The Journey from Delhi to Agra (28th March)

 An early start but having had a wonderful sleep we’re all raring to go, especially as this journey will bring us closer to our dream of visiting The Taj Mahal.  It’s impossible to write on my lappy as I drive along…

a)       because the sun is shining on my screen and all I can see is blackness,   

b)      I’m not watching what’s going on around me, and

c)      I feel ‘coach sick’ if I keep my head down for too long - boring :(

So I’m writing this later - copying what I scribbled down in my note pad as I went along.  It’s a list and if I can make out what it says (the writing’s rubbish due to swerving, breaking, bumpy roads and me trying to write without looking down!).  Some of the things I saw…..

• Lots of villages and little settlements.
• Women in fields gathering wheat - singing, chatting & all dressed in bright coloured saris.
• Women and children carrying huge bales of wheat on their heads.
• Women making dung patties (using dung from the cattle).
• A dreadful car accident.
• Lots of children waving - happy faces.
• Men & boys trying to sell us jewellery, peacock feather fans and entertain us with monkeys :(
• Many men, especially older men sitting in ‘Malasana’.
• Schools - first one all girls, dressed in pale pink saris, the next mixed - boys in jade shirts, girls in jade saris - all looking very smart & so proud to be at school, carrying their files, laughing, chatting.
• Boys, men playing cricket - lots of this....anywhere, any space and not always a cricket bat and ball - a baton of wood seems to suffice.
• Piles of dung patties, or them stacked and laid out to dry.
• Cows, bulls and calves, many, some tied, some loose.
• Women washing their cows - treasured and revered animals.
• Rows of shops - dressmaking, men’s garment making, ironing, repairs (bikes, cars, tuk-tuks, lorries), hairdressing, barber, fruiterers, veg stall, Masala Chai stall, patis & samosa stalls.
• Women riding side saddle on backs of scooter, motorbikes, bicycles - eek, brave ladies!
• Men gathered round stalls chatting, smoking, some on day beds under the trees.
• 4 teenagers on a motorbike (they fell off shortly after they passed us (laughing and only egos bruised I think.
• 12 people in a tuk-tuk.
• The ‘School Bus’ - a tractor and trailer full to the brim with pupils.
• Taxi Rank - at least 12 tuk-tuks touting for business.
• An Elephant!! Jai Ganesha!!
• Cow sitting in the middle of the road somehow being avoided by the craziness that is the rush hour traffic…….and more....

Wow what a journey!!

Somehow I’ve arrived unscathed in Agra - it was a wonderful way to see a bit of real India. I loved every bit of it.

A lot of them are heading off for an optional tour somewhere or other, but quite frankly I’d rather take the optional ‘Lie by the Poolside and read a book’

Early start tomorrow 5.45 but, hey, I’m going to the Taj Mahal so that’s not a problem at all (did I mention I was going to the Taj Mahal tomorrow?)