We had checked our luggage in Chicago all the way to Delhi, so our luggage ended up going to Delhi instead of Kalkata. When we got to Kalkata, we filed papers for our luggage. So my dad and I were without our luggage the whole time we were in India. We ended up buying some kurtas. Our luggage ended up being returned to us a few weeks after we got back to Fairfield. This actually made traveling easier for us in one way – we didn't have big bags to haul around. We learned that when you go to India, you really don't need to take much. Whatever few things you really need you can get there.
From Kolkata we flew to Patna (a city of about a million people). It took about 2 hours. From Patna we took an overnight train, packed with people, to Allahabad and got there in the morning. We checked in at our hotel, then took a little car from our hotel to Maharishi's Ashram and ended up getting there at 10:00 in the morning on Monday (the 11th), the day of the ceremony.
It was quite hot in Allahabad. We were there the whole day. At the end of the day, as we were leaving, a car pulled up alongside my dad and me. In the front seat was Bevan and in the he back was Maharaja Raam. Bevan introduced us to Maharaja Raam, who rolled down his window and we exchange a Jai Guru Dev. This was the closest I've gotten to Maharaja Raam.
The next day, the 12th, we went back to Maharishi's ashram in Allahabad where we spent most of the day and went down to the Sangam, a confluence of three rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, where the ceremony continued on boats out in the river.
On the 13th, we traveled to Veranasi, a 4-hour drive, where we spent the day for the continuation of the ceremony. Varanasi is one of India's holiest and most ancient cities. All the great saints and sages of India have walked its streets and bathed in the river there. In the evening, we traveled back to Allahabad, another 4 hours. This like driving from Fairfield to St. Louis and back.
We stayed at a hotel in Allahabad called the Hotel Prayag, about 30 minutes from Maharishi's ashram. My dad and I shared a room on the 3rd floor. Here is the view we saw every day on the way down to the first floor. With all the traffic outside, it was very noisy till quite late at night.
We had Thursday the 14th free, and on the 15th, Friday, we had the chance to go with Chris and Benji Jones to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Agra is on the way to Delhi, so this was a convenient trip to make during our last few days. We took a train from Allahabad to Agra, a 9-hour ride, also packed with people. Throughout the ride there were porters walking up and down the aisles carrying different kinds of Indian food, freshly made in the pantry car. It smelled delicious but we didn't buy any. We had left at about 1:00 in the afternoon and got to Agra at around 9:00 p.m., where we were met by a driver who took us to our hotel – a much nicer hotel than the one in Allahabad.
It was quite hot in Allahabad. We were there the whole day. At the end of the day, as we were leaving, a car pulled up alongside my dad and me. In the front seat was Bevan and in the he back was Maharaja Raam. Bevan introduced us to Maharaja Raam, who rolled down his window and we exchange a Jai Guru Dev. This was the closest I've gotten to Maharaja Raam.
The next day, the 12th, we went back to Maharishi's ashram in Allahabad where we spent most of the day and went down to the Sangam, a confluence of three rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, where the ceremony continued on boats out in the river.
On the 13th, we traveled to Veranasi, a 4-hour drive, where we spent the day for the continuation of the ceremony. Varanasi is one of India's holiest and most ancient cities. All the great saints and sages of India have walked its streets and bathed in the river there. In the evening, we traveled back to Allahabad, another 4 hours. This like driving from Fairfield to St. Louis and back.
We stayed at a hotel in Allahabad called the Hotel Prayag, about 30 minutes from Maharishi's ashram. My dad and I shared a room on the 3rd floor. Here is the view we saw every day on the way down to the first floor. With all the traffic outside, it was very noisy till quite late at night.
We had Thursday the 14th free, and on the 15th, Friday, we had the chance to go with Chris and Benji Jones to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Agra is on the way to Delhi, so this was a convenient trip to make during our last few days. We took a train from Allahabad to Agra, a 9-hour ride, also packed with people. Throughout the ride there were porters walking up and down the aisles carrying different kinds of Indian food, freshly made in the pantry car. It smelled delicious but we didn't buy any. We had left at about 1:00 in the afternoon and got to Agra at around 9:00 p.m., where we were met by a driver who took us to our hotel – a much nicer hotel than the one in Allahabad.
We had a great meal in the rotating restaurant at the top of the hotel, spent the night in a hotel, then had our first hot showers in a week and slept in nice clean and warm beds. The next day we visited the Taj Mahal and Red Fort and an amazing place where traditional crafts are sold – woolen Kashmir rugs and inlaid marble tables and silk clothing. We had our own car and driver and a personal tour guide. The guide even took us to a "rural" section of town where he had grown up (very poor) and then to the wedding ceremony of one of his cousins (a lavish, beautiful affair with lots of people and lots of food – the ceremony was nearing the end of the second day).
The Taj Mahal is the most beautiful building we had ever seen. No photograph can compare with standing in front of it. It looks like some kind of living thing that floated down from the heavens.
The Red Fort is the largest fort in India, an enormous network of buildings and palaces that encloses 300 acres. From here the Moguls controlled the whole country for several hundred years.
The driver took us to Delhi that night, another 4-hour ride that got us there after midnight. We spent the night in Delhi. On Sunday, the 17th, we visited the amazing Akshardam Temple, and ended the day with a delicious home-made dinner at the house of the travel agent who arranged our trip in Agra.
We left India on Monday the 18th. We flew to London and from there back to the Chicago. We stayed overnight with my grandparents in the Chicago area and the next day drove with a friend of ours back to Fairfield.
It took almost three days to get from Fairfield, Iowa, to Allahabad, India, and about about as long to get back, and we were there only about a week. So on one level it was an arduous trip. But it was also momentous and historic and I will never forget it.
Pictures:
Pictures:
Afghanistan mountains - On the way to London from Delhi
