Three Knots, Three Wishes: Knot Three - Agra Fort

Finally, the last part of the series is here! 

                                         

After the Taj Mahal, we headed to the Agra Fort in the evening. For me, the fort was the most favourite part of the whole trip!
Here are a few photos from the tour of the fort,

The tour of the fort was quite short, as 75% of the area has been delegated to the army. So unlike other forts in India where one can feel the magnitude and enormity of the fort walls by walking through the whole fort or climbing up its steep hills, here one paid more attention to the delicate cravings and their meanings in each of the structure, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz's famous love story, his infamous feud with his son Aurangzeb and his life with his daughters (the lesser known) Jahanara and Roshanara Begum. 

It was exciting yet a bit scary to be able to walk through these walls with a bag pack and a camera, when once there was life in this palace, filled with many of the queen's maids, king's soldiers and the royal family itself, who lived and breathed in the same place that we do now.

--fin--

Three Knots, Three Wishes: Knot Two - Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal certainly needs no introduction; the pride of India, it is one of the finest structures built during the Mughal period, admired for its beauty worldwide.
It was just two km away from our hotel and as my mom is really fond of horses, we decided to take a horse cart to the eastern gate.

A very happy customer

As it was a Saturday, and Taj Mahal is closed every Friday, there was quite a crowd (and not to forget, the heat as well.) So the atmosphere was quite opposite to the one in Fatehpur Sikri where we were left to ourselves, while here we had vendors and photographers hovering all around the place and tourists in both sarees and shorts.

The fun facts you learn when you visit these places are my favourite! Like this time I learnt that Shah Jahan had also built two domes in memory of his other two wives as well; one at the eastern gate and the other one on the western gate or that the foundation of the structure is made up of wood which strengthens when placed in water and deteriorates when in the absence of it.

We also got to witness how the local handicrafts are made out of marble. First the design is craved out from the marble slab and then thin strips of gemstones are added to it. It takes three to five months to finish one piece. Painstaking work but beautiful, isn't it?

And lastly, one full view of the white beauty,

Last but not the least;

Next up: Agra Fort!

Three Knots, Three Wishes: Knot One - Fatehpur Sikri

After reaching the hotel and catching up on some sleep, we drove down to Fatehpur Sikri. Now, let me admit something, I didn't know that Fatehpur Sikri actually consisted of two different structures, as in 'Fatehpur' referring to Salim Chisti's dargah* and 'Sikri', the complex consisting of palaces, and other utility buildings for the king.

Akbar had built three different palaces in Sikri, each one for his wife and each one integrating mughal architecture with the local architecture from the queen's native place. For instance, Akbar's Christian wife loved paintings, therefore her whole palace had been decorated with them. The intricate detailing and the different architectural styles merge beautifully as one.
Here are some photos from Sikri,

Fatehpur on the other hand consisted of a large complex with the dargah to one side and facing it, the grand and enormous Buland Darwaza.
It is said that anyone who prays at the dargah gets what he wishes for. That's why the jalis of surrounding the tomb are filled with knotted threads; each knot signifying one wish asked from God.**

*dargah = tomb/shrine of a Muslim saint
**knotted threads = each person knots the thread 3 times, signifying 3 wishes; one wish for yourself, one wish for your family, and one wish for other relations. 

Next up : Taj Mahal!

First impressions; sights from Agra

While majority of the kids were obediently waiting for their school bus outside their homes on Friday morning, we made way across Delhi onto a near empty Yamuna Expressway for our short weekend gateway to Agra. Here are a few photos from the road, 

We shared our breakfast with this one!

My favourite photo!

Farms that run along the highway

For a city that encompasses both the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, I imagined Agra to be somewhat bigger. The city is made up just four or five main roads, most of them with hotels and restaurants, and the others going around the Agra Fort.

We reached Agra under two hours flat, but upon entering the city we again got stuck in traffic! But this time we saw horses, 

and people, 

with some sights from the pavements,

and graffiti on the walls.

Welcome to Agra!
Next up: Fatehpur Sikri!

The Elephant Vanishes

Since December, I have read an uncountable lists of books, which includes the Percy Jackson and Mortal Instruments series, few of John Green's and Sydney Sheldon's novels and re- read (again) the Harry Potter series. So now more than a routine, reading has become an addiction. I finish one novel and immediately start another one without a break.

For the past two months my latest addiction is Haruki Murakami. I started with the (excellent) 'Norwegian Wood' and then read 'The Elephant Vanishes'.

The latter one constitutes of short stories with rather bizarre events and abrupt endings, which made me put down the book down more often than picking it up. Never before have I felt eager yet frustrated to finish a novel but I can't argue with the fact that it was a definitely good read!

Next up, 1Q84!

Hello Delhi! a.k.a when I brought home the rains

When I left Mysore, I bid farewell to its greenery, ever occurring rain and empty streets and prepared myself to say hello to Delhi's infamous heat, traffic, its skyline throbbing with towers and towers of apartments and flyovers winding over all the roads. Of course to witness all these, I had to endure 40 hours of train journey, where I parked myself by the window with my ears plugged by and watched as fields and farms rolled by with the passing minute. 
And here I am finally! After six whole years!!

Hello Delhi! and.. Hello to the rains! 

Greasy Gold

I woke up Saturday morning, snoozed my alarm and rolled over the bed making whale like noises to mask my annoyance on the general things any college student will find on a Saturday morning. Such as,
 Waking up early,
 waking up early on a Saturday,
 going to college and 
 going to college on a Saturday.

Semester was coming to an end, but there didn't seem to be any sign for the work to ever end. With just two weeks left, we had to construct a metal sculpture made out of used old car parts which meant a picnic for my 19 year old self to the city junk yard.
I was excited and was bobbing up and down like a hyperactive 8 year old, only instead of a water bottle around my neck, there was my camera swinging along. 

I pictured a huge yard with tyres piled up like mountains and old cars lying around, ready for us to jump on them and swing into a dance number like in High School Musical 3.

Too much? Correct. 

The city yard just consisted of 3 lanes cramped with scarp on both sides of the lane with just human heads popping out of it whenever a customer walked by,

the far end had a small workshop for welding the parts together,

and empty spots on the ground were stored with car seats, rusted pipes, car engines or tyres, 

It was incredibly quiet too, with no hawker calling us out to their shops, except for the occasional squealing made by the children when they watched a monkey play around on the roofs of the shacks. 

It was sweaty, smelly, muddy and grease covered you wherever you touched but
I grabbed my respective sack full of springs, balls and gearings, wheels and engines, ready to change their useless parts into gold, or our type of treasure - a piece of art.