Palolem Beach in
Goa - the former Portuguese Colony nestled in the India's western coast. Crawling with tourists during the season, but this past week, as the summer days are disappearing and the monsoon is looming? Refreshingly calm, relaxed. Few enough people around that you can really sit and have a conversation with someone you've met - local shopkeepers, waiters, bartenders - all happy to give you the extra attention that's key to a good vacation because well, what else do they have to do?
New Delhi, India's bustling Capital City. It's off season here as well - no wonder, with temperatures topping 45 degrees (that's 113 Fahrenheit, folks). Nonetheless, the city offers up a ton of cool sites to see - national monuments, ancient ruins, suffocating spice markets and delicious food, just to name a few. And, if you're OK with letting go of a little extra cash for air conditioned taxis and hotel rooms, well the heat isn't really that bad. (Did I really say that? I've been in India too long).
Finally, Agra.
Just a 2-hour train ride from the capital and home to one of the world's most famous spectacles, the Taj Mahal. For a history/architecture buff, really this is something else. One of the greatest monuments in the world, built by a Mogul king in honor of his beloved wife. Later, the king wanted a similar monument for himself, set just across the river from the Taj, where his wife was buried. But, fearing that he would bankrupt the dynasty, his son overthrew him and imprisoned him in the Agra Fort, a monument in and of itself, where he could keep watch over the Taj from his luxury prison. Cool!The vacation was totally necessary and was a great balance also. Goa was all about letting loose - getting out all of that pent-up tension that had been building for 5 months in dull, conservative, hot, dusty Hubli. We went from a city where it was scandalous to show even ou
r ankles to a beach of topless tanners. From a city where "nightlife" dies at 10 to a place of 24-hour bars, where whiskey and screwdrivers are an option at breakfast. What happens when 4 Global Exchange Fellows from Deshpande Foundation are let out of the Sandbox together for a Goan weekend? Well, we went a little crazy, naturally. But in a good way. The weekend in and of itself was a refreshment, and for me at least, was absolutely needed.In fact, if the vacation had been just the hustle, bustle, and power-sightseeing of Delhi and Agra, well, it certainly would not have been a regrettable experience by any means, but I very well might have come back more wiped than I had left. Wake up calls came early and then it was a scramble to see as m
uch as possible - totally worth it, especially when you really only had one day to see each city. Monuments, markets, food stands, restaurants, all of it was brilliant. And it turns out that Agra has even more to offer than just the Taj Mahal (which, by the way, can't be captured in pictures. I've decided that it always looks fake, like a painted backdrop, until you're standing right up underneath it) - besides the other monuments, there are a host of old-school craftsmen around doing stuff that I can go pretty nuts for.Sidenote: I would not have enjoyed this trip as much had I counted pennies the whole time. After living a relatively modest life in Hubli for 5 months (at least compared to standards developed elsewhere) I was able to justify watc
hing money go down the drain on things like shopping, taxis, drinks, amazing meals. It made it really feel like a vacation just not to think about that stuff, and it was awesome.All in all, it was a great week filled with great friends and wonderful memories. Glad it happened. I'll wait to post this until I can post with pictures - its worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment