Day 351: Day 2 of Our Indian Adventure

Yesterday was a hard one. Oh, we were thrilled to be in India, but we were also exhausted from our travels and the nine and a half hour time change. Also, Delhi is a stressful city. With a population density greater than New York City's, it is also known to be one of the most polluted cities in the world. There is an incredible history and many awesome sites to see, but Delhi is not a place where you'd want to spend more than a few days.

We left the city at 6:15 this morning on a train headed for Agra. This is not an impressive city. It is rundown, dirty, and filled with poverty. It is also the site of the Taj Mahal.

I pride myself on my ability to put my thoughts down as words and sentences, but for the Taj Mahal there is simply no appropriate string of letters. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it. Incredible does not do it justice. Stunning is a gross understatement.

I remember vividly the first time I saw it. After you buy your ticket, you walk into a courtyard, and there is a large gate before you. If there aren't too many people, you can catch a glimpse of the Taj through that gate. That small glimpse made my heart pound and my blood rush the first time. But when I walked through it to behold the Taj in its fullness, right there before me, I was absolutely overcome. I actually (and truthfully, as silly as it will sound) shed tears the first time I beheld this beauty.

I had never and still have never seen anything like it.

I was worried that the second time around would be a bit of a letdown. I was also worried that Brandon wouldn't be all that impressed. (In Delhi, his patience for the sites seemed thin, and I had begun to wonder if it simply wasn't in his nature to go crazy for all of this travel stuff. And if the Taj can't excite you, well, I'm afraid nothing will.) So, as we walked through that gate, I was nervous.

I shouldn't have been.

It was just as I'd remembered - huge, gorgeous, simply overpowering to the senses. I didn't cry this time, but I could have. And when I asked Brandon, "Do you like it?" all he could say was, "Wow." Absolutely wow.

It was standing in front of the Taj Mahal five years ago that I decided for certain I would bring Brandon to India. Yes, I wanted him to see my city and meet my people, but, more than anything, I wanted to share with him what I believe to be the most beautiful, special, wonderful place on Earth. I wanted us to see it, to experience it, together.

We have not even been married for a year, but I believe Day 351 will go down as one of the most memorable days we ever spend together. When we are old, gray, and losing our memories, I will look back on this day, that moment, when we gazed upon the Taj Mahal as a couple. Stunned into silence by the majesty of the place, I will remember that moment as powerfully peaceful and so full of love.




I could have stood there, in that place, in that moment, forever.

But there was more to be done. From the Taj Mahal, we went on to other sites - the Agra Fort, which wasn't quite as impressive as the Red Fort in Delhi; and Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb, also known as "Baby Taj," built by a female relative of Shah Jahan (commissioner of the Taj) and believed to be a model on which the Taj was based. These sites were neat too (and both of them new to me), and the day was an overall success.

After we'd been dropped off at our hotel this afternoon, where we showered and rested for a little while, we went back outside. Our hotel is only a block from the Taj, so all around us there are little shops and souvenir hawkers. You can't walk down the street without being accosted by several boys, most of them little children, trying to sell you something.

One little boy came up to me and said, "What do you want?" to which I replied, "Nothing." Without hesitation, he said, "I have it. I have nothing!" It made me smile.

All of this can be entertaining, if it doesn't stress you out. And, as has been my theme for the past couple days, I was a little worried about Brandon. He was looking for a few specific things, and I didn't want him to get stressed out before he found them. But, as before, I shouldn't have worried, because here, on only day 2 of our journey, Brandon was completely at ease with his surroundings. He bargained, he negotiated, he told the little boys that were bugging him to buy postcards to leave him alone in no uncertain terms; and he seemed as though he might just be enjoying it all. And then, after all of this went on for a little while, he found what he was looking for - white marble coasters with inlaid stones, looking just like a little piece of the Taj Mahal.

To call this day an incredible success is yet another understatement. I only hope that, as we move on from here, the rest of the trip can live up. But I know now that Brandon can be impressed, will get excited, and might even just end up liking this crazy country I've brought him to.

We will see...