If you missed our third installment of our 18 day driving tour through Rajastan catch up with it here. Now, our final post on this amazing journey.

By this point in our drive we were, quite frankly, fed up with India. The crowds, cow traffic jams, garbage everywhere, open sewers, bad roads and chauvinistic men had caused my temper to be at the point of breaking. As we neared the end of our tour in the North we were at the point of just wanting to get it over with and head South to see if we could re-capture the magic of Incredible India. But first, the Taj Mahal, routinely viewed as the most majestic symbol of love the world has ever known.

Leaving Jaipur we hit what must have been one of the worst roads we’ve ever been on. Apparently in 2005 the government started a road improvement program throughout Rajastan. However, in somewhat typical Indian fashion, they didn’t begin in one spot and work their way to the next. They started and stopped road work in seemingly random places causing traffic to manuever around roadwork obstacles while changing from pavement to dirt to pavement to dirt.

Throughout the beginning of our time in India we spent endless hours attempting to figure out this country. We loved the colorful sari’s and spices, we loved the food and the forts, we loved having the random camel wander through our Internet cafe. What we couldn’t understand is how a country that could build such amazing forts, create one of the world’s great railways, and produce the world’s best engineers found it acceptable to have nearly two thirds of the population living in abject poverty? Why was it okay to be wearing thousands of dollars of gold while walking across a 3 foot pile of garbage to get to your front door? Why, even though many athletes at that time were declining to attend the World Games that were to happen in Delhi that year due to pollution, did the government continue to advertise how clean the air was in the capital? In the beginning the questions were an entertaining game over dinner, 2 1/2 weeks in, irritated and still recovering from our colds, it was causing us to consider whether or not we really wanted to spend another 2 1/2 months in this country.

On our way to Agra we first stopped at Fatehpur Sikri. Built during the 16th century, the imperial complex was abandoned in 1585 when it was realized there wasn’t enough water in the region to sustain the fort. Nearly every building is carved from gorgeous red sandstone and it is here that the legends of Akbar and his famous courtesans were born. It is truly gorgeous and one of the best examples anywhere of Mughal architecture in the country.

Agra, the city, was large, crowded and grey. Typical of what we’d been experiencing along the way. An okay hotel, an okay dinner and early to bed… disgruntled and cranky but ready for an early wake-up call to see one of the sites on our bucket list; the Taj Mahal.

Built by Shah Jahan, in memory of his third wife, the Taj is widely regarded as THE monument to love and is the jewel of Mughal architecture. The complex took 21 years to complete and involved the workmanship of thousands of workers. The white marble and exquisite carvings are truly remarkable and, in spite, of us feeling jaded at this point, we found it impossible to not be moved by the site as we saw it displayed beautifully behind the reflecting pools, with the sun rising over us.

What we found out, upon arrival in back in Delhi is that, interestingly enough, the Taj Mahal was NOT, in fact, the first such tomb created in the name of love. The Tomb of Humayun, designed and commissioned by Mughal Emperor Humayan’s wife in honor of her husband, was built  nearly 1000 years before the Taj Mahal. I, especially, found it awfully sad that very people have ever heard of this tomb- commissioned by a woman, whereas nearly anyone questioned would have heard of the Taj. Shah Jahan certainly improved on the original Tomb of Humayun in style, design and materials used, but to think the idea of building a tomb of love was his original idea would be misguided indeed!

We checked out our final fort, the Red Fort of Agra, before lunch and hitting the road towards Delhi, eager to finish up this portion of our trip and head on, seeking a more appealing and easier India in the laid-back, tropical south.

At our hotel in Delhi we decided to head out for a walk in search of dinner and seeing the neighborhood but instead got relentlessly harassed by several rickshaw drivers to the extent that we just swore at India, threw up our hands, and returned to our hotel in defeat. The next day we headed to the airport and flew south to the sunshine and warmth of Kumily. I will write much more of India in upcoming posts, showcasing the more relaxed southern part of the country. With a hotter climate, hotter curries, gorgeous beaches, and amazing sights, once we finally “got” it, we came to embrace India for all that it is and we wish we could have stayed longer.

India is a juxtapositions of all things. I love it and I hate it. It is the very best and worst of humanity, sometimes at nearly the same moment. It is exhilarating and exasperating, exotic and awful. I can’t wait to go back. It is said that India is a place where itineraries go to die. I couldn’t have said it better myself!