. If you've ever spent much time around cows, you will know that they tend to poop wherever they happen the be when the need arises. So there is cow poop everywhere in the crowded, hot, dirty and hectic streets of Delhi.

The world-famous site I wanted to see was the Taj Mahal. I had a free day, so I booked a one-day return tour to see it, a few hours south of Delhi in the city of Agra. Agra isn't too far from Delhi by US standards, only 200 kms (or 125 miles). But it took five hours to get there because the traffic is crazy. In fact, I think our driver was crazy, too. He wove in and out of traffic, dodging cows and buses and three-wheeled tuk-tuk taxis all the way to Agra. He spent the ENTIRE time honking his horn. I don't think he went more than 15 seconds between honks. At one point, I said to a German woman on my tour that I think our driver honked his horn more in one hour than I did all week. She replied, "He's honked his horn more on this trip than I have my whole life!" You know, I'm sure she was right.

We envisioned a new video game called "Delhi Taxi Driver" where the goal is to get to the Taj Mahal as quickly as possible without hitting any cows, dogs, people, crowded buses, fellow taxis, or motorcycles with an entire family crammed aboard. If Sony or Nintendo ever makes this game, our driver will get the high score for sure!

The near-death experience of the taxi ride was worth it in the end, as the Taj Mahal was quite beautiful. It was built between 1632-48 by the 5th Mughal emperor of India as a tomb for his beloved wife, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child. The area was--and still is--famous for its artisans of inlaid marble and souvenir shops selling their products. These craftsmen make beautiful designs by carving spaces into beautiful white marble and laying precisely carved semi-precious stones into the gaps. The beautiful designs adorn the inside of the tomb and were quite a sight to see. Apparently, the descendants of the families who built the tomb are the same people designing and selling the tables and picture frames  today.

I do have to say that the Taj Mahal was smaller than I expected. I guess it looks so impressive in all the photos I've seen that I expected it to be bigger. In a way, I'm glad it wasn't bigger as it was sooooo hot in May that I couldn't have walked around a bigger building without drinking another liter of water to compensate for all the sweat that was evaporating off my body.

At one point I sat under the shade of the tree with two police officers for a rest. They spoke some English, as that's the official language of India. India has over one billion people who speak over one hundred languages, so the only language that ties them together is English. The country decided during and after being a British colony that English should be their official language. Without English, an Indian from the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh (where Agra is) could not speak to an Indian from the beaches of Goa in the south. Not all Indians speak English, as it really depends on their level of education and what region they're from. All middle-class and educated Indians speak English, though, which makes it easier to get around as a traveler.

The other famous site in Agra which I saw was the Red Fort. Can you guess what color it is? I think it was more of a palace than a fort, or a palace within a fort. The Mughal emperors built the fort as a place to live while they were in power. This fort had so many defenses that no one ever conquered it in battle. Had they ever gotten inside, the attackers would have seen the most amazing views of the Taj Mahal, like this one.

Our guide told us one story that, while cruel by today's standards, tells us a bit about the curiosity of the Mughal emperors. Several hundred years ago, one emperor wanted to know what "natural language" children were born with. As I mentioned, there were so many languages across his empire, and since the British hadn't arrived in India yet, English was not yet the common language. So this emperor took about a dozen infants  from various communities he ruled, each one with its own unique language.

He then told his servants to raised the children in a separate community, with strict instructions that they could not speak to, or around, these children. (Since he had the power to take children away from their parents, I imagine "strict instructions" meant he would kill any servant who spoke to the children.) After twelve years had passed, he had the children brought to his court to see which language they would speak. His advisers each guessed which languages they thought were innate (or natural) to humans, each one choosing his own native language. Can you guess what these poor kids spoke?

Nothing. Without the stimulation of hearing speech from adults, they never learned to communicate verbally. Moreover, they remained unable to speak the rest of their lives, as they had missed the window of opportunity to learn speech during their brain's development. So, while this experiment was certainly cruel by today's standards, it teaches us two more things about the Mughal emperors. First, they were curious. Second, they were used to being able to do whatever they wanted, regardless of the consequences to their subjects. But they also left behind the beautiful Taj Mahal and Red Fort for us to visit today.

Travel Questions on India:

1. What is the name of the original part of the city around which New Delhi has grown?
2. What animals can be seen walking the streets of cities throughout India?
3. What did Toto's taxi driver do during the entire drive to Agra?
4. The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife as a:
   A) closet B) garage C) palace D) tomb
5. What do the artisans around the Taj Mahal sell today, based on the skills their ancestors used to build the Taj Mahal?
6. Was the Red Fort ever successfully attacked?
7. What was the conclusion of the Mughal emperor's experiment about which language was natural to humans?

Global Nomad Questions on India:

1. Both India and the United States were once colonies of Britain and now speak English as a result. Do a cybersearch to list three other former British colonies.
2. India received independence from Britain in 1947. A main figure in India's efforts to become independent was Mahatma Gandhi, who is respected worldwide for his approach of non-violence. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the U.S. modeled our civil rights movement on Gandhi's principles of non-violence. Do a cybersearch on Mahatma Gandhi and write about what impressed you most.
3. The Taj Mahal was recently voted on an internet poll as one of the seven wonders of the world. Do a cybersearch and list the other six and where they are.