My Love Story With India (Part 6)

JAIPUR:

AMER PALACE

Spanning a period of about two centuries, with a classic fusion of Mughal and Hindu architecture built of red and yellow sandstones with white marble, the Amer Palace is a testament to man’s ability to create masterpieces. It took three generations of Jaipur kings beginning with Raja Man Singh I and completed by Mirza Raja Jai Singh and Sawai Jai Singh in the twentieth century.

The most exceptional Kings of Jaipur has the name “SAWAI” added to their names. It means 25% more intelligent than the usual.

Amer Palace is home to the Kesar Kyari Garden, Maota Lake, Palace of Winds (Hawa Mahal), Man Singh Palace, Baradari, and much more.

PALACE OF MIRRORS (Sheesh Mahal)

There are three entrances into the Amer Fort Palace: The Sun Gate (Suraj Pol – through elephants come through a very steep climb directly into the courtyard), Lion Gate (Singh Pol – takes you to the Hall of Public Audience; Diwan-i-Am with 27 colonnades), and Elephant Gate (Ganesh Pol – leads to the private apartments of the royal family).

To enter the inner palaces of the Amer, the main entrance portal known as the Ganesh Pol is the most magnificinet portal in Rajasthan. It is covered with elegant frescos and crowned with pavilions carrying fascinating jail screens. This place houses the Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors where the art with ornamentation with glass sits), Diwan-e-Khas, or ‘Hall of Private Audience”, Jai Mandir with millions of glass pieces on stucco, the Zenana palace and not too far from it, the courtyard with a Baradari (a 12-door building structure that allows free flow of air), which is surrounded by ladies apartments and fresco depicting Khrisna-lila scenes simply draws your attention to stand still, watch and marvel at the ancient lives and minds of those who once lived there.

Now imagine it is nighttime. Strike a match to a candle and that single flame of light can illuminate over 100,000 reflective mirrors, lighting up the entire Palace of Mirrors!

The architectural finishing of the Palace of Mirrors and some notable marble-built structures often left me in wonderment as to their true secret. Well, I got to find out that limestone powder, marble dust and sea shell powder to which is added olive oil and coconut oil for a thorough blend is what makes the beautiful walls smooth, sparkle and glimmer like that of the Taj Mahal. The gemstone powder is the source of reflected lights you see when the sun’s rays glaze over the walls of the Taj Mahal.

Our guide tells us a most fascinating story. During the 13^th century the King of Jaipur fascinated with Persian carpets, wanted to decorate his palace with them. Of course there were carpet markers in Jaipur, but here’s the difference. In Jaipur the carpet weavers weave their carpets in a single layer carpets with double knot at the ends. But the Persians (modern day Iran) weaved their carpets knot by knot in a symmetrical double knot and double layers which keeps the carpet firmer compared to that of Jaipur. However, when it comes to bearing weight on it, say for example you place a heavy box on the Jaipur carpet and that of the Turkish carpet, the Jaipur carpet easily bounces back to its original form after the carpet is removed because of its loose style of weaving. This is not the case for the Turkish carpet which remains in the depressed state, thus losing its original form. The rule therefore is not to place heavy objects on a Persian carpet!

To show his subjects how beautiful the carpets made by the Persians for his palace were, he commissioned the Persians to once again weave a large-than-life equivalent for public view. This carpet sits atop the Maota lake like a beautiful garden of well groomed flower plants. Today, the double knot carpet technique of the Persians is has become part of the weaving technique of Jaipur’s carpet weavers. 

Our eager guide let us in another secret. I discovered the Flower with Many Elements. This flower sculpture becomes whatever your palm – placed over it to obscure a part of it – can turn into a crab, a snake, a flower, a tail, etc. And here’s another secret! When we got to the Turkish Bath we discovered there’s a wonderful architectural design calculated such that I can whisper to you through a particular wall and no one else will hear our conversation but us!

Gosh! India has an incredible way of telling stories through motifs, bass reliefs, fresco, wall paintings, and architecture.

THE ONE TRUE SMILE

The year was in the 1600s. Twelve women sit in the courtyard close to the Zenana Palace (Queen’s Palace) – each with a golden glowing smile. These are the 12 wives of the Warrior King, Maharaja Man Singh seated under the roof of the Baradari for their usual private meetings with the King, the curtain pulled off revealing to the guards and visitors those seated within. The Maharaja looks at his wives adoringly – he knew something that the other 11 Maharanis did not know. Yet each them share with him a distinctive esoteric smile; the smile that is suppose to betray she was the chosen one who got the king the night before. But only one of them on any particular one day actually has the One True Smile – a gift bequeathed her the night before when she and the king spent the night together in romantic and erotic karma sutra bliss.

The king visits each wife using this axis and a series of secret passage doors without the other wives being aware he was spending the night with the other. And since the Zenana (Queen Palace) has no window through which the wives can see the goings-on around them, the King easily has his way with the Chosen Queen of the Night in the courtyard with the curtains pulled down. From here it is easy for him to ‘sneak’ right back to his palace just as the Queen of the Night is guarded by back unseen to her chambers in the Zenana.

However, when the women sit in the courtyard, originally called the Harem, you’ll find all 12 wives smiling pretentiously, none wearing a frown, afraid of giving herself away as the one who knew the king did not spend the night with her. Yet, amongst them, only one wife can tell that the 11 other smiles wore plastered smiles, one meant to hide their disappointment or embarrassment. Ironically, the wife with the one true smile – the most radiant and authentic smile of all – keeps this as her special entitled secret; savouring it like a well-kept secret.

The king keeps a string of female guards or eunuchs to watch over his Queens and concubines. Maharaja Man Singh is reputed to have kept an additional 100 concubines and hundreds of female servants! These guards and eunuchs run every day tasks: massages, security, chores, errands (and sometimes getting an ‘accidental’ male visitor to sleep with the sex-and-attention-deprived wives for a quickie. Should the male visitor however be caught by the King – who keeps an ever vigilant eye on his harem and spies the ‘unknown man’, he is instantly castrated and turned into a eunuch who now becomes one of the security guards for the wives).

On the Zenana walls close to the lintel near the roof we see miniature 400-years-old painting of in their original depictions. In Hindu religion, the knowledge of Kama Sutra was never debased as porn but was used practically as sex education to children and pupils. But this perception suddenly changed with the Muslim invasion of Islam which considered knowledge of this as immoral and deserving of heavy fines, leading to the dearth of that knowledge for a very long time (up to 200 years); until more recently, a revival of its original spirit is now been championed, regaining a new momentum, which is now been taught as what it once was: proper sex education. Any wonder why India women are such dreamy romantics.

Our guide shows us a particular Teak Wood – over 400-years-old – which allows for stamp indentions, etc. These doors are specifically used to make the private doors leading to the chamber of each Queen.

As we head to the library, India tunes blare from flutes. We turn our heads and there they were! The snake charmers! Here’s another top secret: both real and plastic snakes are conjured when snake chamber blow their flutes and hit the wooden drums. Jaipur is a land of snakes and snake charmers belong to a particular caste.

PINK CITY

Pink City is the only planned city in Jaipur; 9 Sq.km long.  Originally built with 7 Gates, an 8^th one was added in modern time. Pink is the compulsory colour since 1876 when the Maharaja welcomed the Prince of Wales as a tribute to him. However, the internal walls of a home are painted according to the varied taste of the occupants.

Inside the Pink City is the Wind Palace. It owes its name to the 970 small windows, built specially for the royal ladies who were not allowed to mix with the outside crowd. From these numerous windows, they are allowed to catch a glimpse or sit and watch the goings-on of the outer world in view whenever there’s a event, a ceremony and gathering for which they are permitted to look in.

Amber Fort was built before the City Palace. And the King moved from Amber Fort to the Palace. The Pink City is also known as the Sun Dynasty. The Moon palace is the highest building in the Walled City (another name for the Pink City). No other building is allowed to be taller than the Moon Palace which is also known as the Yellow Building.

The China Mirror (Snake Mirror) was an exchanged between the Chinese and Jaipur.

The Pink city is planned according to the caste system. And the natives lives inside here. The lower floors are used for businesses and the top floors are for accommodation purposes. There are 4 major castes: The Priests, The Soldiers, The Merchants and The Servants. Even your surname can betray the caste you belong to, so does the job you do, even the colour and style of the turban a man wears is a giveaway of sub-castes. For women, the style of costumes and jewelries she’s adorned with reveals her caste.

Caste is the equivalent of class in some other societies. The difference is that you are born into one; while in class you can choose to rise out of it. The former you really have no say, no control, no hope of even getting or climbing out of it. You either choose to love it, accept it, or live with it. That choice is up to you. However, one of the quickest, not too common, but often sought after is to marry into a different or more superior caste, like the Queen of Jaipur did when she married a local fisherman when she was widowed. That act forever lifted the man’s generation to an enviable caste.

Visiting the Royal Artists centre, we see how squirrel furs makes fantastic single-hair brushes for royal art painters in Jaipur. The art of painting is passed on from one generation to another. Sitting down on a soft padded stool, I watch in fascination as the artist, using a single brush, dipped in natural colour palate, painted me an elephant in less than 5 minutes! 

My current artist is a 5^th Generation artist. And so will is progeny (unless say 500 years from now, the caste distinction has been demystified to the point where people wonder how their ancestors could have lived that long that way [wink!]). I see an ancient original seal and stamp can be seen bearing the inscriptions: JEYPOOR. It means Jaipur as we know it today.

BLOCK PAINTING FABRIC DESIGNING

Colours of paints are taken naturally from vegetable plants and their particular flowers, e.g. the colour BLUE is taken from Indigo flowers. Natural vegetable colours do not wash when the process is complete, says the block painting expert. To begin the process, the cloth is laid stretched on a flat board, and block after block – up to five or seven colours – each with a particular colour, is placed one after the other in succession. After that, the cloth is placed in salt water which heightens the colour, and is in turn dipped into rain water to make it permanent. Block painting is used to make fabrics like table cloths, bed sheets, etc.

Jaipur like everywhere else in India believes in luck too, especially the fortune attached to that which the Elephant symbolizes: Good luck, good fortune, Happiness and Prosperity. Peacock means: integrity and beauty. Camel symbolizes tenacious mental and physical strength, Horses: velocity, vitality and beauty. Sometimes it could mean loyalty, industriousness and swiftness. Click the link below for stories on, India Ghost Town, Taj Mahal and more.

Part 7: http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-7.html

Part 8:http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-8-entre.html

My Love Story With India (Part 7)

LEAVING JAIPUR for AGRA

The first town you meet outside Jaipur reminds you of the Lekki-Ajah axis in terms of scattered ongoing housing development, on-going construction, partially completed buildings and old structures all in the mix.

Indian Oil, like Conoil is a common petrol station located in all the cities and states I visited. A stretch of open land filled with disperse trees are begging to carry structures and buildings on it. Cows can be seen grazing silently, unobtrusively around the edges of shrubs close to the kerb as we drive. Trees, shrubs and foliage decorate the median and other parts of the road.

Right from Jaipur into its outskirts, I noticed a long line of terracotta-coloured slab, the shape of a tomb slab, line the median all the way (perhaps to prevent cars and other higher vehicles from crossing over without taking the proper U-turn).

Several kilometers away, just about a 1,000 kilometres before we reach the toll gate (Rajadhok Toll Plaza), the slab is now replaced with green shrubs that bears bright red and white flowers, forming a long hedge along the length of the median.

Mountains in Jaipur, unlike that of local traditional villages, say in the Himalayas, the mountains are called dry mountains because only sparse trees and perennial shrubs mostly can be found on them when compared to those of the Himalayas where the mountains bear healthy, fruit-bearing trees. The father south of India you travel to, the difference in time zones become more apparent.

As I sit in the car, I couldn’t help but wonder about what makes India thick. And I realize as I go over the past events that the magic of India is in the Hindu Religion.  While some may have moved on, many remain in the past century, yet all coexisting harmoniously together as a single whole. The dread of God and electricity seems to be the driving force behind the scene that has taken India to the enviable height they currently now enjoy.

The father we move from Jaipur, I noticed that the Tuk-Tuk (what we call keke napep in Nigeria) is very different: more metallic, more contraptions and not painted in the usual green colour. It’s less aesthetic colour makes it even more interesting to look at. A few conventional tuk-tuk can be found but the colour black and grey is common. Sometimes, the slabs and shrubs along the median can be really annoying as they interfere with my picture snapping excitement. Guess it’s doing its job just as I am too, right?

Specially designed farm tractors for the peasants for agricultural purposes are quite ubiquitous. When finally get to SIKANDRA TOLL PLAZA. Toll plazas are a common on India highway roads, serving ass gateways introducing you to new states. On both sides of the road, just after the toll plaza, stone carving, stone dying seems to be popular in this town. This must be the ‘The Land of the Stones’, my coinage as I have never come across so large a number of stones cut into precise shapes and forms. I’ll have to make another visit to this town to find out more about their stone carvings.

As we drive on, I noticed billboards are not a common sight on the highways in between cities. Rather, a complete square or rectangular arrangement of built stones, bricks or blocks raised about 6 to 8 feet above the ground has imprinted on it the logos of companies and their taglines beautifully painted on it.

Vehicular contraptions of every kind can be found in India, with each state, city or village adapting a particular model to fit their specific needs. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach in India: every man to himself seems to be the underlying ethos. Yet you can’t fail to observe the harmony that each and all still live together in the same space. 

Villages here seem to be closer in distance unlike Jaipur where the next village is father apart to the next. Every 200 metres to a 1,000 metres, a new village pops, with signage announcing their names: Mahua, Baratpur, Agra, Hindaun, Mahwa.

I observe too that most Indians are law abiding to the best of their ability. At work they keep to the rules and job specification required of them. And I can’t help but feel that this nation is built by the dread of an Indigenous God and electricity. The dread of God in this case is something inbuilt and innate it is spiritual. The fear is not the fear of breaking the law and going to jail! It is rather something that has long been instilled in them which now becomes part of their character and behavioural tendencies. Dread is an unquestionable fear. You don’t think about it. You just see the thing and simply move or act – the most generic of all human instinct.

India is a concomitant continuum: a mix of the rural-urban continuum that harmoniously glues the past and latches on to the present – the old and the modern; the rich and the poor; the beautiful and the ugly – each respected in its own right: right to assert, yet aware of the need to remain in harmony. An English-Italian walked by me and said, “There’s a madness about how they go about what they do only they can understand”.

The same dual carriage-way all from Jaipur takes us to Agra, until it begins to taper off into a single lane. That’s quite some civil engineering accomplishment.

Several tall columns of huge four slabs that taper to the top like chimneys greet us. These chimney factories are for brick heating, a common feature in Bawsl Town, Shirv Mandri. Brick making is the central business here and they are famous for their bricks. The kind of soil in these towns makes their quality of bricks a much sought-after. The town is also famous for their cultivation of honeybees.

SCHOOL UNIFORMS

As we head towards Agra, I noticed that school uniforms are white in many towns are we past: girls in suits and India-styled trousers and the boys in shirts and English-styled trousers with a belt. 

Finally we enter the last state in Rajasthan, Bharatpur as we now head into Uttar Pradesh the state that is home to Agra, home of Moguls, home to the Taj Mahal.

STOP-OVER RESTAURANT

From the hotel to the restaurant, you’ll find every indigenous brand of tomatoes ketchup but never Heinz! A very subtle but powerful way to encourage local production and use of tomatoes in other forms rather than allowing a big brand name like Heinz to take over such a huge market – a loss of job creation, industry and brain drain of many Indians should this happen.

“Palau” – rice, cashew nuts, vegetables, raisins, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, onions, chili, green pepper, green peas make up a delicious food platter. With your palate so wide awake with such variety of flavours and tastes, Aniseed seeds, more like a n after-food cleaner with a minty taste is chewed to diminish any after-food taste like onions, garlic and sugars in your mouth. The cutleries, especially knives and forks are very thick-edged and blunt, making the joy of eating with cutlery a little arduous if not tedious. This may explain a little about how Indian foods are really best enjoyed eaten: with your hands. Guess if they were cutlery-inclined people, the cutleries would be a bit sharper on the edges and pointed at the tips.

The Woman:
Bodo tribe is among the few early settlers 
of Assam and is one of
the largest ethnic group of Assam.

In summary, India is where you find GOOD FOOD, GREAT CULTURE, BEAUTIFUL WOMEN!

Limbu Woman: 

Although a primary tribe of Nepal, 

a significant number of  Limbu people 

can be found in Sikkim, India.

It was while at the Royal Artists Centre in Jaipur, looking at the array of ancient paintings, drawings, water colours and paint brush depicting Indian life in the olden days as the work of the artist draw an elephant for me with a single hair fur from a rabbit, that I had an unbelievable OMG moment. When you watch Nollywood depict ‘water spirits’ or ‘Mammy Water’ in Nigeria parlance, it struck me like a blow in the stomach how much these so-called Mammy Water Spirits actually look like old pictures of Indian arts depicting their beautiful women dressed in saris! OMG! 

Now join me as we travel the last and final part of this 8-series to the land of exotic lasting romance! The Taj Mahal. This architecture simply blows my mind over again and again! Click the link below.

Part 8: http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-8-entre.html

Attribution- India women: http://olga-mir.blogspot.in/; http://www.newshopper.sulekha.com/

My Love Story With India (Part 8)

FAHTEPUR SIKRI: Home of the Beautiful Ghost Town

Just at the boundary between leaving Jaipur and entering Uttah Pradesh, the watch tower and boundary wall of the first capital of the Moguls welcomes us with enthusiasm.

Thinking our next port of call would be the following day after I’ve settled into a hotel and rested, I was surprised when our driver announced that our next port of call begins right away! We have just barely crossed the wall city on the outskirts leading into Jaipur! There was no point protesting as we were whisked off to the city palace that once reigned as far back as the 1500s. And what we saw, I must say I was not ready for it!

Once our legs touched the red earth of hard stone, we knew instantly that time has stopped here!

This place, this Mogul City, this deserted walled city of red sandstone, palaces and towers is Fatehpur Sikri – a ghost town of a once fledging dynasty.

This incredible town filled with so much history was built over a 12-year period by the Muhgal emperor Akbar from 1569 to 1585. He had three wives; One Hindu, One Muslim and One Catholic wife, each to her own quarters. He was a very religiously tolerant man. For years none of his wives bore him a son. Then one day a Muslim Imam prayed for him that he would have a son. That prayer was fulfilled as the Hindu wife, Jodhabai became pregnant. Because she bore him the son he’s searched for many years, he built a huge palace dedicated only to her (Jodhabai’s Palace). Today that huge palace with many rooms but no windows, wall paintings or any decorations remains as it was. 

On the other hand, the Muslim wife had only one room but its walls are lined with mirrors and diamonds. While the Catholic wife had four rooms decorated with gold and paintings. Besides his three wives, there were some 365 concubines who often gathered at the harem of gardens to delight the king with merriment, dance, laughter and prayers.

After choosing this site to build his empire, the emperor realized he needed to build an artificial lake to survive the scarcity of water in the area. Unfortunately, the water ran dry after just 3 years of habitation. Realizing his error, he moved his entire harem, gold, family, soldiers, guards and all to a new location, leaving behind the planned walls, royal palaces, graveyard, towers, harem courtyards, pavilions, a mosque, private quarters and other utility buildings.

Today Fatehpur Sikri, a Unesco heritage site, stands as one of the best preserved architecture of Mughal splendor and India embellishments.

And now it is time to drive the next 20 kilometres to our next port of call. First hot bath, great food them some sound sleep. For tomorrow promises to be really exciting!

Agra may be famous for the Taj Mahal, but the other untold story is that it has the largest mental hospital in India. The people here are generally aggressive in expression, language, behaviour and business. The residents break traffic laws without qualms. often the mental hospital is overcrowded with no specific room to admit the mentally ill. This can be seen sometimes when mentally ill patients who have escaped from the mental facility take up the job of police men controlling traffic.

Illegal migrants see Agra as a safe haven. And the lucrative sale of marijuana is also a strong attraction for illegal activities. The mountainous region of Asis is famous for the natural growing marijuana which grows luxuriantly in these parts. Smuggling of marijuana from Asis by foreigners is common place; many claiming India nationality to fix themselves permanently closer to this fertile region where marijuana grows plentiful.

Prior to this time though, it used to be a non-illegal practice to take or use these natural plant and its products until it came into the international limelight. It would seem as though Agra has joined the computer game world of illegal activities. 

The ‘Dakot’ are highway thieves who rob with horses but now do so on bikes. The original legend though says that the Dakot were once the Robin Hood of the poor who attack merchants who tease the poor ones because of their caste status. When they steal from these merchants they then give these to the poor. But nowadays, when they steal, they take the monies for themselves rather than give the stolen money to the poor. Either way, as long as the poor take stolen properties or money not theirs, they inadvently may have spurn a terrible set of modern robbers.

Incidentally, Uttar Pradesh means upside down. Perhaps that explains an untold story worth finding out later.

You never get used to seeing a cow just enter an expressway and claim a right of way the way they do in India, and the reason for this is that even the cows pay their taxes by providing milk!

Trains are another interesting sight that greets your eyes in India: old and metro trains alike. India trains are exceptionally long housing 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd classes. The AC-Class is usually at the back of the old-styled trains. In the metro, the first compartments are especially reserved for women and girls. No man is allowed to cross into that threshold.

As night falls, we drove past a circus designed in all its glorious original 70s style of how circus ran in the U.S. When I finally got into my room at this luxurious hotel, I hit the sheets and sleep cuddled me away to dreamland.

And just when I thought I've nothing will surprise me in such a delightful and surreal manner, the next day,I experienced the incredibleness of India. We are going to the Taj Mahal.

TAJ MAHAL

Taj Mahal, the white marble mausoleum inlaid with semi-precious stones is beauty personified; a breathtaking splendor! – the definition of a true Mughal architecture; spotless marble masonry with unblemished purity.

To some, the Taj Mahal may be a grandiose expense but after listening to our guide narrates the story behind this architectural splendor, I concluded this was an Ode to one man’s great personal sense of deep loss – Emperor Shah Jahan – to his most beloved Mumtaz Mahal.

Although Emperor Shah Jahan had three other wives apart from Mumtaz, his was a tale of ‘you can’t choose who you fall in love with’. However, for some who may feel it was unfair to have shown her such overblown attention, here’s what may have contributed to his falling in love with her: he’s known her since she was a little girl. She grew in beauty and stature in his eyes. And when he finally married her, she was the one wife who never critised him openly even though she would do so in private when they’re both alone. Even at that, she was a great listener, supporter, confidante and lover who championed his course like a great cheerleader long before date took her away while giving birth to her 14^th and last child.

Commissioned in 1632 and seated on the southern bank of the Yamuna River, it took 37 architects, 20,000 artisans and 22 years at the cost of 32 million rupees ($827 million US present day) to complete this magnificent piece of embellished architecture to perfection as the Shah Jahan desired it. Unfortunately it came at a cost on its inhabitants who struggled with poverty as all effort and monies was dedicated to the completion of the Taj.

The dome architecture of the Taj along with gardens and two red-sandstone buildings is surrounded by a crenellated wall on three sides. The main architect credited for overseeing and bringing this masterpiece together was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The minarets, which are more than 40 metres (130 ft) are a master design in symmetry and optical illusion, so that in the event of or collapse or earthquakes, these minarets will fall away from the tomb onto the surrounding pavement or river; thus preserving the mausoleum from damage.

Somehow, the emperor got a bit carried away with the successful completion of the Taj Mahal began to have more grandiose ideas of building another Taj! This was to be named the Black Taj – a black mausoleum specially dedicated to him just across the Yamuna River opposite the Taj Mahal with the two structures connected by a bridge. But his son, Aurangzeb would have none of that. He deposed his father and threw him in prison, where of course he died with his big dreams.

Almost 400 years ago since it was built, and over 50 million visitors, the Taj Mahal continues to fascinate, inspire and pull people from all over the world to renew their vows, rekindle their love or simply to see what having deep romantic love can conjure up. This love story is far better than Romeo and Juliet. And that is why The Taj Mahal will always remain the perfect symbol of romantic love. Today it belongs to the elite club of New7Wonders of the World.

To preserve this masterpiece from the Mughal Empire, cars and other vehicles are not allowed within a 500 metres radius of this structure. This is to prevent the attendant fumes, fossil fuels and petrol combustions from motor exhausts from polluting the air into smug falls back as impurities in during raining periods. Only gulf cars provided by the government are allowed to take you direct to the security post that leads into the Taj Mahal complex. You can even sense this level of hygiene and cleanliness amongst the poorest of the Indians - a beautiful way of living.

Constant repairs, cleaning and dusting to preserve the minarets, marble and inlaid-stones used to built the Taj is non-negotiable. That is why today it sits as one of the Wonders of the World.

Proposed sight of Black Tajal...

As we drive off ready to head back to Delhi, we decided to make a quick stop at the less famous Black Taj. On the way we noticed excited children in school uniforms ready to start their day. The colours for basic students it seems was mustard-coloured suits, trousers, shirts and scarves.

The fog around the site for the Black Taj, known as the Moonlight Garden, Mahtab Bagh was made thick by the evaporation from the large orchid surrounding it. Beautifully arranged trees and shrubs adorn the area. A look at the size of the initial construction site bespeaks of another grand structure that never saw the light of day. You’ve got to watch the video to see what I mean.

For me, my trip to India has been a mesmerizing experience of serendipities. I am so totally in love with Incredible India!

Till we meet again, Old Fine Country.

Back to Part 1: http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-1-my-trip.html

Part-2:http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-2-new.html.

Part 3: http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/love-story-with-india-part-3-delhi.html.

Part-4:http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-4-my-love.html.

Part 5: http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-5.html.

Part-6:http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-6-jaipur.html

Part 7: http://ladyechannel.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/my-love-story-with-india-part-7.html
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