There's So Much to See

The title of this post has been inspired by Rahman's line in the worldspace ad :)

After a very long wait ( of 8 months) I finally took a week's vacation. Planned to visit Delhi and
Ranchi (where appa is working), go around, see a few places, rest, enjoy and get back...

Saturday morning 2nd Sep we left for Delhi, the flight was delayed by an hour and a half...(what's new about that)
First impression about Delhi - Clean, Green, Spacious!
It is a good 45 minute drive from the airport to the guesthouse - we were hungry and tired... Once in the guesthouse, we hogged on everything they served, the people there must have thought that we hadn't eaten for days...
Anyway that particular day it was raining cats n dogs in Delhi. The drainage system doesn't seem to be very good, all the roads were flooded, cars had stopped in the middle of the road - a few more hours of rain and I guess we'd have seen people swimming back home...
Thanks to the rain, we could not do much sight-seeing that day. Only drove to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan and the India gate.
Next day, we left for Agra at 6:30 AM. Wanted to beat the traffic. On the way we stopped at Mathura, the birth place of Lord Krishna.
The temple premises also has a mosque in it. There is a debate going on whether both these structures should co-exist.
From there we drove to Fatehpur Sikri. The architecture here is just amazing. Though you have walk through graves (hm... I actually refused to walk into any closed spaces), this place is not to be missed!
The Darga is a holy spot where people pray and tie red threads with a belief that their prayers will be answered.
From there we drove on to the Agra fort.
Here you get the first view of the Taj Mahal (though at a distance)
The Deewan-E-Khaas and Deewan-E-Aam (remember having studied about this in history) are marvelous structures.
We then headed to the Taj
People from all over the world visit the Taj - the epitome of Love. But the guards there give you such a tough time that all u can think of is "hatred". Their uncivilized behavior, the language they use...My God! People will just stop coming here...
But once you enter the premises, you will be left speechless...
Pictures in the paper, photographs on the net, you may have seen - but to see it in front of your eyes is an experience!
Monday, we set out on a journey around Delhi... Went to the Akshardham temple - closed for the day!
Went to the Bahai (lotus) temple - closed for the day!
Then went to Qutub Minar - finally something was open to visitors :)
Tuesday went around Karol Bagh and Connaught Place.. did some shopping.

Wednesday morning left for Ranchi. This is a very small town, just one main road with shops. You can pass time watching TV or if lucky have access to the internet... its a place for complete relaxation!
Had a great vacation - already have a list of places I want to visit next... don't know when ... but already looking forward to it :)

These are my favourite pictures from the trip