Day 2 in India...
Found Indian road rules quite amusing. If you want to overtake "Please blow horn". To indicate "Please blow horn". There were no traffic lights so at intersections it was all done throw blowing the horn. Somehow it all seems to work and I didn't see any accidents happen... only 999 near misses...
I got to do two presentations for year 9 and 11 students from Agra Public School who had hosted the symposium the day before. We got treated like royalty and the presentations went really well. At the beginning of the presentation I asked the students if anyone would like to become a music therapist and then again at the end I asked the same question. By the end quite a few hands were shooting up which was exciting!
In the afternoon we went to Lovely Sharma's uni and I got to sit in on a sitar lesson and have a go. Was very nice to have tabla accompaniment. Lovely kept working and I got a motorbike taxi to the Taj Mahal which is just as spectacular as everyone says it is! Got a fantastic nerdy guide wearing a pinstripe suit and he guided me through the amazing optical illusions built into the taj and explained how it had been built. Sad story really... the instigator of building the taj had been married twice but had not had any children. As he was extremely powerful and wealthy it was imperative that he did or his fortune and empire would be lost. Then he met the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, a beautiful woman from abroad who was in Agra for a jewellry fair. He fell madly in love, they got married and had 14 children but only 7 survived. 
At 39 this wife passed away and at her death bed she made him promise he wouldn't re-marry, he'd look after the children and he'd never forget her. He built the Taj Mahal in her memory. Took something like 30 years which I think is incredible considering everything was done by hand. When all was almost finished, he just wanted to build one black temple on the other side of the river to complete the effect... his son threw him in jail and usurped him from the Taj. Too much power always causes family strife! The guide who gave me all this fascinating info took me to the side of the taj where the workers who built the taj lived and now the 7th generation of those workers are still creating incredible intricate marble and precious jewel work using the same techniques they learnt from their forefathers. Got to see the amazing star of india gem stone that reflects a star of light from it. Quite amazing!
At 39 this wife passed away and at her death bed she made him promise he wouldn't re-marry, he'd look after the children and he'd never forget her. He built the Taj Mahal in her memory. Took something like 30 years which I think is incredible considering everything was done by hand. When all was almost finished, he just wanted to build one black temple on the other side of the river to complete the effect... his son threw him in jail and usurped him from the Taj. Too much power always causes family strife! The guide who gave me all this fascinating info took me to the side of the taj where the workers who built the taj lived and now the 7th generation of those workers are still creating incredible intricate marble and precious jewel work using the same techniques they learnt from their forefathers. Got to see the amazing star of india gem stone that reflects a star of light from it. Quite amazing!Got a bicycle taxi (the guy pushed rather than rode most of the way... not sure he was used to my western weight) back to the motor taxi driver who was sick of waiting and went back to Lovely Sharma's house.
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