Emily's Worldview

Delhi was a bit much, even as we took refuge from the madness in the city's public parks, tombs, and movie theaters (Bollywood! Decadent costumes and dance numbers for three hours, anyone? No english subtitles, sorry.). So we jumped, with every other tourist, onto the Taj Express and soon were poking around the architectural wonders of the trash-city of Agra. We worked our way up to it, marveling at the lesser marvels such as the 400-year old fort modified by successive Mughal emperors then busted up and used as an armory by the British, and magnificent river-side tombs with bits of blue enamel still in place. And the Taj itself, once you get past the confusing security regime (why isn't my guidebook allowed in?) is marvelous and perfect perfect perfect. We spent a long time people watching and waiting for a beam of late-afternoon sunlight to break through the clouds and catch the dome which, for 15 seconds, it did. Heaven on earth.

We scampered to a nearby village for a day trip and a ramble around the beautiful old palaces, mosques, and tombs. One grave, surrounded by a shelter of intricate marble carving is said to bring luck to women hoping to conceive--in prayer these women tie multicolored threads to the marble lattice. We enjoyed it until the would-be guides overwhelmed us and we fled.