Day 1 in Pictures

Alright - i am taking the time out to do this properly - Here i am - unveiled (sort of). We were on our way to Elephanta Caves and its a 1 hour ferry ride each way. So here i am enjoying the ride to Elephanta Caves



Flora Fountain in Mumbai which we spent an hour on foot searching for. We finally found it and my memorable first words? "I at least expected to see some water". LOL....Anyway, this fountain was put up by the British and there was no water cos Mumbai conserves water. At night though, this beautiful structure had strategic lighting and water. So beautiful

Baby / Mini Taj is actually a temple. I loved this place for a number of reasons. Its a temple and the caretakers were so so nice. We took our shoes off and they bagged them for us (you cannot wear shoes into any of the temples since they are obviously holy places). We walked around and it was so serene. When we came out, we had money to tip them and they vehemently refused.

Sikander Fort - we went to so many Forts but this one was truly amazing. Well i looked nice and golden here...LOL..Private joke. But i was quite rested when we went here and i got some pretty amazing pics here. Believe it or not, this is actually the main entrance into the Fort.

In Jaipur, we were taken to a village re-enactment (Chandi Chowk). It was so so cool. This picture is right outside the entrance gate and is supposed to depict a village setting with local men hanging out - i want to imagine they are talking about their wives (like Mr Sanjey talked a lot about his wife Babli. LOL. "Every 10th of the month, she is calling for money. My family lives in my hometown and i in Delhi City. Always for the money"

The Cenotaphs of Gatore in Agra are very very beautiful. So in Indian culture, the dead are cremated and not buried. Well in this case, the Maharajas of Jaipur are immortalized in the Cenotaphs - with each Maharaja having his own structure - think marble, arches and ornate carvings.

Amber Fort in Jaipur will forever be memorable to me cos we took an elephant ride up to this fort. So see how high this is? Well we took an elephant up and i was so so petrified. I dont like heingts. I am scared of heights. We got onto the elephant and the animal began to ascend and i was clutching tight to my handbag and the rail of the contraption we were sitting on while Daddy's Girl kept snapping away. She told me to bring out my camera - i could barely move. To make matters worse, the animal was trudging quite close to the edge. Daddy's Girl in a dead pan voice said "Its a little close to the edge isnt it?". I looked at her and muttered something like "you think"....LOL....I relaxed enough when we were almost at the top and i figured that if we fell at this point, it wouldnt be death but some broken bones. All the while Daddy's Girl is muttering - How amazing Uzo, How beautiful...LOL. I agreed after i relaxed a bit. Also, i almost fell down coming down from the fort....Did i say was clumsy?

The Palace in Jaipur - is so so beautiful. The Royal Family still lives there so we only toured some parts. The history of Maharaja Jai is amazig. In a nutshell - Jaipus (means Jai's city). A revolutionarya dn scientist, he built an amazing observatory with still working structures cos he was interested in astonomy - combine math and science and...anyway i think you have to be there to get it. Jaipur is called the pink city cos most of the structures are pink. Prince Albert was visiting and the Maharaja at the time decided to paint the whole town pink to welcome him. Yup. other people would get an elaborate bouquet of flowers but he painted the whole town pink.

Agra Fort - So everyone knows about the Taj Mahal? Well Shah Jahan who built it for his wife lived here with his family. This picture is of the Hall of Public Audience. So the locals would bring their cases to the royals who would be sitting within this structure and they would mediate and make the people happy. Shah Jahan's chambers overlooked the Taj Mahal. From his quarters, the Taj is only 2km away. So the walls of his chambers were inlaid with precious stones. And at night, when the lamps were lit, reflections of the Taj Mahal would fill the room (courtesy of being reflected on the surface of the stones). He died in that room.

The Taj Mahal - what can i say that can even compare to what actually being here felt like. I told Daddy's Girl that i want my own Taj Mahal. But not when i am dead. See the Taj Mahal is like an ode to love right? So i dont want to be dead to have love shown to me. And the Taj Mahal is so elaborate and beuatiful but my ode doesnt have to be so big. Every day "I Love you's" will suffice. There is a part of me that thinks that Shah Jahan went all out with this structure partly out of guilt. Like he was trying to make up for somethings he didnt do while she was alive. Just me thinking though. Did you know that it took 20,000 workers to build this structure? And that after the structure was completed, all the fingers of the workers were cut off to prevent them from being able to replicate their work? The descendants of the builders of the Taj Mahal have a thriving marble trade in Agra and their work is amazing. The sides of the Taj Mahal used to be inlaid with precious stones - emeralds, rubies etc. Well they are gone now. The British took them.