aLL YOu NeeD Is LoVe

Day 19 (1/19)

My night of rest was not as restful as I had hoped. I was up and running to the toilet a couple of times through the night:( Man, I thought I was done with this crap…literally! This was not how I wanted to spend my day taking in the most profound profession of love but we were on a schedule with our train tickets and I was not gong to miss out on it! So I sucked it up (my friend Carrie at school would be so proud!), took some more damn Imodium and started praying to the toilet gods!

Since we had been spending so much time and doing almost everything together, Brenden and I decided to give each other the gift of having our own experience of the Taj so I was on my own for the day. I had heard from many how beautiful the sunrise was to witness at the Taj Mahal and thought I had gotten up early enough to get there in time for it, but as I was walking in the direction that the owner of the guesthouse had so kindly sent me I was slowly but surly surrounded by light. I found the main road and began to follow the signs pointing the way when all of a sudden I look to my right and there's a camel, just walkin down the street! I had no idea they used camels here in Agra for…transportation?!?! 

Soon after my first camel encounter I was ushered towards the left through a parking lot and into a building where you have to purchase your ticket first, and then received a free bootle of water and some sort of white cloth wrapped in plastic, but I couldn't figure out what it is was for and they just kept insisting that  I take it. So I headed back outside where I met a very kind man that offered to give me a tour of the Taj. He was registered with the government and had a set price printed on his badge, and I decided to spend the first part of my day with him. He informed me that there was a free bus that would take me the rest of the way and that he would meet me over there. As I entered the bus it was already pretty much full, and as I began to search for a seat I realized the entire bus was full of a group of young Indian college boys that were all suddenly offering me a seat!  I don't think I have ever seen so many giant smiles surrounding me at once…as soon as I sat down I had about 20 of them and each one was trying to ask me his own question. It was quite overwhelming, but in a totally awesome way:) They first asked me my name and once I told them they all repeated after me…"Suuusssiiee!" Then where I was from…"Ammmericaaa!" Then they asked…"You are a single?" My reply being yes, and then they all, in unison, began to sing to me the song "Lonely" by Akon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EEW-9NDM5k In that moment I forgot about every other single thing going on and stepped into the present. Those boys, probably without even knowing it, lifted my spirits and gave me this strength that was somehow light hearted and fun. They reminded me how good it feels to just let go, and in the same moment to embrace and fully experience life for what it is. They helped me to remember what life is. Love. They encouraged me to realize that I could still be aware while accepting, and experience the love that spirit had to offer me so far from my home. And there it was, the Heart of India once again:) As they finished there song they asked me to sing something for them…"Um, I don't sing" I said shyly. They encouraged me until I gave in. I tried to chant for them but they wanted an American song so I sang part of "American Girl" by Tom Petty:)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XsufDwXu4w Then one boy asked me "What is your secret?" I looked at him a bit confused and he said "To your beauty!" They asked me my profession and when I told them I was a yoga teacher they all said "Yoga!" and closed their eyes and began pranayama (breathing practice) :) I have to say that this was the best bus ride I have ever experienced! Not because all eyes were on me but because of the many life lessons I was reminded of, most importantly…to keep it simple :) When we arrived to the Taj they let me get off the bus first and then they all waved and said goodbye. As I was standing in line for security I began to wish I would have gotten all those boys singing to me on video, and then I remembered that if I would have been worried about taping it I would have missed out on the opportunity to actually experience the moment. I will always have the memory, I can assure you of that, and I was fortunate enough to see them later by the Taj and was able to get a group photo with some of them.

My experience of the Taj was so absolutely wonderful, and I soon found out what that little package of white cloth was…booties! You had to either take your shoes off or cover your dirty shoes in order to walk up around and into the Taj Mahal, they may not be the cutest things in the world but I was thankful to not have to worry about my shoes!

 My tour guide, Manaj Kumar was so knowledgeable, spoke very good English, and was a very good photographer, as you will soon witness. He knew all the good spots to capture certain angles and a few fun photo tricks as well (or can I really jump that high?!). He was so sweet at the end of the tour telling me to be very careful traveling on my own and that if I found myself in any sort of trouble to please call him and he would be happy to help. He had a very fatherly energy about him and I accepted his kind gesture with a smile and a hand shake. 

Jump Shot!

LoVe iS aLL yOu NeeD!

Taj reflected on my sunglasses:)

the beautiful craftsmanship of over 20,000 workers, the strength of  over 1,000 elephants to carry the marble and other stones, taking more than 20 years to complete!

Real precious stones carved an inlaid perfectly!

sweet memories:)

Indian women and kids that wanted a photo

Now I was really on my own to just take it all in. My stomach was not feeling all that great but luckily the Imodium was doing its job and I was thankful for that. I took some time to just walk around, finding places here and there to sit and watch, absorb and embrace. Im really not sure what time it was when my tour ended but I felt like I could sit there all day and just stare at this almost unreal symbol of love. Seriously, if I wasn't there myself I wouldn't believe that I was actually there myself…I know that makes no sense at all but its making me laugh right now and hope its doing the same for you! Ok, so maybe it's more like if I wasn't there myself I might think the pictures of me there were totally photoshopped to make it look like I was there! Like most of you, I have seen many many pictures of the Taj, and I personally never really took the time to imagine what it would be like to actually see it. To actually experience it's beauty with my own senses. As I sit here writing about that day more than a month ago I can take myself back there in an instant, yet its still difficult to find the words to explain what it was like, obviously! 

I suppose as I sat there and admired this beautiful symbol of the love that a man had for a woman there were moments that I wondered if I would ever experience something so profound, and then I realized that one may never know if another has loved them so deeply, but one could cultivate that depth of a love for oneself. Again, I have returned to my personal mantra from last year that has overflowed into next…SelfLove. Everything begins with intention, and as most of you know one of my favorite teachings from Ghandi is to "Be the Change You Want to See in the World". If I want to see love in the world, experience love in this life, or even the next, I have to love myself because that is where it all begins. So as I sat there, I shifted my thoughts from wonder of the future, to cultivating in the present. I reconnected with the creation of love for MySelf and allowed, and continue to encourage that seed of SelfLove to grow, everyday, towards the sunshine of my soul.

Sometime in the late afternoon I decided to head back to the guesthouse. I got a little lost but wasn't too far off track and soon found myself back in the company of Brenden. We decided to have some lunch and then do some more sight seeing together. I was trying to figure out what to eat with my stomach acting so crazy and asked the owner of the guesthouse if he had any suggestions. He instantly sent a boy to go get me some Ayurvedic Medicine that helps to clean out the digestive track. At this point I was willing to try anything and agreed to put some on curd (yogurt), when the boy returned with it I had to giggle a little bit because it was pysllium husk! This is so funny because my sister, brother in law and myself have used this when we do a body cleans. It sort of looks like saw dust with just about the same amount of flavor. The first time I used I didn't know that it absorbs moisture very quickly, we were adding it to a glass of water and drinking it down) I took too long to finally choke it down and by the time I drank it, it felt like cold oatmeal going down my throat! So I was sure to eat my curd very quickly knowing that it would become thick and most likely very hard to choke down! The view of the Taj from our rooftop sure was nice though:)

Once we finished eating our tuk tuk driver swept us away on a nice little tour of some other sites to see around town. I am still not sure who was buried at the next mausolium but there were many and it was beautiful. Very peaceful to just walk around and enjoy some nice fresh air.

One of the many tombs inside the many rooms!

Pickin up some tricks from the tour guide:)

Our driver took us to a beautiful garden behind the Taj Mahal for sunset...all the bushes and flowers were planted in perfect little rows which caused me to think of Alice and Wonderland and sing "We're painting the roses red, painting the roses red!" Unfortunately we didn't get to stay very long because they were closing soon after we arrived, but we did get the gaurd to take some photos of us...and then of course he wanted some rupees for doing it, which I refused!

Another beautiful sunset!

a little shack with some cows and a garden...you can see the pile of dried dung(cow poop) they use to heat the stove to cook with and warm their living space!

We stopped for a quick dinner so we could make it to the Light Show at Agra Fort. It wasn't as impressive as we had imagined but it was cool because it told the story of the fort, about the kings and queens, and how it had become the state that it was, and is still known to be. We both wished we could have seen the fort in the daylight, but it was cool to walk around the small part of it we got to see in the dark! Our time in Agra was coming to an end, we would be on another train tomorrow at 4:20 headed for Jaipur so we went back to our room, watched some videos on YouTube (we actually had a good connection that would download!) until we fell asleep knowing we could sleep in and rest our tired bodies.