A Passage To India

    This story beings years ago when I was working as a computer analyst for United Parcel Service. Nowadays working in computers will inevitably bring you into contact with people from India as there must be hundreds of thousands Indian ex-patriates who are skilled in the latest computer technologies and choose to work in the United States. This story begins with Nilesh Patil who joined our project and not only became a valuable co-worker but a good friend. India and Indian culture became a frequent break time conversation and I found the subject fascinating. Once I found out that Nilesh, being one of the few unmarried, would one day be introduced to a suitable young woman and married in a colorful Hindu ceremony, I vowed (or some may say, threatened) to be in attendance.
   My friend, Joe, gave me a big map of India that I hung in my office and started marking with the home towns of my Indian friends. I started a list of the places that I needed to visit and the sights I needed to see. I even started studying the Hindi language although that did not work out that well as I have a tin ear.
  Last December Nilesh went back to India for a visit and, lo and behold, his parents found a girl for him. They became engaged in January and the wedding date was eventually set for November. The trip was on!

Nilesh and Shweta's Engagement Photo

    Planning the trip was an adventure onto itself. Once the wedding date was set I knew I had to be in in Nasik (Nilesh's home town) from November 20th through the 23rd. You see Hindu weddings have ceremonies that begin days before the wedding day and last for several days afterward. The big day was set for Monday, the 22nd and Nilesh recommended we arrive at least two days before and stay for the day after. I also wanted to visit another Indian friend, Mahesh, who had moved back to India after our project at UPS ended. That needed to be on a weekend when he was off work. The other thing that we really wanted to do was take a special train tour on the Palace on Wheels. This train is operated by India Railways and is modeled after the private rail cars of Indian royalty, the Maharajas of Rajasthan.
   After much back and forth between me, my husband Mike and my Indian friends we set the itinerary to fly into Mumbai and after a few days take a train to Nasik for the wedding. From Nasik we would travel by train to Aurangabad where we could tour 1300 year old temples that were carved into caves. From Aurangabad we would fly to Hyderabad for the weekend to visit Mahesh and his wife, Shravani. From there we would fly to Delhi and have a day to spend there before starting our Palace on Wheels tour. The last day of that tour we would see the Taj Mahal and then return to Delhi and fly home. In all, we would be gone for 25 days, visit 13 cities and 5 states.
   The next step was applying for a tourist visa to India. For that we had to mail our passports to an office in Washington, DC. They placed the visa right into our passports.

    Then it was on to the UofL International Travel Clinic. Let's see, we got shots for typhiod, tuberculosis, tetanus, diptheria, whooping cough and a polio booster over three sessions. We were also supplied with malaria pills that we started before we left and took throughout the trip until we were home again. I wasn't sure if I'd ever had the chicken pox but they can do a test and I have either had them or been vaccinated for them (that saved me two more shots). They said that the only shot we are missing is yellow fever and then we can travel anywhere!

    Booking the flight to and from India was a snap. Booking travel within India took a little longer. One can book flights on Indian airlines (like Kingfisher and Jet Airways) through the internet sites like Travelocity and Expedia and you can also book hotels through sites like hotels.com. Deciding how to get around was difficult since there are many choices (air, train, bus, driver) and I don't know enough about the pros and cons of each. Relying on the advice of my Indian friends we decided to take the train to and from Nasik and fly everywhere else.

My biggest worry about taking the train was the amount of luggage we would be carrying versus the crowds and the small amount of time we would have to get on/off. According to their schedule the train only stops for 2 minutes. I didn't actually time the stop but I would say it was a long 2 minutes because we had plenty of time to get on and off.

Our first leg was Mumbai to Nasik where we were in a First Class car. If this is the best, I hate to see the worst but it was only a 3-hour ride and we had plenty of room. Our second leg was a different story. That train had no first class cars so the best we could get was an Air-Conditioned Chair Car. The only place to put luggage was an overhead shelf and our bags were very big and heavy. I was thankful that was the last public train ride we had to take.

    At last the itinerary was set, all the travel arrangements had been made, our passports and visas were ready, we had all our shots so on Monday, November 15 we boarded our flight bound for Mumbai, India via Newark. After our 2-hour flight to Newark we had time to eat some dinner before boarding the 15-hour Continental flight to Mumbai.

    About an hour into the flight an announcement came out asking for a doctor. On a flight full of Indian ex-patriots quite a few doctors went forward. A short while later the bad news came, a passenger in first class had been taken seriously ill and we were going back to Boston to make an emergency landing. Upon landing, it took a while to get the passenger off the plane and then to decide what to do with the rest of us. It was too late to continue on to India so they ended up taking us off the plane and busing us to hotels. The next morning we reported back to the airport only to find out that we would not depart until 5 PM because the international airport in Mumbai was temporarily closed for construction. So we left the US a day late and arrived in Mumbai the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 17.
    We were finally in India!

Passage To India - Mumbai and The Wedding



Gateway of India - Mumbai


    Our first day in Mumbai we hired a car and driver to take us on a tour of Colaba, the part of Mumbai where we were staying. Mumbai, with a population of 16 million, is the largest city in India (and on track to pass Mexico City as the largest city in the world). Our tour took us past the government center with it's beautiful examples of imperial architecture, built by the British when they took control in the 1800's. We also visited a temple, a city park, the city laundry and drove along the waterfront on Marine Drive, a big commercial and entertainment district.

    One of the stops on the tour was the Ghandi house. This was the home where Ghandi lived while he was in Mumbai although it was actually owned by a close friend. It is now a museum dedicated to Ghandi. One of the unique features is a series of dioramas depicting key moments in Ghandi's life.




    On our second, and last, day in Mumbai we went to the Prince of Wales museum which was a short walk from our hotel but required crossing a congested traffic circle. The official name of the museum is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. I also saw it referred to simply as The Museum.



Excerpt from Prince of Wales Museum brochure



    Since the weather in Mumbai was very hot (90's) and very humid I had an idea that a museum would be climate controlled. It was not the case. They did have the windows open and fans running but since we had to check out of our hotel that morning we really didn't have anywhere else to stay for the day. I thought it was an excellent museum and we learned a lot about India. All the signs were in English as well as the native language (either Hindi or Maharati, don't know which) and we had an English audio tour headset.

    After observing traffic the day before I was seriously thinking of taking a taxi but we decided to take our life in our hands and go for it.





Actually I figured if the dog could make it, so could I. So I positioned myself on the downside of the traffic next to a group of local-looking people and safely crossed with them. Watching traffic in India became a favorite pasttime of ours. I admire any young person who can learn to drive there; I would find it way too intimidating.

   The collection at the museum was very extensive. It included Indian miniature paintings, Indian arts and crafts, temple sculptures, natural history and a large collection of European and Oriental art. The building itself was a work of art. The miniature paintings were quite interesting as they depicted Indian history as well as every day life of royalty and commoner alike. We were to see miniature paintings in all the museums we visited and for sale in the shops and even brought a couple of them home with us.

   After the museum we walked along the Colaba Causeway looking in the shops and fending off the street vendors. Eventually we saw the Leopold Cafe and took a seat with the thought of getting something to drink and rest our feet until it was time to head to the train station. The tandori chicken smelled so good I decided to give it a try and Mike ordered garlic bread. It turned out to be the best restaurant meal we had in India.

   We left home on a Monday and now it is Friday, Nov. 19. We take a wild taxi ride to the train station as our first taxi did not show up so we were running late. We were leaving from the Victoria Terminus, a beautiful and historic train station. We deliberatly skipped seeing it on our tour as we thought we would be going through it when we went to our train. Instead the driver took us directly to the track and we boarded the train without ever going inside the station. We got on the train with a few minutes to spare and settled into the first class cabin which consisted of two bench seats, four people and two overhead pull down bunks. It took almost an hour to go through Mumbai and then the train stopped so the porters could make up the beds. The other two occupants were on an overnight journey so they both went to sleep and my husband and I read until we got to Nasik around 10 PM.

Lobby of the Gateway Hotel, Nasik

    In Nasik we stayed at the Gateway Hotel which is part of the luxury Taj Hotel group. The Taj chain is owned by the Tata family, the wealthiest family in India and one of the richest in the world. You see the Tata name all over India. The Tata's businesses also include oil, electricity, automobile, retail stores and I'm sure much more. One member of the family built a 19-story private home in Mumbai (unfortunately it was not near where we were staying as I would like to have seen it).

    On Saturday morning Victor, our personal driver for our stay in Nasik, picked us up at the hotel and took us to the Patil home where the wedding festivities were already underway. They had erected big tents in the yard and decorated the exterior of the home. Many of the relatives had already arrived for the wedding. Unfortunately only a few of them could speak English which made me really sorry I had given up studying Hindi. (Even if I could not have learned it well enough to carry on a conversation it would have been helpful to know some words.)

   As there were only a few wedding-related actitivies on Saturday Nilesh's brother, Uday, went with us to show us Nasik. We stopped at the school that both he and Nilesh attended and walked through the street market.

The market area covers many blocks and is teeming with shops, street vendors, traffic, animals and pedestrians. At one point someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around to find a man with a camel offering to take me for a ride. I was also intrigued by the men sitting at their sewing machines. You could walk up and hand them a garment to mend or alter and they would do it on the spot.

Here's a video of Uday walking us through the street market.

    The other tourist-type thing we did in Nasik was to visit Sula Winery. This region of India is known for growing grapes and has become the center of India's burgeoning wine industry. There are over thirty vineyards in the region. I had never toured a winery before but we had been to Kentucky's bourbon distilleries. I guess it's no surprise that the process is fairly similar as they both make alcohol. The winery had a nice tasting room and a bar and terrace overlooking the vineyard. In the distance was a lake and hills. It could easily have been in California.

    Back at Nilesh's home we sat with the family and enjoyed watching them go about their tasks and interact with each other. The women were busy cooking and serving all the visitors. Some of the cooking was done outdoors over a fire. They use propane in the kitchen. Here they are making bread. One of the stories we heard is that every time a household makes bread the head of the household takes the first piece and feeds it to one of the cows roaming the streets. The second piece is fed to one of the dogs roaming the streets. The cows are considered sacred and are free to roam where ever they wish. There are many dogs wandering around as well although we rarely saw any cats. Many households, including the Patils, have a walled yard and have a dog to protect them from wandering opportunists especially since they store many things outside like furniture and dishes.

    Nilesh's family are vegetarian so the food consisted of different curries with rice and bread. I have grown especially fond of lentils with rice (they call it daal). We had it just about everywhere we ate Indian food although in different variations. I liked Nilesh's Mother's daal the best.

    Like most Indian homes, there is an indoor bathroom but its just for the toilet and bathing. There is no running hot water (just cold). The sink is in the hallway. Washing dishes and clothes is done outside. Indian-style toilets are a marble trough in the floor so they do not sit. They wash themseleves with a hose and bucket (they think it is unclean to touch yourself and they are probably right). They also wash the bathroom floor so they wear special sandals when using the bathroom. We stayed in western-style hotels that had familiar bathrooms and there was usually access to a western-style bathroom (for instance, the Patil's next-door neighbor had one). The longest we had to hold it was at the wedding hall although our driver would have taken us somewhere if we needed it. So I never attempted to use an Indian-style toilet.

    Another thing we found interesting was the door-to-door vendors. As we were siting in the yard visiting with Nilesh and his family we kept hearing people singing. Finally I realized that it was people pushing carts calling out to the houses as he went. They were selling food, dishes, collecting junk and even collecting the garbage. The most unusual was a man who was administering vaccinations to the kids. Uday's daughter received a free polio vaccination.

    Nilesh has a lot of young relatives and as the weekend went on more showed up. Even though we couldn't converse we connected non-verbally. The kids especially liked us taking their picture so they could see themsleves on the digital camera screen.

    The first wedding activity in which I took part happened on Saturday evening. A young woman came to the house to paint henna tattoos on the wedding participants and anyone else who wanted one.

Since you have to let the henna dry overnight everyone changed into their sleeping clothes before they got their tattoo. I couldn't do that, having to return to the hotel, so I only had her paint a tattoo on my left arm and hand. In the morning you wash the excess paint off and there is the tattoo. It started fading after about a week and was gone by the time I got home.

     On Sunday the pace of wedding activities picked up. In the morning the men collected branches and the women anointed them with spices. The branches were hung on the house and on the gates of family and respected friends as an invitiation to the wedding. They also sent out a paper invitation:

    After that members of the family, led by Nilesh's uncle (but not Nilesh), made their way to the local temple. Every Hindu household has statues of their patron Gods in their home. Whenever they enter or leave the house, they greet the Gods. They always consult the Gods before any major event. The procession took the Gods to the temple so the Gods could be married, thus giving their blessing to the upcoming nuptials. The second purpose of the procession was to alert everyone in the neighborhood that a wedding was taking place. For that affect two vigourous drummers led the procession.

    That afternoon the rain started. A big ceremony was planned that evening at the house but because of the rain it was moved to a building just down the street. The storm knocked out power to the neighborhood so they had to scramble to find a generator. The ceremony was interrupted a few times by the lights going out. Here are photos from the ceremony:

    After Nilesh's ceremony, we ate a buffet dinner and then a few of us went over to the hall where Shweta's ceremony took place. Shweta's family had planned to have dancing but it was cancelled due to the power outage.

    Monday was the wedding day and fortunately no rain. They rented a big hall that could seat all of the 800 some guests who were expected to attend. We arrived at 9 AM for breakfast with the bride's family. The wedding was supposed to start at 12:21 (a propitious time for Nilesh and Shweta) but as we were told, everything in India runs on "Indian Standard Time" which usually means late (but can also mean early as we found out later). The ceremony did not actually start until 1:30. While we were waiting we met a gentleman (in the black vest) and his brother. The man runs a school near Delhi and had been a teacher to the bride's father and was an honored guest. He showed us a photo album of when Indira Ghandi had visited his school. The current president of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, is from the village where his school is located and has also visited the school. Mike gave him American money as a souvenir and he, in return, gave Mike some rupees.







Mike in turban, self portrait.



    At the entrance to the wedding there was a color guard carrying banners and large curved horns. Every now and then they would blow the horns and we would think the bride and groom were coming. We found out later that they blow the horn whenever an important guest enters. The way they know who is important is by the turban they are wearing. Here is the turban they gave Mike. He finally figured out they were blowing the horns for him.

    The bride's family sends a horse to fetch the groom. In this case, the bride's brother brought the horse and then Nilesh got on the horse and came to the wedding hall with his entourage. Shweta and her sister met him at the entrance. (Nilesh's sister is to his left.)

The wedding ceremony was in two parts. (Please note that this is a recap from an outsider who could not understand the language and has no backgound in the religious aspects. Forgive me if I got this wrong.) The first part they were on an elaborately decorated stage and the priest recited chants. They exchanged flowers and anointed each other. The second part of the ceremony took place on an altar. In this part they had a fire cauldron and made a series of offerings to the Gods while the priest chanted. Then they stood and walked around the fire seven times, some with Nilesh in front, some with Shweta in front but with their shawls tied together. At this point they became husband and wife. Here are photos from the two ceremonies:

Between the two ceremonies all the guests got to go next door to the dining hall for lunch. The bride and groom and their families had to stay on the stage and have their photos taken with everyone who wanted a photo. The photo session lasted a couple of hours. Here is our photo with the bride and groom and the bride's Father.

    For the ceremony on the altar the bride and groom must remove their shoes. The bride's family then steals the groom's shoes. Afterwards the groom has to negotiate with the bride's family to get his shoes back. Here he is negotiating with the bride's brother.
  

     Finally, the bride and groom get to sit down to eat. By this time most of the guests had left and only close family and friends remained. We all got to eat again. We were never wanting for food while we were in India!







   We met an English speaking family, the Shelkes, at the wedding who were friends of the Patils, the sons having gone to school together. They invited us to their home after the wedding and Rajesh, their son, stayed with us to give us a ride. On the way to their home Rajesh had to go counterclockwise through a busy traffic circle. Someone trying to go clockwise through the circle clipped his car and broke his tail light. About a dozen people crowded around to see what happened but since the drivers weren't fighting, they left. Another India experience for us.
   The Shelkes live in a modern apartment building which was interesting to see. They served us fruit and nuts some of which are unlike any we have back home. I took this photo at their home:

    Our last day in Nasik, Tuesday, we had to check out of our hotel before heading over to the Patils. On the day after the wedding, the families help the bride and groom get better acquainted with each other by bathing them and playing games. From the Sunday night ceremony when the families rub turmeric on the bride and groom until today, they are not allowed to wash it off and can only leave the house for the wedding ceremony. Now the families wash the turmeric off the couple and then they can bathe properly.

   The last ceremony is in the living room at the alter that was set up on the first day. The priest comes and chants as Nilesh and Shweta make offerings to the Gods. Nilesh and Shweta still had visits to make and temples to go to but basically the wedding was over at this point.

   Here is a final picture of Nilesh with his family at their home (his sister is missing from the photo).



Passage To India - Touring

Aurangabad

    Tuesday evening we took the train to Aurangabad and checked into the Taj Residency hotel. This is a beautiful hotel and we were tempted to just spend a day relaxing at the hotel but our main purpose in coming to Aurangabad was to visit the caves of Ellora and Ajanta.



Temple at Ellora



    The term "caves" is actually a misnomer. In the 2nd century B.C. until the 14th century A.D. monks lived and worked at these sites (and many others throughout India) creating temples and living spaces for themselves, workers and travelers along the Silk Road. The earliest monks were Buddhist but they were joined by Jain and Hindu monks.



Decoration at Ajanta



The Ajanta caves were created first and then work moved to Ellora. The work was mostly funded by Indian royalty but also by dontations from wealthy patrons. In the 1300s when the Mughals moved into India bringing Islam, the funding stopped and work ceased. Since Ellora was more accessable it continued to be used for residences and hotels and thus suffered erosion, damage, looting and vandalism. Ajanta, which is more remote, was soon covered by the jungle and largely forgotten. In the early 1800s the British discovered Ajanta and excavated it. The carvings at Ajanta are in better condition and many examples of the wall decoration remain. It helps you get a glimpse of how colorful the temples must have been. At Ellora there is very little decoration left but the temples are larger and the carving more intricate.

    At Ellora some of the temples were carved from the top down (like the one at right) and some from the front back. (Note the wide walkways added by the British to make it easier for the tourists and I do appreciate that.) Its amazing how they could get the columns lined up and rooms square. The tour guide said the Buddhist monks were highly educated and very good at mathmatics but remember this was as long as 1300 years ago!

     This was a residence for the monks but they would also house workers and travelers. Artists would hear about Ellora from people traveling the Silk Road and would come here to find work. Some of the artists came from China, Europe and Africa so you can see those influences in the carvings. The rooms were small and the beds were carved out of rock (and not very comfortable; I hope they had sleeping pads).

   The most outstanding feature at Ellora is the Kailasanatha Temple which was carved from the top down and is the largest carved temple in the world. It measures 164' long by 108' wide and 95' tall at the apex. (So even though I heard that it was larger than any European churches that is not the case. St. Peter's Bascillca in Rome is 448 feet high at the top of the dome which is the tallest dome in the world.) The intricate carvings on this temple are impressive and even more so because of when it was built (8th century A.D.) and how it was carved from the top down out of solid rock.

   This view shows the elephant statues that support the main temple and continue around all sides. It also shows the solid rock from which the temple was carved with rudimentary tools (no dynamite, no jack hammers). This place makes Mount Rushmore look like child's play!

 This carving tells a story of how one of the god's wives was stolen by a demon god and monkey gods were used to help get her back. I think it looks like decorations in Egyptian pyramids.

   The photo on the left shows one of the two elephants that guard the entrance to the temple. The photo on the right is a carving on the side of the temple (I forget if it is a god or just a dancing girl). You can still see some of the decoration that once covered all the walls of the temple. It must have been an amazing sight!

  

    Ajanta was built between 200 B.C. and 700 A.D. at which time work moved to Ellora. Ajanta is built into a crescent shaped hill that follows a bend in the river so it was a dead end for travelers.

You only went there if that was your destination. That isolated location protected the caves so they are in better condition than the caves at Ellora. All the caves at Ajanta are Buddhist. 

   The highlights of Ajanta are the wall paintings and decoration that can still be seen. It is mindboggling that it is 2200-1300 years old and still here.

 

    Another of Ajanta's treasures is the 23 foot long reclining Buddha.

There was a large group of Buddhist monks visiting Ajanta on the same day as us. (They had come to Aurangabad on the same train as we did.) They went into each temple and chanted which gave a lovely atmosphere to the temples. The monks were both male and female and were happy to take a photo with Mike.

I thought this was a

very ecumenical sight.

=====

On the way to Ellora we stopped at Daulatabad Fort. This fort was built in the 14th century on the site of an earlier fortification, Devagiri. The defenses were so ingenious that everyone was afraid to attack it so it never saw any fighting. It is the best preserved medieval fort in the world. One of defenses will sound familiar to Indiana Jones fans: access to the fort is via a long slopped alley way that was lined with buildings on either side. If an enemy force approched, they could roll large boulders down the alley and knock them back.

    The fort could only be entered via a long, dark and narrow corridor that twisted and turned as it ascended the 600 foot hill upon which the fort was constructed. The corridor had false doors that would lead to a dead end or would open to a shear drop into a crocidile infested moat. As we walked through the corridor behind our guide holding a torch we could hear squeaking but we couldn't see anything. Mike took some pictures of the ceiling not knowing what he was aiming at. OK, I knew the squeaking was probably bats but I had no idea there were so many (I did have a hat on thank goodness).

   The other things they planned to do should anyone dare to attack the fort included dropping boiling oil or water on them from ports in the ceiling, setting fires to fill the tunnel with smoke and positioning soilders by the windows to chop off the head of anyone who looked out to see where they were.



A young woman at a temple in the fort



At 210', the second tallest minar in India.



=====

   Back in Aurangabad we visited Bibi-Ka-Maqbara also known as the Baby Taj. It was built by the grandson of Shah Jahan, the man who built the Taj Mahal.  It is patterned after the Taj Mahal but is about 1/3 the size and is built of alabaster covered with clam shell and milk plaster. It needs some repairs but it has been difficult to find a mixture that works as well as the original.

    We also went to a factory that makes himroo and pashmini shawls and clothing. They use 19th century looms from England and wool, silk and cotton thread from Kashmir. The designs are very labor intensive and it can take as much as six months to make a sari. A sari like that would be for a very special occasion like a wedding.

Hyderabad

    From Aurangabad we flew to Hyderabad to visit our friends Mahesh and Shravani. Mahesh used to work with me at UPS and they lived in Louisville for a couple of years. After leaving UPS he decided to move back to India. They are expecting their first baby in February. They live on the top floor of a 5-story apartment building. Mahesh works nearby and rides his motorbike to work. He also has a car, a Maruti Suzuki Ritz.

   On Friday night they took us to a lake where there are many restaurants and entertainment options. We went to a restaurant that is themed on Indian movies and was decorated with movie posters and life size action figures.

     On Saturday we went to the Salar Jung Museum. Unfortunately they did not allow cameras inside as there were several interesting exhibits I would have liked to photograph. One of their treasures is the Italian staute, the Veiled Rebecca. The veil is so finely carved you can see the woman's face under it. You can see it on the museum's web page, http://www.salarjungmuseum.in/.

That night we went to the Sound and Light show at Fort Golconda. You listen to an audio recording telling the history of the fort using actors to portray the people who lived in the fort. Dramatic lighting is used to bring the voices to life as if people were still living in the fort. It was a very entertaining show.

     On Sunday we attempted to go to a beautiful temple but it was closed for lunch. The science museum was across the street and had a sweeping view of the government center and the city. There was a public park next to the museum that displayed temple sculptures that are centuries old. I was amazed that they would trust placing the sculptures in such an open place (that would not work in the U.S.).

   When we got back to the apartment Mahesh took Mike for a ride on his motorbike.

    After Shravani cooked for us and we watched a cricket match on TV we went to a shopping mall and then to the movie theatre to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. The movie was in English and it felt pretty similar to being in a movie theater back home except you could order food to be delivered to your seat - sweet!

Delhi



Lotus Temple, Delhi

   On Monday, Nov. 29 we flew to Delhi, the last stop on our tour. We had two days before we boarded our train tour, Palace On Wheels. The first day we hired a car and driver and went about on our own. The second day we had a car, driver and tour guide from Palace Tours (included with the Palace On Wheels tour). Our first stop was the Lotus Temple, a Buddhist temple. The interior was very simple (no photography and no talking allowed).

Delhi is the original or old part of the city. The British built New Delhi where all the government buildings are located. This is the capital of India. The President's Palace and the legislature buildings are located on the Raj Path, a long boulevard with parks along both sides, similar to the national mall in Washington D.C.

Unlike our White House, though, the President's Palace is not open for tours; only the monkeys are free to go in. 

    We also visited the Imperial Hotel, a magnificent classic hotel. Even though we were not staying there, they were so nice to us. They let Mike sit in the vintage car.

The hotel was decorated with portraits of Maharajas and other Indian dignitaries as well as Indian art and craft objects. The bar had a wonderful wrap-around mural depitcing the Indian landscape and scenes from India's past.

This is the Birla Mandir, a Hindu temple. Another place where cameras were not allowed inside. Too bad because it was very colorful and unusual. They had a nice gift shop where we bought Christmas ornaments with intricate decorations on them (okay, they didn't call them Christmas ornaments but they had hangers on them).

This is Humayun's Tomb which pre-dates the Taj Mahal. It was built in the 16th century and was the first garden tomb (that it, set in a garden-like setting). It was probably an inspiration for the Taj Mahal (as Agra is only a short distance away). It's built from red sandstone and marble, a beautiful combination. Humayun died after falling down the stairs in his palace. 

The Qutub Minar is a victory monument and, at 273 feet, the tallest minar in India and the tallest brick minaret in the world. It was built in the 12th century. The tower is a tapered masterpiece of alternating round and pointed columns. It's amazing how they were able to create the perfect round shapes and the perfectly mitered edges. The minar is part of a complex of palaces and temples, most of which are in ruins.