The driver picked us up at 6:45 AM for the trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.
On the way we stopped for coffee/tea and Tanduri Roti Parathas:
Nothing is as delicious as Indian street food! The process of preparing these dishes is efficient, fast, and sumptuous in taste. Vegetarian diets in India are high in carbohydrates and low in fat: high in taste with nothing bland!
Click here for a short video of the street food we encountered.
The first leg of our journey is taking us to Vrindavan and Mathura, the birthplace of the Hindu god Krishna.
Suresh warned me to hold onto my eye glasses… I wish that I had listened! In the blink of an eye – faster than the speed of light – a monkey swooped down from a rooftop, snatched my glasses in his teeth and swaggered with pride on an aluminum ledge. Within seconds local merchants were offering the monkey juice boxes to bribe him to leave the glasses on the ledge. Suresh and I realized immediately that this was a lucrative business for the locals. It was monkey business!
We proceeded to the crowded Banke Bihari Temple. The priest’s personal aide met us and had us walk through a metal gate to stand in front of the Temple. The officiant placed garlands around each of us. Astonishingly, the aide brought us to the house of the main priest, and with great hospitality served us lunch.
The priest is from a ancestral history that includes the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan. They were a group of devotional teachers (gurus) from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Vedic Religion who lived in India during the 15th and 16th centuries.
Following our visit at the priest’s home we visited the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Founder of the Hare Krishna.
Click here for a short video from our visit to the Hare Krishna Society
Tonight we were invited by Suresh’s cousins to the India Habitat Centre for dinner. The India Habitat Centre is known for co-hosting a Habitat Summit:
We will return Monday morning to the Center to hear the legendary Indian singer Ulhas Kashalkar, one of the most formidable vocalists in India. He has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the world.
“A professional civil society initiative whose primary purpose is to serve as a multi-disciplinary public awareness and educational platform, and to facilitate positive change in India’s cities by engaging all stakeholders of society in shaping India’s built environment. The Summit serves as a communication vehicle to position key policy issues and to highlight opportunities for positive change by showcasing community-oriented urban renewal projects.”
Destination Peace continues to marvel at the veracity and fidelity of the Indian spirit towards work and living life.
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