Trip to Agra version 2

For the past week, I've been gallivanting around India en route to Agra.
We left on Friday and made it as far as Dr. Storm's country house where we spent the afternoon swimming in her pool and on a hike with Guy-ji to look at birds. The next morning, we left for Keoleodeo Bird Sanctuary. On the way, we stopped at Deeg Palace, an old maharajah palace known best for its 2000 fountains that were filled with colored water and its lakes that were built to power these fountains. When we got to the sanctuary, we walked into our hotel near the sanctuary to find that it was under renovation. Dr. Storm was furious because the place was being torn apart, and used her anger to get us rooms in a much nicer hotel inside the sanctuary. We went out in bike rickshaws in the evening to see the birds. The next morning, we got up at sunrise to ride ourselves around on bikes. Getting out and getting some physical exercise besides walking was fantastic. We saw the world's tallest species of flying bird, and other beautiful and exotic birds. The sanctuary itself was built first by the British to serve as a hunting area. There was a large sign up with the numbers of ducks shot on each shoot- the numbers went up to 4206! Now, however, it's a sanctuary, so hopefully they're making up for the mistreatment of the birds in the past.
That evening, we left for Fatehpur Sikri. This was built by Emperor Akbar (my newest historical obsession- he was pretty amazing) to be the capitol of his empire, but was only used for 15 years. The buildings left inside it are amazing. Of the original 500 buildings, only a few remain and nothing much is known about them, but it was still amazing to visit. Dr. Storm took us around the site a little, then sent us off to draw an area of it that we chose, which is an exercise to get us to really take some time to look at the site.
In the afternoon, we visited the other half of the Fatehpur Sikri area- the Dargah. This complex included a mosque, several tombs, and other open areas. This was incredibly beautiful and interesting. The next morning, we were given the option to get up at 6 and go back to the Dargah. Surprisingly, only three of us took this opportunity, but we really enjoyed it. The light was so much more beautiful and the lack of people made the second trip much more enjoyable.
The night after our first visit to the Dargah, we had a Qwwali music performance at our hotel, which was very powerful. The family that performed traces their lineage back to musicians for Akbar. They were talented and devoted, which made the entire performance interesting for so many reasons.
After our second visit to the Dargah, we left for Agra. We stopped at Akbar's tomb on the way. The tomb, begun by Akbar and finished by his son, Jahangir, was incredibly beautiful. We did more drawings there, much to the entertainment of the tourists around us.
Agra as a city is disgusting and obnoxious. Because of the tourist spots, it has become full of tourist traps and trash. Dr. Storm was sad that the government had allowed it to fall to such disrepair. The traffic was terrible and chaotic- even worse than Jaipur, which I didn't think was possible!
We visited another tomb there, before visiting the main attractions of Agra: the Taj Mahal and Agra fort. We went to the Taj in the morning (we left the hotel at 5:45). Our vans took us to a parking lot, where we got onto horse-drawn buggies that took us straight to the Taj. The sun was rising over the side building as we got there. Because we were so early, we also missed the throngs of tourists, in the beginning at least. The building and complex are magnificent. The entire complex is completely symmetrical (except for the sarcophagus that is off center, so that it's closer to Mecca). The perfection of the geometrical shapes and images is amazing.
We spent an hour at the Taj, walking around in awe for most of it.
After breakfast, we left to go to the Red Fort. There are two parts to the fort: the military side, and the palace side. We only visited the palace because it is the prettier of the two, and more interesting to us. The white marble buildings were spectacular. We got more time there to draw and to try to make it through the maze of buildings.
After lunch, Dr. Storm offered to take anyone who was interested with her to a town outside of Agra. The town, and hour drive away, is known for its glasswork. Three of us joined her (most people were more interested in napping after our early morning). The town was full of shops and people in the street (as was to be expected the weekend before Diwali). We made it to the bangle market, which was intense. It was no bigger than a tiny alley, lined on both sides with bangle shops. The alley was full of people jostling around, carts full of brightly colored glass circles, and shopkeepers displaying their beautiful bangles. Obviously not on the normal tourist track, this town was amazing. The market was an authentic bangle market- not just the tourist trap that most markets I've been to are. We all bought some bangles (for very cheap too- because it wasn't for tourists), and took in the chaos and bustle that was all around us.
Back in Agra for dinner, none of us wanted to brave the streets, so we walked a few buildings down to the Pizza Hut (I know, lame, right?). We were all ordering take-out so that we could eat it in our rooms (even lamer?). A good song came on the speakers, and the servers all got excited. One of them turned to Jessica and said, "I'm going to dance!". Seven servers (all male, of course) lined up in the dining room and proceeded to do an intricately choreographed dance to bits of three different songs. Pizza Hut will never be the same again.

Yesterday was Diwali, Hinduism's version of Christmas, sort of. Friday night (the night before), I went with my parents to a neighborhood party in the park. We played a few games of House- pretty much Bingo. I didn't win a single thing :-( . We then ate salty and sweet snacks, and went home. Yesterday, we did a puja (worship) to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. This is supposed to bring wealth and luck in the new year (which starts today). Then we went around the neighborhood to visit neighbors, as is the tradition. Kids have been setting off fireworks for Diwali for weeks now. They were going in full blast last night. I made friends with some of the kids my age in the neighborhood. One girl kept trying to get me to tell her about life in the US. She was amazed that I can stay out past 10:00 and had been to several countries. Then, at another house, I got to set off fireworks with some of the family. We didn't eat dinner until 11:00 (people kept coming by to visit). After dinner, we went for a drive around the city to see the lights (just like Christmas!). We got home at midnight, and the fireworks were still going strong. I now know what it sounds like to live in a war zone. Supposedly, they won't stop for another week too. Good thing I can sleep through anything.
Tonight, I'm going to the temple with my father for dinner, as is the tradition.

I only have one more week of class, then a week of exams, then it's off to Banaras for a month!

Here are pictures of my trip:
http://skidmore.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013341&id=12200174&l=d1dd9