Sue and Gus Semester at Sea: Indescribable India

It has to be experienced to be believed! Such contrasts, wealth and poverty, beauty and filth, palaces and slums and people everywhere. India is overwhelmingly diverse with its population of approximately 1.2 billion people which, unlike China, is still growing. (The average family have 5 children) 80.5% of the Indians are Hindus, with 13.4% of the population Muslim, the remaining 7% are Sikhs, Jains and Christians making India the most diverse country in the world. There are 18 major languages spoken in India and over 1600 regional dialects. We flew from Chennai to New Delhi where we had a tour of the old and new city. The number of people everywhere is amazing. Cows, camels, goats and dogs roam everywhere. The Government buildings designed by the British are very attractive with lovely grounds. We visited Qutab Minar which was a Muslim Mosque built in the 11th century with stones from the original Hindu and Jain temples of which only remnants now remain. We then did a tour of Old Delhi and saw the Red Fort which was built in the 17th century by the Muslims and is enormous. That evening we spent the night in a 5-star hotel in Delhi. We were greeted with garlands of flowers and welcome red "dots" on our foreheads.The next morning we drove to Jaipur (the "pink city") capital of Rajasthan where we visited Chandra Mahal (the city palace) built by the Maharajah in the 18th century. It's a mixture of Hindi and Mughal (Muslim) style. We also went to the an outdoor Observatory built by the same Maharajah which has sundials giving the time to within 20 seconds accuracy. That evening we visited a market which was packed with small shops hundreds of motorbikes, rickshaws, cows and thousands of people.The following day we went to the Amber Fort where access to the Fort involves an elephant ride which was different! We then drove to Agra stopping en route an enormous Moghul Palace built of red sandstone. The Moghul Emperor had 3 wives one Muslim, one Hindi and one Christian as well as 180 concubines (what a way to go !!) Driving into Agra that evening would have made Gus's hair stand on end ..... if he had any! The roads are shared by trucks, buses, cars, tractors, motorbikes,rickshaws, bicyles, camel carts, horse carts and elephants as well as pedestrians. We even saw a family of four - yes 4 - riding on a motorscooter - Mom sitting on the back side saddle in a beautiful sari talking on her cellphone. Meanwhile Dad is winding in and out of choatic traffic! Early the next morning we visited the Taj Mahal which is quite breathtaking. It was built by 2000 workers over a 22 year period and is constructed almost entirely white marble brought from Jaipur (200 miles away) in convoys of 50 camels everyday.The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan starting in 1631 in memory of his wife Mumtaz who died while delivery their 14th child. The Taj symbolizes their eternal love for each other - it's truly exquisite with a mixture of both Hindi and Islamic design. The surrounding gardens and reflecting pools are magnificent. We had an interesting experience driving north to Delhi when we drove into a traffic jam on a 4-lane highway. Undeterred the locals opened a 5th lane on the left shoulder but when this proved inadequate they opened a 4th lane by driving over the median and continuing northwards in one of the south bound lanes. This also proved inadequate so northbound traffic then took over the second southbound lane. Sooooooo we had 5 lanes going north and southbound traffic was relegated to the left shoulder. In the meantime there is a constant blaring of hooters which seems to be the norm wherever you travel plus regular lane changing without any signals. It's amazing. We found the Indian people very friendly and the Indian women extremely elegant in wonderful colourful saris. Astrology still plays a very important role in their lives especially when arranged marriages are being scheduled. Sunday newspapers feature 6 full-page columns of adverts. with parents seeking marriage partners for
their sons or daughters. There are beggars everywhere especially in the tourist areas, plus loads hawkers but one gets used to them and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in India. It's just so completely different to anywhere in the world we've ever visited.