Holi Festival!!!!!

Where did I leave off.....ah yes, Delhi. It really is the most hectic of places, every moment is a swing between inspired and intimidated, amazed and appalled, giggling and gagging. We moved on after two days to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. We spent all day being driven around Agra, seeing agriculture farming, mausaleums, baby Taj, and of course the Taj itself. Amazing. I was stumped as to how they worked the beautiful shapes and images into solid marble that decorated the Taj, funnily enough the question was answered. Our taxi driver took us to the marble workshops where these modern day miracles were being made, the owners being descendants of one of the many families who did this work on the Taj itself. I have my eye on a table that is to die for if anyone wants to get it for me, on 3500 Aussia dollars, so cheap when you know the work that goes into it. Just to make you a little jealous, Claudia and I took our meals on the rooftop of our hostel with a view of the Taj to keep us company.

Then it was on the train to Jaipur. Funny stories, I was beckoned over to a train waiting on a platform by a woman, "come, come, my daughters want to talk to you", these little cuties spoke in careful and perfect English, asking where we were from and what our names were. We had sweets stuffed into our hands as thanks for the 10 second interaction. On the train, in a carriage where we were the only no-locals, a man asked to see my Ipod. When I checked back I found it was doing the rounds of half the carriage which made me giggle. When I asked a beautiful woman in a red sari what she was listening to she replied, "Nirvana!" As soon as you step out of the city the craziness of the people calms significantly, so much more room for locals to happily chat about where they think you should go and what to watch out for.



Today is Holi festival, a day when evryone covers everyone in bright coloured powders. After watching a Hindi film featuring it I was desperate to take part, and take part we did! Claudi and I ventured out into the street and were covered head to toe, eyeballs to inner ears, in blue, red, pink, green, yellow and purple powder. SO MUCH FUN!!! One father and his two sons stopped on a moterbike to say happy Holi and rub our cheeks with powder, next second we were surrounded by 20 people, "Happy Holi Happy Holi!!!" We looked like we had been dunked in a mulitcolour bucket of powder. Some teenage boys thought that this would be the perfect oppurtunity for some groping and bum squeezing, so the rest of the five minutes was spent arms crossed and throwing powder from afar. I must have missed that part of the procedure in the Hindi film.............

xoxo
Sim