INDIA: Day 3--Delhi, a City of Cities

Rajeev, our guide for our day in Delhi, is probably one of most-learned men we have ever met. On our drive through rush-hour traffic to Old Delhi, he told us that Delhi is a city of many smaller cities. Old Delhi was built during the same era of the emperor under whom the Taj Mahal was built. Old Delhi, with more than 3 million residents, has 10,000 people per kilometers, making it seem very congested. Monkeys also add to the congestion because our guide informed us that man had invaded the monkeys' habitat and not vice versa.

After Indonesia, India has the world's second largest Muslim population. Our guide quoted Martin Luther King, "It is Jesus who gave us the message but Mahatma Gandhi who gave us the method." Gandhi encouraged people to give up their jobs and join his movement. Because he promoted nonviolence, women joined his movement in large numbers.

Our guide told us that he would not need to tell us when we crossed from New Delhi, where our hotel was located, to Old Delhi--we would know immediately. We certainly did. Old Delhi had been a walled city and had a very different feeling from the modern New Delhi. Our first stop was the Red Fort, which was built in 1639 until the reign of the same ruler when the Taj Mahal was built. Forts in India were basically palaces but were constructed to look like a fort on the outside. The Mughals ruled very effectively in India. When they conquered an area, they let the existing rulers remain in power and pay a large tax. Fighting was very civilized with a bugle being blown to start and stop the battles. A skilled soldier could shoot 12 arrows per minute.

India did and still does consider itself a subcontinent of Asia because it is cut off from the Orient by the Himalayas. Visitors enter the Red Fort through a "covered bazaar," a mall of shops outside the fort that started when stores were established to sell milk and other essentials after the British destroyed most of the palaces and built barracks following World War II. The caste system in India is part of the Hindu society in which young people had to learn a trade from their family, and the country had a different caste for each trade. Our guide explained to us that India is like a big onion with so many layers to peel. The citizens speak 1,652 languages and dialects.

In the fort, all the flowers on the outside walls used to be gold gilded. The inlay work on the benches consisted of precious and semi-precious stones in white marble completed by Indians who were wonderful masons. In the Hall of Public Audience (Diwan-i-Am), the king, seated on a gold throne, received the general public and heard grievances on which he passed judgment. While the gold throne was no longer there, neither were the beautifully woven oriental rugs and hanging tapestries. A moat around the fort kept out unwanted visitors.

After leaving the Red Fort, we were treated to a bicycle rickshaw ride to the Mosque. Try to imagine being driven down narrow streets with cars, other bicycles and motorbikes coming at you in all directions, while you are whirling past the most amazing array of shops selling everything and anything. You need to hang on for dear life and pray that your driver will not hit anyone else and no one else will bang into you. Amazingly, we did not see any vehicle accidents in Delhi!

Because it was Friday, we could not enter the 17th century mosque, built under the rule of the same king who was on the throne when the Taj Mahal was constructed. The mosque holds between 25,000 and 50,000 worshipers. To call the people to prayers, a blind man was sent to the top of the minaret because the women were often in the open courtyards in their homes so a blind man could not see them.

Next we stopped at a government shop for what we have termed the "Sorry Sari Saga." The four women climbed up on a platform where the sales clerks showed us how to wrap a sari (also seen spelled as "saree" and "sare." While Pat, Kay and Diana were treated to one-colored saris with beads, sequins and brightly colored stitching, the clerk told Sara that she had a "print personality," so she was wrapped and pleated into a blue and green floral pattern. No one bought a sari.

The most memorable stop on our tour was Raj Ghat, the place where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated after he was assassinated in 1948 at age 79. In the center of the park is the black granite block on the spot where he was cremated with a flame that was added later. More than 5 million people attended his funeral. Today people from all over the world come there to pay homage to him. One of Gandhi's many memorable quotations is, "The villages is my world for all my material needs. The world is my village for my spiritual needs." After the cremation, the close family members come back to the site the next day and shift through the ashes for small pieces of bone. Sixteen days later they travel to a river and scatter the remains--water to water, because the Hindus believe in five elements: air, water, fire, earth and ether. If they travel on a bus, the relatives purchase a seat for the urn.

We had a photo stop at the Gate of India, which was built to honor the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died during World War I. Our last stop was Humaijuni's Tomb, the first specimen of Mughal architecture in India, which is called the "Taj Mahal of Delhi." As we walked through the double gates, we watched as the dome seemed to disappear as we came closer. Yes, that is a Star of David on the arch because the Muslims have never denied that David was a prophet. This tomb was built after Humaijuni's death by his senior wife who was a Persian so it reflected much Persian influence. When the Muslims in the eastern hemisphere die, their faces are turned to the west to face Mecca.

On our way back to our hotel in an upscale section of New Delhi, we marveled at what we had seen in India to date--the good, the bad, the ugly, the sad, the unthinkable and the unspeakable. Our guide commented that "in India, you not only see poverty but you see despairity and you also see contentment."

INDIA: Day 4--A MUST-READ for all American Drivers Who Suffer from Road Rage

NOTE: Day 4's entry will be written in two segments: (1) the drive from New Delhi to Agra, and (2) the unbelievably magnificent Taj Mahal.

As fascinating as the sites in Delhi were, the drive from New Delhi to Agra equaled it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us precious, pampered, spoiled travelers. Our driver told us that to drive in India, one needs good brakes, good horn and good luck. Blowing the horn in India is not a sign of aggression but a way of saying, "Excuse me. I'm coming through and I don't want your vehicle to hit mine." The sights, sounds and smells assaulted our senses. If we never hear a horn again, we will be happy.

A motorized tuk-tuk in front of us held three in the front seat, three seated across the back seat, three seated backwards facing the back seat and six across on the back of the vehicle. Sometimes people sat on the roof. The overcrowded buses had ladders on the back so that men could climb up to sit on the top. On one bus, Sara counted 20 people on top and then gave up, there were so many. When we thought that our side of the road had two lanes, the cars, buses, tuk-tuks, motorcycles and bicycle drivers created at least one extra lane if not two and drove up on the curb. A cow trying to cross the busy street almost made it when he was hit by a motorized tuk-tuk, causing a dent in the vehicle and a wound in the cow that started to bleed, but both kept on moving. On the motorcycles, the driver, who was always a man, wore a helmet. A woman in a beautiful, brightly-colored sari and no helmet rode side saddle, often holding a small child or an infant. Often another child was seated in front of the driver.

Men peed with their backs to us along the road. At first, we were amazed and shocked by the sight but after the tenth or eleventh sighting, we became immune to it. Our fellow passengers on the three-day overland to the Taj Mahal who took the train between Delhi and Agra informed us that they saw men doing their No. 2 business along the tracks.

Pigs were feasting on garbage buffets along the road. Garbage could be found in front of most of the buildings. While the residents took care of the inside of their homes, they did not think it was their responsibility to keep the grounds clean or they did not care. Groups of cows seems to be out for a weekend stroll by themselves. Later, we were to learn that their owners often sent them off on their own during the day, especially if they were too old to produce milk, and other residents fed them or they grazed on the grass alongside the road. Then the cows would come home to their owners at night to sleep.

We stupidly thought that the traffic would decrease once we reached the less populated towns and countryside. But an hour into our trip, the traffic jams, honking and swerving to miss other vehicles continued. Our driver reminded us that this was the day before the Happy Holi Holy Holiday, the festival of colors, and people were going home to spend the holiday with their families or at temples where they would received free lodging and food because of the festival. People were using wood and cow patties to build bonfires to light that night. The celebration included using paint guns and powder paint, both sold at the numerous vendor stands along the highway like fireworks in the U.S., to blow colorful paint on everyone from the hair on their head to their clothes to their shoes and feet. As white foreigners, we were a novelty sight to see and our van was the target of several Indians aiming their paint guns. Our driver thought the reason was that blond Pat looked like English nobility, whom the Indians did not particularly favor.

Bev asked for a rest stop before the tourist-approved rest stop. When our driver finally stopped at one that he deemed clean enough, we learned that she was suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, probably from the food she ate. Sara decided to sticking to her new diet of Kingfisher beer and French fries. Almost everyone became a victim to "Delhi Belly."

At the tourist-approved rest stop, Sara used a European-style toilet where a man turned on the water for her, squirted soap on her hands and offered her three napkins to dry them. Of course, he wanted a tip, and Sara had only a 100-rupee note but he offered her change. When he handed her 60 rupees, she realized that she had spent more than $1 US for a quick restroom break. Outside we were entertained by a 6-year-old girl in a beautiful bronze, burgundy and black sari and decorated face dancing a traditional Indian dance while her father in a turban played a pipe. A young boy of 8 or 9 turned out to be both a real people charmer and a snake charmer as he played a pipe that made his snake dance. Our driver recommended a 10-rupee tip but Ken determined after paying that tip that they both deserved a $1 US.

When the van was stopped for a routine traffic check, a man with two monkeys on chains came up to our windows. When the monkeys jumped up on the windows to look in and Pat took a photograph, the man sternly and loudly demanded payment. Our driver had told us not to open the windows because the monkeys would jump in to the van. When Brent opened the window a crack to slip a 10-rupee note for the picture, the man angrily demanded more. However, another man, who did not have a monkey, took the note and smiled. This was our introduction to "backsheesh," which means tip, money and payoff that is a normal part of life in India, and the fact that whatever one offered, the Indian asking for it would want more.
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Brett asked, "Do you think they have traffic alerts in India?" An article in the morning's newspaper had advocated traffic control but we thought that must be a similar pipe dream to the one that contestants in the Miss America or Miss World contests have when they promote world peace. However, the government has approved adding GPS to the tuk-tuks.

As we neared Agra, people were streaming to a white Yogi temple for the Holi celebration. The guide yesterday had recommended that we read the book by Sauda called "The Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi."

The 200 kilometer drive was estimated to take 4 hours. After five hours and 15 minutes, we drove under a "Welcome to Agra" sign, and after six hours, we arrived at hotel where we received a very welcome surprise--we had been upgraded to suites and Pat to a suite with multiple rooms, televisions and bathrooms. Now we needed to get ready to tour the ultimate resting place--the Taj Mahal.

INDIA: Day 4--The Taj Mahal, Finally!

A poster near the photography shop on the Pacific Princess during the 2010 world cruise had a quotation that President Bill Clinton had quoted from a old saying, "There are two kinds of people in the world--those who have seen the Taj Mahal and those who haven't." When we committed to cruising around the world a second time, I was determined that we would not remain in the second category. This is Sara writing in first person because everyone who has the opportunity to visit the Taj Mahal sees it through his or her own eyes, perceptions, myths and realities. If Ken wants to record his thoughts, he will do so separately at a later time.

The name "Taj Mahal" comes from two words: Taj that means crown and Mahal that means palace or crown palace. The original name translated to English as the Graveyard of Queen Mumtaj Mahal. When she was about to deliver her 14th child at age 39, she realized that she was seriously ill and knew that she would die. She asked her husband Shan Jahan to promise her three things: (1) to build the most beautiful mausoleum in the world for her body, (2) to never marry again in his earthly life, and (3) to be very kind to his children. The emperor kept those promises much better that his third son who wanted to be emperor so he killed his two older brothers and imprisoned his father at age 68 in the Agra Fort until he died at age 76 looking at the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal has 208 rooms that were decorated with hanging carpets while the original floors were covered with carpets. A wooden model of the Taj Mahal was constructed before the work began on the marble structure. Elephants carried the marble 200 kilometers each from the quarry to the site in the form of a relay race. It took 22,000 workers working 24/7 for 22 years from 1631 to 1653 to complete this Wonder of the World.

Our guide Ali was very knowledgeable but spoke in a monotone and sounded as if he were reading a script but there was no physical evidence of a script. After passing a huge bonfire made of cow patties and a colorful chalk drawing on the road in front of it, we entered the Taj Mahal through the East Gate. The writing on the gate was from the Koran and is black marble inlaid in white marble. The writing grows larger from bottom to top to create the optical illusion that it is all the same size. Our guide told us to tell the professional photographers that we had been here before so they would not hound us to take our pictures. The bad news at the security check was that Punxsutawney Phil could not accompany us. About 10,000 people visit the Taj Mahal daily but groundhogs must be on the forbidden list.

As we entered the gate, I heard a young boy beside me say to his parents and guide, "This is so exciting." My sentiments exactly. Photographs cannot do this place justice. On the gate are 11 plus 11 domes, one for each year it took to build the Taj Mahal.

The dome is a double dome that is hollow in between the two. The minarets on the four sides of the Taj Mahal are not straight but bend outward so that in the case of an earthquake, they would fall away from the main structure. The gardens are English in style because the wives of the British nobles would come to the Taj Mahal for picnics and instruct the gardeners on what to do with the gardens. The fountain at the center of the reflecting ponds is equal distance from the four gates. The Muslims, who believe in paradise, think that the gardens resemble paradise. Ginger had loaned me a long cotton skirt that she had asked me to wear to the Taj Mahal and have a picture taken on the bench where Princess Diana sat when she visited. Unfortunately, all these Japanese tourists beat me to it, and we did not want to wait. Also, I had promised Punxsutawney Phil that he would be in the picture.

The building on the left of the Taj Mahal is a mosque while the building on the right had been used as a guest house that was built to provide symmetry. They are identical in every respect except only the one on the right can be used as a mosque because it faces east.

There are 24 different types of precious and semi-precious stones inlaid in the marble to form the floral patterns. The best time to visit the Taj Mahal is by moonlight when all the stones sparkle and shine. Unfortunately, the structure is only open by moonlight five nights a month and only 50 people can visit each night.

At last, we put on our glamorous red woven shoe covers so we could walk up to the patio and put our cameras away because no pictures were allowed inside the structure. The small crystals in the marble shine and sparkle from the rays of the sun. From every point, the Taj Mahal is symmetrical except for the size of the coffins. Shan Jahan did not want to be buried there but rather in the Black Taj Mahal that he planned to have built across the river and connected to the Taj Mahal by a silver bridge so that people could walk between them. However, his son took his father as a prisoner before that plan could be completed and promised that he would use the money that was to have been spent on the Black Taj Mahal to take care of the poor people. We seriously doubt that the son ever kept his campaign promise.

While we were part of the throng of people inside the Taj Mahal, flashes from cameras kept going off and the security staff kept blowing their whistles. We asked our guide why people were taking photographs. He answered, "Taking pictures inside is against the law but if everyone else is doing it, you can do it." This seemed like the traffic laws and stoplights that many people in India chose to disobey. We did not take any photographs inside.

After we came out of the Taj Mahal, Ken asked me, "Was it everything that you expected. My one-word answer was, "More." When we had walked back to the East Gate and were ready to exit, I spotted the young man who was beside me when we entered and asked our guide if we could wait until I spoke with him. It turned out that he was an 8-year-old from Vancouver, British Columbia, who was on vacation with his parents. My question to him was, "How do you feel after your visit?" His answer was, "I've been to the Taj Mahal. It was very, very exciting." Bill Clinton could not have quoted anyone better.

INDIA: Day 6--Think Pink

Many world travelers have claimed that Jaipur is as fascinating as the Taj Mahal. We can certainly understand why they believe that. Jaipur is known as the Pink City. Our guide Dev, who picked us up at 8 a.m., told us that when Prince Albert visited the city, the citizens wanted to welcome him and pink is the color of welcome in India, as the pineapple is the welcome sign of Colonial Williamsburg, so they painted the town pink. Another version of the story was that the city wanted to find a color that would absorb the vibrant rays of the sun so that the heir to the throne from the cold north would not be blinded. It turned out that this shade of pink was the best color.

In Jaipur, visitors find beautiful architecture with domes, screens and arches. The seven gates of the original walled city are still in place but not the wall that was built in the 12th century because the city was surrounded by mountains. The wall is now houses. The city was designed for 200,000 residents but now has 3.6 million. Jaipur is famous for its small cottage industries. Eighty percent of the malls were built with in the last five years but do not get enough business except when they offer sales. Our guide was raised in the southern part of the city and mainly uses his personal motorcycle but also shares a family car.

Our first stop was the Amber Fort, which our guide told us was much more beautiful than the Red Fort in Delhi, and our chance to ride a real live elephant. Our wait in the line was 50 minutes for a 15 minute-ride. Unfortunately, vendors are allowed on the grounds so if any of us ever acknowledged them, they would respond with "Hello, hello. Look here," and push their wares in our face. After the bumpy ride to the top of the plateau where the fort stood and the elephant peeing on Ken's foot, we agreed that elephant rides were highly overrated. However, elephants are a good investment in Jaipur because they can be used for tours, rides and weddings. An elephant costs about 1.1 million rupees and eats about 700 rupees worth of food a day. Their favorite food is sugar cane with bananas and fruits as special treats. Our guide called his baby-girl elephant (females are less aggressive) Lucky and considered her a member of his family.

When we descended from the elephant, we talked with Megan, a delightful 26-year-old who still had traces of Holi paint on her face. When we asked her where she lived, she answered that she had lived in Toronto. The question, "Where do you live now?" received the answer, "The world." She had taught English in Korea for 1 1/2 years and saved her money so that she could travel around Asia. Her favorite countries were Malaysia and Laos because they are not well known to tourists and the people are so nice. She had been in India several months and told us that the first month was rather "dicey" as a single female. Now a friend was visiting her for two weeks and then she would be in India for another month on her own. As for what country she will spend time in next, "Who knows?"

Her answer to what her parents thought about her traveling on her own was typical and priceless. To assuage her parents, she had purchased a cell phone and bought a card in each country. When she called her parents, their first question was, "Are you alright?" When she answered in the affirmative, their second question was, "Why haven't you called?" Parents all over the world are the same! We told her how much we envied her for traveling at such a young age and wished her luck in her future adventures.

Brent, Bev and Sara decided to remove their shoes so they could tour the Hindu temple. There they received a red dot on our forehead to represent a third eye. Visitors would ring a bell to focus their ears and be blessed with water sprinkled on the head to focus their eyes and mind. Paintings on either side of the temple showed the wife of the god Shiva before and after she reincarnated herself after his death as the goddess of the warriors to chase away demons. Her clothing went from white to black with her having 10 arms and 10 legs as the goddess of warriors. A drop of blood from a demon could create a new demon. In 1940, the temple was refurbished in marble. Until 1979, a goat was sacrificed in the temple every day.

The walls in this fort were painted, not inlaid, but the colors were spectacular and were accented with gold foil. The architecture was a combination of Hindi and Mughal. We particularly appreciated the chamber where the warriors modified their minds and hearts before they met with their families after a battle and the baths, massage rooms and steam room, under which the servants built a fire to heat the water. Rain water was collected for the baths. If the rain level was below normal, the servants would bring the water from Maota Lake through a four-sectioned water lifting system using pulleys and ropes and a Persian water wheel.

The chambers for the ladies were around the perimeter so that they could look out but not be seen from the outside. In the open theater, the nobility and their guests enjoyed parties with singing and dancing on full-moon nights. In the center of the fort was a beautiful garden of flowers to give the impression of the Garden of Paradise.

The most impressive room had mirrored pieces that had been stuck on the plaster while it was still wet. The ceiling was the prettiest part. At night, our guide informed us that every mirror twinkled and glittered like a star in the sky so the room gave the impression of being outside.

The Summer Palace, which was enclosed, had a natural cooling system through a series of copper pipes with perfumed water. We saw the carriages that carried the royal ladies around the palace because walking was difficult for them in their heavy costumes with 160 pleats and their 16 to 20 pieces of jewelry.

The fourth courtyard were the identical palaces of the emperor's 12 wives. Each apartment maintained that queen's privacy. The emperor's upstairs apartment connected to the queens' apartments through secret chambers. The emperor wanted to maintain equality among his queens because if any queen became unhappy, she could complain to her father who would stop supporting the king. We also found more bats in the open drops between the apartments than we expected.

From the time we waited in line for the elephant ride until we exited, we spent three hours and 20 minutes, which can be divided into these times and costs:

* 50 minutes waiting in line with vendors hassling us--priceless
* 15 minutes on elephant ride--suggested tip of 50 or 100 rupees--ride paid for as part of tour but driver wanted 200 rupees
* 2 hours touring Amber Fort--priceless
* 15 minute Jeep ride down the hill-300 rupees fixed price

When we left the Amber Fort, we paused for a photo stop at the Summer Palace, which was built on an island in the middle of an artificial lake, created by a dam, because the summer temperatures can rise to 45 degrees C or about 120 degrees F. In the rainy season, the palace seems to be floating on the lake. When the lake is dried up in the dry season, visitors can see the construction.

After we drove into the Pink City, we passed the Palace of the Wind (Hawa Mahal), a five-story pink sandstone palace constructed in 1799 to allow the royal ladies to observe daily life in Jaipur from 953 small windows on the front side of the palace without being seen. The City Palace, which is the residence of the current royal family--king, queen and visits from their daughter, son-in-law and three children--is yellow, the symbol of royalty. Once a year the king invites the people to the courtyard, which is pink for the color of welcome. Two large silver jars made out of 14,000 Jaipur coins issued by the treasury in 1894 are the largest silver jars in the world and hold water (silver kills germs). When the reigning king attended the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, he had the jars filled with water from the Ganges and brought them with him to England. Pigeons enjoyed perching on the chandelier while guards gestured to us to take their photographs so they could ask for a tip.

We toured the Hall of Public Audiences with it gold and stone trim, where the last ceremony was held when India became a Republic in 1949. On display is a portrait of the father of the current king, a polo player who won the World Cup in 1957 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth of England. We also visited the gallery of arms and weapons with daggers with crystal and jade handles, swords with hidden gun so the soldiers could shoot their enemies if they got close and a ceremonial sword set with precious and semi-precious stones; the textile gallery with its many possibilities for saris; and the arts and crafts gallery where local artisans worked. The next stop was the Jantar Mantar or the Observatory, an open-air museum that houses an amazing collection of traditional astronomical instruments, including the world's largest sundial that is accurate to two seconds, a North Star finder and a structure for each astrological sign to show the positions of different planets in the sign.

Our guide was highly educated with a university degree and a law degree. He is a professional tour guide, except in the summer when the weather is too hot, and he works for his brother in real estate. His wife is working on her master's degree. Their marriage was arranged by the parents but they had some say in it. The prospective bride and groom have some time together before the parents offer a proposal. He had declined three proposals and his wife several more before they were brought together. After 2002, any one who has more than two children can not be elected to a public office or receive a promotion in a government position. A Hindi, he has no Muslim friends. He attributes the 17 percent unemployment rate partly to the Muslims who have more children and are going down in status. Very interesting philosophy!

That night, our travel agent treated us to dinner at a popular Indian resort about an hour from Jaipur. We arrived at 7 p.m. and reached the sit-down restaurant at 7:15 p.m. just in time because the sit-down dinner started at 7:15. Amazing! What we did not expect was that a sit-down dinner would mean sitting on the floor in a lotus position and being served on an individual-sized small wooden table on plates and bowls made of woven paper. The waiters, who did not understand English, kept scooping food items that were unidentifiable to us on our plates and in our bowls. Thanks to an English speaking man who lived in India and was entertaining a woman friend from California, we learned that every dish was either spicy or sweet with a decided preference for extremely hot and spicy. The waiter poured buttermilk and water from the tap (drinkable or not for those who brushed their teeth with bottled water?) into two earthenware cups that resembled flower pots and generously ladled clarified butter on everything. Ken actually ate most of the meal, Brett sampled everything and the rest of us pushed the food around our plates. We longed for French fries and Kingfisher beer but, alas, the restaurant served no alcohol because this was a family establishment.

We finished dinner by 8 p.m. and roamed around the grounds of India's version of Downtown Disney with elephant and camel rides, arcade games, souvenier and clothing bazaars, massages, dancing with audience participation and singing. In less than 1/2 hour we were ready to return to our bus where we found our driver taking a nap on the back seat--he thought we would be a lot longer. When we arrived back at the hotel, we feasted in the bar on snacks, Kingfisher beer and wine.

INDIA: Day 5--Holi and the Ghost City

Because Sunday was Holi, the festival of colours with people using paint guns to blow colorful paint on each other, our driver and bus boy suggested that we not leave the hotel until 1 p.m. when the festival would be over. They really did not want paint on the van or broken windows. So we enjoyed sleeping in, eating a leisurely breakfast and exploring the luxurious hotel. While we shopped in the stores, Brent walked outside the gates and took some wonderful photographs of teen-aged boys enjoying the festivities. When a group of young people with paint guns and a policeman started to approach him, he decided it was time to come back in the gates.

As we drove out of Agra after 1 p.m.on our way to Jaipur, we witnessed the effects of Holi. The most predominant colors were pink and purple. People's hair, skin and clothes were covered with every color in the rainbow. A multicolored passenger on a motorcycle showed us what looked like a real gun and motioned to us to take his picture. At 39 kilometers outside of Agra, we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, a city that was built between 1571 and 1584 by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who was the grandfather of Shan Jahan, who had the Taj Mahal constructed as a symbol of undying love for his deceased wife. In addition to being a great and powerful ruler, Akbar was a very busy man with his three wives and 350 illegal wives in his harem. However, he also was a very sad man because he had no children with his three legal wives. A holy man blessed his Hindu wife (the other two were Muslim and Christian) and she had a son, who was raised a Muslim, the religion of his father. Naturally, she was the favorite wife because she had everything going for her--she came from a royal family, was extremely beautiful and gave Akbar a son. Now many women come to Fatehpur Sikri to wish for a son.

The reason that Fatehpur Sikri, the capital of the Mughal Empire under Akbar, is known as the Ghost City was because the royal family and residents abandoned it after 16 years due to the lack of water. The five-story palace with 176 pillars was called the House of Breezes because it was well suited to the hot weather. The short 5'3" king used the upper level of his residence as the Winter Palace and the downstairs area for the summer bedrooms. We had to watch our heads when entering buildings and rooms so we did not bump them. In the Winter Palace, Akbar had the ultimate in the king-sized bed department--it was off the ground so high that he had to use a ladder to reach the bed that seemed to measure 10 feet by 12 feet. In the courtyard, the emperor played a game similar to hopscotch except it used 16 beautiful women who moved when the emperor rolled the dice.

He had a palace constructed for each of his three wives. The first wife, who was Muslim, had a one-room small palace but was very lucky because she lived closest to the emperor. The Christian wife's palace was shaped like a cross to resemble a church with a mixture of many religions. The favorite Hindu wife had a much larger palace with a winter house, summer palace, a place to worship and a special kitchen because she was a vegetarian. All the security guards were eunuchs. The hallways from the gates were zigzagged so the women could not see out and the men could not see in.

In the parliament house, the emperor sat in the middle column with his minsters sitting around the perimeter. Stairs on either side allowed the emperor and his ministers to climb to their stations. The columns in this structure had designs for all different religions with the center column resembling a lotus flower. Being a sentimentalist, Akbar had his favorite elephant buried in the Elephant Tower outside the palace.

In the large courtyard stands the tomb of the holy man (Sheikh Salim Chisti) who granted Akbar his wish for a son with his Hindu queen Jodhabai. This mosque is an exact replica of Mecca and is surrounded by the graves of many local people. Outside the mosque, Ken purchased a scarf and two strings. He placed the scarf on the altar and sprinkled the rose petals in the bag on top of it. Then we tied our strings in knots around the window gratings and made a wish. When the wish comes true, either we are to come back to untie them or to give money to a charity to help those in need.

After our tour was completed, we had at least five more hours on the road. On this journey, we received a taste of rural India with water buffalo, cows, camels and elephants. Women wearing saris were working in the fields. At the approved rest stop, which also was a government store with souvenirs, we met an attractive young couple who were staying in India for four months, partly on a vacation and partly as a spiritual journey. They both showed evidence of participating in the Holi festivities. Thanks to working online, they were still employed in their positions in the United States. We all wished that we could have done such a trip when we were their ages.