Namaste Pushkar #2

From the sign outside the Taj museum: The Taj is a mausoleum and a monument of grief. Okay, that's more like it. It took 23 years to build, and I must say, it's an incredible sight.

Also from the Taj museum: Celadon ware dish which may splits into pieces or changes colour when comes into contact with poisonous food. How great! That's how to rule an empire, in case you were wondering.

We met some guys from Devon at Agra Fort, an incredible structure that was built by the grandfather of the guy who built the Taj Mahal. (The guy who built the Taj, Shah Jehan, was later imprisoned in Agra Fort by his son, who was taking over the kingdom. One can look out see the Taj from the area Shah Jehan was imprisoned.) Anyways, in parting one of the gentlemen from says "Look after the colony there, would you, we sort of let go of that did we?"

"I guess so," I told him, "looks like the sun now sets on your empire."

These guys travel without insurance because no company in England will touch one of them due to his heart medication, and the other one thinks insurance is bogus. The heart troubled guy thought I was being way too concerned about malaria, then he say my arm and said, "Well they do seem to like you, but's it's still more likely you'd get hit by a meteor"

Ah well, then, why worry, unless a meteor shower is predicted.

Last night, I waited for the bus, sitting on a coffee table like structure, in an area that you would never think was a bus station at all. There was a tin ridged roof over a patch of dirt, and some buses next to that, but nothing that indicated when buses left, where buses were going, and the clock, a really ugly tacky thing that I'd expect to find in my parent's basement, didn't have the right time at all, it was an hour ahead of my watch. (The time we should have been on the bus was the time on the bus terminal's clock)

Rish went to get a snack for us saying "I'm sure I'll hear you scream if something happens." as once again, there were many gentlemen standing around.

Thirty seconds after Rich steps away one man says "Hello, Madam. France?" I ignore him. He continues "Hello, Japan?" This time I stare at him. Or the correct term would be glare at him. It says in the guidebook not to engage in conversation, which is fine by me because it's exhausting to communicate in broken English even to the folks I want to communicate with, the friendly people, in the places we've stayed, the businesses we've frequented. But to talk to someone who clearly didn't feel like saying hello and being friendly when a man was sitting next to me - I think not.

It's reminding me of that T-shirt: I can only please one person a day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow's not looking good either. Here my T-shirt would say: I would only humour one person a day, but I don't feel like it. So back away slowly, no sudden movements, capisce?

Then when I got on the bus, some guy starting calling me sister and gesturing that I should give him food (he wasn't a beggar) and I was exhausted and tired and so in my new 'offense is the best defense' response, I said in Italian "I don't know what your jackass problem is, just leave me alone or I swear I'll bite you and then you'll be sorrier than any rabid victim of a dog or monkey." (I love the word monkey in my parents dialect, so I was really happy to use it. It's pronounced SHEEN-yeah)

The guy just turned to other guys, said something in Hindi, and laughed. Then he saw Rich, stopped laughing, went over to shake Rich's hand and as far as I could tell, he apologised.

Just to be fair, here's where I am, according to the Lonely Planet: In 2006, the average annual wage in India was $710 USD. 35 to 40% survive on less than a dollar a day. 350 million are lving below the poverty line. The worst affected states are Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. And so, I have been in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and now am in Rajasthan. Well done, Eufemia, way to plan a trip.

It boggles my mind, seeing the poverty here. It's like Eddie Izzard says in "Dressed to Kill"about how one can't conceive of the number of lives lost during the holocaust or Cambodia or in Russia. I really can't conceive of it. It's overwhelming, more than the intensity of the attention. I've had to turn my own personal volume button down, tune some things out, just to function. What else can one do?

So here I go searching for another Yoga class, and pray for peace for everyone.