Fatehpur Sikri--Ghost city

City built by King Akbar as his ideal capital. Bursting to life in 1571 only to be abandoned 14 years later when he was called to the Northwest frontier. His whole court joined him and they never returned.

Agra Fort

Taj Mahal is worth every moment!!!

So early morning rise, drive with Kumar to meet up with my guide, Raj. Walking through the gates to the Taj was a memorable experience. It is everything everyone says and more. The whole palace grounds are simply amazing. The photos will say the rest (hopefully).

Dehli to Agra drive....7 hours on road

My flight landed in Delhi and I was greeted by my driver, Kumar, who is a great guy and guide. We drove out of Delhi to Agra. Traffic was heavy most of the way and drive was longer than I thought. We ended up stopping at a local Dhaba for a tea and coffee. Kumar shared some of his biscuit cookies with me (they were yummy dunked in my coffee). We made it to my hotel around 9pm. I am now in Agra and anxious to see Taj Mahal tomorrow (but not for the early rise. I'm meeting Kumar at 6:30am).

Michael heads out and Delhi Flight

Well, it turned out the Art Director Michael had his departure flight to Mumbai as I did my flight to Delhi. So we shared a drive to the Bangalore Airport. This was Michael’s last day in Bangalore and he will be heading out to Mumbai and Dubai before heading back to the States. I have to admit it was really sad to see him go. First off, the studio was immensely sad to see him go. To have hands on access to the Art Director was such a huge asset. Second, for me it was really great to have a fellow newbie to India experiencing everything I was for first time. Although Michael has had extensive travels to other areas in the world that made his trip less of culture shock that I was experiencing. I really enjoyed having him as a traveling companion. It turned out to be a nice little bonus but Michael’s flight ended up being First Class and he had access to the First Class lounge in Bangalore, so the airline upgraded my status so I could enjoy the lounge aspects with Michael before each of our flights departed. The two and half weeks Michael was here made my long visit less isolated, since there were only a couple persons staying in our hotel from work and the hotel in general was pretty empty. The next couple weeks will definitely be less social for my day to day. So major thanks and appreciation for hanging out with me Michael! Enjoy Mumbai and Dubai!!

Past the midway point

Well, I'm back in Bangalore. It's funny how you can get so used to something new. When I flew back I was calling here "home". After more than 3 weeks I guess it is home. When I got picked up at the Airport it felt so good to be back. I recognized the roads as I drove by. It dawned on me today how used to everything I am getting. When I first arrived here I was amazed at the chaotic driving, the buildings being either run down or fancy corporate ones, and seeing livestock in middle of busy roads. There is a certain charm to it all. It may seem sometimes to run backwards; with the occasional loss of power for a minute, or the A/C in the building will go on the fritz. But everyone takes it all in stride.
What I feel most attached is the people and is what I think is the spirit of India. The people here I feel are really unique. So far everywhere I've gone the people are just so outwardly happy. It doesn't seem to matter if you are poor or rich everyone has a positive outlook. People regard family life as very important and business life as secondary. It doesn't mean they don't have a great work effort, they totally do. It's just not their main motivation.
In Bangalore the traffic gets so thick that you could be stuck for hours, and yet everyone takes it in stride. In LA horns are blaring if you don't move in 5 seconds.
Monday, Michael and I were invited by Raman to a weekly lunch the animation team puts on. Everyone brings in a meal and have a large pot luck meal. Half the table was non-veg and other have was veg. The food was some of the best I've had. It was just so fun everyone dancing around each other at the long table trying to grab different dishes before they all ran out. Course it didn't help that we had these tiny little spoons to serve the meal, or maybe that did help. This is another interesting fact. Most meals at home are fresh and prepared daily. The concept of fast food is not rampant here and it is a welcome thing to see. People by and large eat very healthy here.
I know it may seem like I'm rambling on, but it's just that these thoughts have been popping into my head. It's also interesting that everyone is so polite in individual spaces but when it is a mass of people that politeness that I'm used to melts away. Its not that anyone is rude, far from it. I think it's when you have a population of about 1.5 billion in a country you have to be used to navigating in large crowds with a little bit of zeal or else you just won't get anywhere.
It's been a very profound experience so far and feel very honored to be given this opportunity.