Birthday & Taj Mahal

Hi everyone! I had a lovely birthday, despite the fact that I missed all of you terribly. I hope everyone in SF is having a fun Pride weekend and being safe!!

6 of us volunteers hired a car for a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Its about a 4 hour drive from Delhi. At one point we had to stop to pay a "road tax" so the driver had to leave us for about 10 minutes. Immediately, a group of obnoxious men descending on our car, tapping on the windows, etc. I do NOT like this aspect of India one bit. One guy even tried to open the drivers side door. I was in the front passenger seat and I gave him a LOOK OF DEATH and shook my head slowly. He tried to pantomime some joke about driving and I continued the evil stare, looking very not-amused, and it worked. They left and didn't come back. I was soooooo pissed off. After that we only got attention from people trying to sell us stuff. One tiny old man came up and sat down with a basket and began playing a shrill, awful flute-like instrument. Lo! and behold, a real snake came out, swaying left and right, towards the sound. I saw a real snake charmer!! I didnt even know those existed!! We also saw lots of monkeys on leashes. Weird. Our driver did come back and we continued our journey. There are so many animals along the side of the road here. There are monkeys, boars, sheep, dogs and, of course, cows. I think the cows here look more statuesque. They seem taller and more angular -- but that might be because they're really thin. They graze on the trash heaps at the side of the road. For being so revered they aren't taken care of very well. For some reason, though, the idea of these cows being sacred makes perfect sense to me. For the record, the other volunteers think I'm crazy -- so this is not the majority opinion. I don't know...cows are cool. And these ones are especially striking-looking.

The Taj Mahal was beautiful and enormous. We went inside, but my favorite moment was afterwards when we sat on the grass in the shade in front of it. There are so many people that it can be very hectic. Also, people want to take pictures of us. I don't mind women and children taking pictures and I'll even pose with them. But the men/boys who ask I say no. From far away they do anyway. Its really uncomfortable, but unfortunately there isn't really anything I can do about it.

The Red Fort was really, really interesting. Its this labryinth of passageways and balconies, and a small marble mosque hidden inside. I could get lost in it. Its huuuge. I don't even think we saw everything, and we wandered for a really long time.

Today we went to see a film. It was fabulous. Lots of dancing and a random Willie Nelson lookalike Pied Piper character, played by a superfamous Bollywood star. I've included a link to the trailer on youtube below, you guys should watch it. Its pretty funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRA7dDf20vs

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday emails! I miss everyone a lot. Love you all.