the journey continues…

Humayun’s Tomb or Makbara (as they call in Urdu/Hindi) is one among the beautiful historical monuments of NewDelhi.This was the first Mughal building built with gardens and it has inspired several major Mughal architectures in India including TajMahal.
The tomb has been built by Humayun’s wife Hazi Begum. It is built of red sandstone with decorative white marble inlay. The main building is dome shaped and is raised on a large stage[ which is very much similar to TajMahal]. The stage is around 17 meter high. There are stairs from all the four sides to reach on the stage.Inside the tomb,there are many rooms but some of them are locked for visitors.All the rooms have white marble tombs.The center room has a single tomb,which I assume Humayun’s tomb.
Unfortunately there are not much sign boards or displays to explain the history of the building.I strongly recommend reading about the history of the tomb and the mughal emperors of India before visiting.
There is a small entrance fee for the building and its open from sunrise to sunset.

Marble Tomb

On the stage,side view

I had seen TajMahal 10 years back when I was kid..I still remember it was so hot when we went there and I was just looking out for some shades there!!. TajMahal didn’t mean anything to me in that age. It was just another monument.
But as I started travelling more, I realized that whereever you go, that place should give you a nice feeler to you.Then that memories will be there in your heart forever and you will cherish them lifelong.When Logu told, we will plan for TajMahal, I started searching in the internet for all possible options so that I can make this trip a nice remembrance.
I was not disappointed and I got this info about the Moonlight view of TajMahal. Seeing Taj in moonlight!!..Wow…that’s amazing!!
Every month on full moon days the Agra Tourism Board arranges for this moon light view of Taj [except in the month of Ramzan].Tickets are priced at 500 per head and you must buy the tickets 1 day in advance.
So after finalizing all these, we flied to Delhi, then to Agra by taxi. Delhi to Agra journey was cool. As we started early we didn’t get much traffic also. You can find a lot of dhabhas along the way from Delhi to Agra and food is really not a problem.
Taj opens at early morning 6 30.To avoid the crowd, we were there by 7 30.Its a pleasure to see this magnificent monument when morning sun rays fall on it. When we entered the premises, crowd was less and weather was also pretty good. You should sit on the front marble seat to get the full and marvelous view of the TajMahal. Mumtaz’s & Shahajahan’s tombs are inside the building.
Backside of the taj gives a beautiful view of Yamuna River.Whole structure has been carved in parsian style and engraved with precious stones in colors of red,green,blue and yellow.
Basically there are 2 amazing things you should know about TajMahal.
One is the entire structure has a wooden base!!.The wood, which is of a special kind becomes stronger and stronger as it comes in contact with water.Since Taj was built beside Yamuna River this was absolutely required.
Secondly there is a small unspotted hole on the top, from which water droplets will fall on the tombs of Mumtaz and Shahajahan during rainy season.Truly it deserves to be one among the wonders of the world.
I was also fascinated by the pool in front which gives the complete reflection of the Taj.

Taj with Reflections

After taking pics from different angle we were exhausted for the day and head back to hotel.Also we had tickets for the Moonlight view of the Taj at 12 for which I wanted to take some rest and be fresh.
Night we started around 10PM towards the west gate of the TajMahal for the MoonLight View. Video cams and Mobiles are not allowed and security would be very high.They will allow people to go in slots of 50 for a duration of half an hour. I have attached some pics of the moonlight view.I enjoyed the view so much and it is really something special .

Taj in MoonLight

Except the taj there is nothing to feel good about Agra. We booked Yamuna View Hotel which was rated 4-star but the service and the accommodation was very bad. I wanted to buy small replica of Taj for home,but the guide as well as driver took us to various shops which were all highly priced. Somehow I got the feeler that there would be commissions for everyone if we do the shopping there!.Bad business!!There would be long queues for getting the tickets as well as for the security checks while entering Taj which eats most of the time.

Seems like a travelling season for me !!. This week we are in Mumbai,the financial capital of India.
It was a business trip for my husband and I thought of accompanying him as well. We booked Service Apartments this time as I was not much interested in staying at the hotel all alone. I also feel service apartments provide a good and cheaper service compared to 5-star hotels.
As this was my first time visit to Mumbai, I was little excited about the city as they show in movies..Mumbai a city of dreams…But as soon as we started entering the city, my excitement levels came down very fast.80% of the city is full of slums and these slums have become a part of the city. People are so used to these slums, they will continue to live like this further 10 more generations and hardly would ever think of removing slums from the city.I remembered Slumdog Millionaire !!

A day evening we went to Gateway Of India. Whole of the Mumbai has been connected by taxis and local trains.Taxis are very costly compared to trains. They have meters for these taxis which starts from 0.When we reached GateWay Of India from Marol the meter showed 22. We had no idea whether the meter shows the kilometers,rupeese nothing. The taxi driver took a card from his pocket and asked us to pay 350. I didn’t understand the logic behind these cards!!.Also these taxi drivers are very smart. If they come to know that you are not from Mumbai they will show one more card which says 500Rs for the same kilometers!!

Mumbai

Gate of India was very crowded as it was a weekend. You get boats from here to go to Elephanta Caves.We couldn’t make it to the caves due to time constraint.
In front is the Taj which reminds us the terrorist attacks of 26/11. They are still renovating some parts of the building.We enjoyed a nice chariot ride here.Horse Chariots are very common here as they would be used for weddings.The old guy who was running the horse said,One good horse costs around 1,50,000.If he gives it for a day he will earn around 3000/day.Everything is business here..people will sell anything to get money here..I was surprised to see people were selling mats for sitting in the Beach ..10rs each!!

A few kilometers from India Gate is Marine Drive.Marine drive is 3km long stretch along the natural bay of the Arabian Sea.People sit,speak,eat,walk ,sleep on this.
Next point is Chowpatty beach.Beaches in Mumbai are famous for eating than swimming and sunbathing.A part of the beach area would be occupied by stalls which sells bhel puri,pani pur,pav bhaji,faloodas and paans [Remembers Amitabhs' famous Paan song ] etc.You can see people sitting on mats and eating in a group.When we went to Chowpatty it was 10:30 in the night.But beach area was filled with people.Mumbai is 24/7 active city.You get taxis ,cabs all the time.Only thing is they should come to the place where you want to go!.
If you have enough time and energetic enough to walk,then you can start walking from Gateway Of India , stroll down to Marine Drive then to Chowpatty Beach.Its a beautiful stretch to walk in the evening times.
My itinerary would be really incomplete without temples in it. Where ever we go inside/outside India I make it a point to visit temples there.Its a kind of feel good factor for me! .So one evening we visited the famous SiddiVinayaka Temple of Dadar. Security is very high here and you are not supposed to carry cameras,handy cams etc.They scanned my bag and didnt allow me to enter the temple as I had camera.There was no locker facility for keeping the camera. Logu started convincing them that we have come from far but policemen there did not have the minimum courtesy to talk to him properly.They will never speak in English even though they knew and above that a bad behavior.I smelled this rudeness and unfriendliness in everybody, from taxidrivers to businessmen.Thats there in Mumbai’s air I feel!!!.
Still we went inside the temple & saw the god as Logu kept the camera in his hand only !!!.
Continued…..