भारत गणराज्य India

Lego my ego

India is a country of contrast, rich and poor; earth tones and vibrant colors; beautiful architecture and mud huts as well as a contrast of modernity and history. In no other place that we have visited so far are these contrasts so apparent. We have visited so many archeological and ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian temple sites during our travels where all that remain are the traces and historical best guesses of what actually transpired. In India there are temples that are just as ancient but are “living”, where the ceremonies are on-going and the deities are actively worshipped either in the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist faiths.

The melding of culture and religion and everyday life in the second most populous country in the world is awesome. Walking and driving down the street overwhelms the senses, even in Mumbai the streets are shared with trucks, buses, moto-rickshaws, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, hand carts, ox carts, camel carts, horse carts, pedestrians, brahma bulls, dogs, cats, monkeys etc. all going different directions.

Some of the highlights of our trip to India started in Mumbai where we saw a Jain temple, the house Gandhi lived in for some years, the botanic garden where the Parsi’s have their sky burial and fire temple then on to Aurangabad where we took the train through the Maharashta province and visited several sites. We went to the Daulatabad fort where we were led by torch light through a darkened passageway covered with bats crawling the ceilings; to the Ellora and Ajanta cave temples where early Hindu, Jain and Buddhist carvings exist dating back to around 200-600 BC. We went searching for Bengal tigers with no luck, instead we saw a Sambur and spotted deer as well as massive spiders the likes of nightmare making. We flew to Jaipur and visited the City Palace and an elephant ride up to the Fatepuhr Palace built by Akbar the Great during the Moghul Empire. Then on to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and Red Fort. Next stop, Delhi.