An Unforgettable Summer: The Lost City

5/19/10
Locations: Agra to Jaipur, India

We had the long drive ahead of us today that would take us from Agra to Jaipur, but luckily we were able to break up the time on the bus with a visit to Fatehpar Sikri. Fatehpar Sikri is an abandoned city that was constructed by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1570 and it served as the empire’s capital from 1571-1585. The city was abandoned after just 14 years because the diminishing water supply was unable to sustain the growing population of the city, which was reaching 30,000. The palace, mosques, and other buildings of the city all remain and most are still completely intact. The lost city, or ghost town, of Fatehpar Sikri is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular tourist attraction.

Fatehpar Sikri, like the Agra Fort, is constructed primarily of red sandstone, so it was very hot! Our guide tried to keep us in the shade as much as possible, but the heat is still very intense and so far a few people in our group have gotten ill with heat exhaustion. Fatehpar Sikri is unique because it showcases so many different varieties of architecture. You can see Hindu, Jain, and Islamic influences. There are so many beautiful buildings to explore in Fatehpar Sikri and other cool structures too. I really liked the Anuuup Talao, which is a central platform in a pool with four bridges leading to it. This is where the musicians used to play for Akbar and his guests at parties. The giant Parcheesi board in the courtyard where Akbar used to play with his harem girls for pieces was fun to see too. I guess I normally think of emperors and kings of the past as merely rulers who direct their armies and their people, but they obviously like to have fun too. Like Agra Fort, there are also public and private audience forums, mosques, etc. but my favorite buildings were the wives’ houses.

Akbar had three wives and each practiced a different religion. Akbar gave them, as well as other inhabitants of the city, the right to practice whichever religion they chose. Each wife had their own house, but I think house is an underestimation. Palace or mansion would be more accurate. The Muslim wife’s house is smaller than the other two houses, but ornately decorated with filigree and façade walls. The interior was even better—all of the interior walls were covered in 6-point stars and ovals which protruded from the walls, creating hundreds of little shelves. Our guide told us there used to be mirrors in every star and oval, and then by just placing a few candles in the house, the entirety could be lit up like a Christmas tree.

The Hindu wife’s house(s, to be more accurate) were the largest and most palatial because she was said to be Akbar’s favorite wife. She had a summer house, which once faced the lake, and a winter house, which faces the rising sun. There is a large Hindu temple in between the two houses, and they are all connected. Like the Taj Mahal, everything is perfectly symmetrical and the summer and winter houses are identical, but opposite. My favorite house was the house of his Christian wife, whose name was Miriam. Her house was not perfectly symmetrical and it didn’t have as many ornate details in the architecture of the walls and arches. The surfaces of her house were mostly flat, but instead of having mirrors or filigree work, they all were painted! Even though it has been hundreds of years, you can still see the portraits on the interior walls, and the sky blue and white on the arches. I thought her house was beautiful in 2010; I can scarcely imagine how grand it was when it was first completed.

After leaving Fatehpar Sikri, we continued on our ride to Jaipur, India. We got there in the afternoon, so we still had time to explore. Jonathan offered to take anyone who wanted to go exploring out after we put our things away in our rooms, and Caitlyn, Anna, Kelly, and I decided to check out Jaipur with him. Jaipur is also called “The Pink City,” and they are best known for their jewelry. I thought Jaipur seemed much cleaner and had less poverty than Delhi and Agra. Jonathan and us girls started out walking to do some errands, like get more cash from the ATM and stop by a pharmacy and maybe some shops for souvenirs, but we didn’t walk for long. A rickshaw pulled up and the drive, Raoul, said he absolutely knew all of the best places to take us for everywhere we wanted to go. He said it was his birthday, and he would just love to take us Americans out on his rickshaw on his birthday. We weren’t sure if he was lying about his birthday or not, but we went with him and hopped in his rickshaw!

The best way I can describe a rickshaw it that is a three wheeled jeep type of vehicle. There are all different sizes, although you’ll almost always see more people in them than there are supposed to be! They’re typically green or black with a yellow canopy, but besides that they are all unique. Raoul had a string of fabric flowers by his mirrors and the back bench was covered with a black shaggy fabric. The key feature of a rickshaw is that it is a wild ride, no matter where you go. The roads in India are pretty bumpy, and the traffic is scary. There are lanes, but they are rarely used. There are turn signals, but why use those when you have a horn? Everyone honks repeatedly to let other vehicles know they are there, t6hey are going to turn, they are going to hit them…pretty much anything. So after piling into Raoul’s rickshaw, we tore through town, speeding around other rickshaws and bicycles and trying to avoid the cars and trucks. It was a little scary, but it was an adventure and all of the girls loved it! I think Jonathan loved it too because he just liked laughing at our first reactions to everything. Jonathan leads a semester abroad in India, so he’s taken a spin or two on a rickshaw before!

After getting more rupees (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, anyone?), and stopping by a few stores (I got a few more scarves because they are so pretty and cheap!), it was time to head back for dinner. We had another group meal in Jaipur hotel’s restaurant called Colors. They have Indian, Chinese, and continental cuisine. I got “The Murg” again, although this time it was smothered in a spicy tomato gravy! A few others got it too and we were surprised at how spicy it was compared to the other kinds we had at other restaurants, we got used to it and it was very good. We had to stop mid-bite though when we heard the blare of trumpets and the hollers coming from the street outside the hotel. We stepped outside and we couldn’t believe what we saw.

It was an Indian wedding procession! It was led by an elephant, decked out in deep red cape (for lack of a better word). Following the elephants were all of the musicians in red and white uniforms, triumphantly playing a celebration song. The musicians were flanked by children, also in red outfits, carrying high silver lamps on their shoulders. Finally, the bride and groom were last in a carriage pulled by horses. The wedding party was dancing in the mix of this procession and frantically gesturing to everyone watching outside to come join the wedding party and dance with them! We didn’t go with them, but it was spectacular to see an Indian wedding procession since I’ve heard about how elaborate and ceremonial they are. After dinner, we saw and heard the brilliant fireworks in the sky, and we could only assume they were for the same wedding.

India’s heat has been hard on all of the Midwesterners, but I’ve still enjoyed it immensely. When you’re seeing the sights we are, it doesn’t matter that sweat is dripping down your back. I loved all of India’s rich, deep culture. As our tour guide said, he visited a woman’s home in New England once and she boasted that it was 100 years old. Our tour guide said that yes, he understood that that was old by America’s standards, but in India, 100 years is nothing. As I stated before, I love history and am often engrossed by the History Channel when channel surfing, and India had so much history to learn about and explore. I think sometimes we forget, or ignore, the history of other cultures outside our own because we feel they aren’t as relevant as the history of our own culture. But this world tour has shown me that virtually everything is interconnected, and we share so much more than you would suspect.