Posted June 25, 2009 - 8:35am by Betsy J. Blosser
The BECA 580 students took a break from their production this past weekend. They traveled to the town of Agra, where they were able to visit the Taj Mahal. What a thrill for all of us! It is true that photos do not do the Taj Mahal justice! You have to see it with your own eyes! The students switched to still photography (video cameras were not allowed on the grounds) and took millions of "snaps" (as they call them in India) from every possible angle. They also visited Akbar's tomb. (Akbar was one of the Mogul rulers of India - the grandfather of the man who built the Taj Mahal.) And they toured the Agra Fort, complete with a moat for crocodiles to swim in, a "mini jungle" where tigers roamed, and a slanted entrance ramp so that if the enemy got beyond the crocodiles and tigers, one could roll a huge, cylindrical rock down the ramp and knock 'em out that way! The detail - marble embedded with precious stones, and arches of all shapes and sizes - was spectacular! On the way back to Delhi, the group stopped in the town of Vrindavan to visit a friend of one of the students. What the group didn't know was that Vrindavan is the center of Hare Krishna's work in India. We were greeted with "leis" of flowers; we ate at the Hare Krishna restaurant, which had wonderful Indian food at low prices: and we took a boat ride on the Yamuna River. It was quite an unexpected adventure! Next weekend the group travels to Jaipur to see the sights. More on that in another blog, so stay tuned!
